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Focusing development around transit facilities has become a significant way to improve accessibility, support community and regional goals of enhancing the quality of life, and support the financial success of transit investment. The experiences of a new generation of transit systems highlight the powerful role that transit investments play in channeling urban development. Benefits attributable to transit-oriented development (TOD) initiatives include improved air quality, preservation of open space, pedestrian-friendly environments, increased ridership and revenue, reduction of urban sprawl, and reorientation of urban development patterns around both rail and bus transit facilities.

Today, many transit systems and communities across the country are participating in TOD programs. TOD participants range from small local and intercity bus systems with community-related services to large local and intercity rail systems with numerous projects. Increasingly, transit agencies are looking at programs and analyzing real-estate competitiveness to solicit developer interest. This report defines TOD and joint development and offers insight into the various aspects of implementing TOD, including political and institutional factors; planning and land-use strategies, benefits, and impacts; fiscal considerations and partnerships; and design challenges and considerations.

Robert Cervero, of the Institute of Urban and Regional Development at the University of California at Berkeley, was the report's principal author. To achieve the project's objective of summarizing the state of the practice of TOD, the research team performed a literature review, conducted a comprehensive survey, performed interviews, and conducted 10 case studies. The 10 case studies (Boston, New Jersey, the Washington (D.C.) Metropolitan Area, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Colorado, Portland, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Southern California), covered a range of TOD designs and practices.

The report focuses on TOD and joint development and practice; the level of collaboration between various partners (e.g., the development community, financial partners, planning and land-use agencies, and government entities); the impacts of TOD and joint development on land values; the potential benefits of TOD; and successful design principles and characteristics.

A companion publication to this report, TCRP Research Results Digest 52: Transit- Oriented Development and Joint Development in the United States: A Literature Review, reviews pertinent literature and research findings related to TOD and joint development. It contains a bibliography annotated by subject area.

Status:The report has been published as TCRP Report 102.

Product Availability: TCRP Research Results Digest 52 summarizes the literature review of this project.