Transit Oriented Development

Data-driven transport can improve access and efficiency if properly implemented. In Shanghai, China, users benefit from customized bus routes designed by artificial intelligence software. Other countries, however, have discontinued pilots of programs similar to the one implemented in China. Elsewhere, in Innisfil, Ontario, a different kind of program helps to fill the gap in public transport--namely, subsidized Uber rides.

In Bengaluru, switching from rickshaws to electric autos could help reduce noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 0.11 million tons each year. But the policies that encourage electric autos only exist, largely, on paper.

By participating in the decision-making process, Mexico City residents successfully convinced the government to build a public park instead of an office development. The Parque Imán is 2.4 hectares, includes 163 trees, and the green space can potentially benefit up to 200,000 residents of some city boroughs. While there are some concerns about the soil quality in the park due to the adjacent asphalt plant, the park shows how participation from residents and transparency from the government allowed the public space to be built.

Los Angeles has faced deepening issues of severe traffic and extreme smog pollution in the past several decades, but for years intentions and promises to broadly improve transportation have fallen flat. At long last, the most congested city in the world - once home to the most extensive urban rail network on the planet - is reviving rail lines and trains as a solution to both issues. Robust public transport has proven to have multi-layered economic, cultural, environmental, and social benefits to communities.

In Salt Lake City, a bipartisan coalition of public and private actors, including members of the business, industrial, religious, political, and civic communities voluntarily came together to pass an ambitious twenty year land use plan. The plan, which conserves water, promotes clean air, and imposes new taxes for new rail lines, was made possible by Envision Utah, a public-private partnership that capitalizes on many Utahns' cultural and religious heritage.

Substitutes for city parking requirements are becoming increasingly popular throughout the United States. Rather than using off-street parking, many housing developers now provide residents with alternatives that promote reduced driving. This method is better for the environment and lowers the cost of housing in urban areas.

Citizen participation in meetings, door-to-door surveys, and via an open-source online platform where residents could edit and add to draft plans resulted in 7,000 citizen proposals to redesign one of Bogota’s major, car-choked, 23-km thoroughfares. Residents as young as 10 years old contributed to design plans that will cut climate-changing emissions and pollution by adding more bike lanes, pedestrian paths, and electric buses and cable cars. City officials spent substantial time listening to residents’ ideas and concerns, including talking with populations that are often ignored by those in power.

Though they started at similar points, the London Underground has become one of the most successful models of public transportation, while the New York Metro has declared a state of crisis. The reason? The London Underground learned from early financial and marketing failures and took advantage of financial incentives in expanding business into the transportation industry by renewing old infrastructure.

In an age of congestion and bumper-to-bumper traffic along the Pacific Northwest I-5 corridor, Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, BC look to the success of high-speed trains in Europe for inspiration. The international phenomenon of cross-country bullet trains - some reaching up to 250mph - has reduced transport time and competes with short-term flights that expend massive amounts of fuel. Now, the Pacific Northwest cities discuss plans to overhaul their current lagging transportation in exchange for a new high-speed railway.

To enhance air travel, the F.A.A. rolled out a system that enables airplanes to fly closer together using GPS, rather than the traditional radar locators. But residents near these new flight paths have risen up to contest the air pollution created by the lower, more frequent flight patterns. With impending lawsuits, the F.A.A. has to work with local officials to create a joint solution.