This panel is a gathering of attorneys, developers, and government representatives familiar with creating TODs and the need for them, and will share lessons, best practices, key models to watch, and recommendations on how to identify opportunities for this type of development in your community.
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) refers to housing that is built near public transit, and intended to be affordable. TODs are advantageous models to alleviating poverty, because TODs create walkable mixed-use neighborhoods, which improves quality of life and economic mobility for tenant communities, while positively impacting greenhouse gas emissions, and allowing transit agencies to advance economic development opportunities within underutilized space around transit facilities.
Despite demand for housing and transit in the U.S., TODs face several challenges which have acted as barriers to adoption of this model in many places throughout the country.
There are also many exciting opportunities and innovative examples to look to, relating to federal policy changes that have increased funding available for both public and private TOD projects, and involving creative methods of building TODs to reduce energy consumption and maximize sustainability.