This document discusses how placemaking can transform transit facilities into vibrant community destinations that support walking and biking. It outlines key attributes of great transit places, including amenities, activities, and design features. Placemaking leverages existing infrastructure and local assets to transform public spaces through lower-cost improvements and programming. The placemaking process involves community mapping, audits, and visioning exercises. Strategies for transit-oriented development include making stations into community focal points and ensuring safe and convenient pedestrian and bicycle access. TOD can provide economic and quality of life benefits when implemented through collaborative community engagement.

1. How Placemaking Can Transform
Transit Facilities into Vibrant Destinations
that Support Biking and Walking
Presented by Cynthia Nikitin, Senior VP PPS Long Beach, CA
Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place September 12 2012

2. We shape our buildings and thereafter,
our buildings shape us. – Winston Churchill

3. We shape our transportation systems and
thereafter, our transportation shapes us.
— Transportation and Livable Communities Consortium

7. Key Attributes
What Makes a Great Transit Place? Intangibles
Measurements
street life business ownership
evening use property values
volunteerism land-use patterns
Fun retail sales
Welcoming
Cooperative Active Vital
Neighborly Special Real
sociability uses & activities
PLACE
access & linkages comfort & image
Connected Safe
Walkable Charm Clean
Convenient Attractive
Accessible Historic crime stats
transit usage sanitation rating
pedestrian activity building conditions
parking usage patterns environmental data

8. What is Placemaking?
Placemaking is a process that fosters the creation of
vital, multi-use public destinations. These multi-use
destinations are not defined just by architecture or
design features, but rather by the public uses and
activities that engage people's participation within he
space and encourage them to return again and again.
Placemaking leverages the investments in existing
infrastructure as well as a broad range of local
assets. Through the combination of lower-cost, short
term physical improvements, combined with public
space programming, the use and perception of public
space can be transformed.

9. Community/Place Driven Approach

10. The Placemaking
Process around
Transportation

15. Before After

16. Community Destination and
Transit Route Mapping

17. Walk-It Audit

18. Place Imagination Exercise

19. Digital Placemaking Applications

20. Place Evaluation Exercise:
Place Game and Place Audit

21. Twenty Strategies
For Thinking Beyond the Station:
Building Walkable Places Around Transit

22. Design, Build & Manage Stations
as Places
Rail stations and bus stops can
serve as community focal
points while providing a safe,
comfortable, and attractive
experience for transit
passengers

23. Transit facilities are active, attractive, community public
1 spaces that attract people on a regular basis, at various
times of day, and days of week.

24. San Bruno, CA

25. orpus Christi, TX

26. Bus, rail, and light rail stations function as
2 community destinations.

28. Transit facilities are programmed as venues for a wide
3
Portland, OR range of community activities and events.

30. A variety of amenities and retail are provided, such as
4 news/sundry stands, coffee carts, comfortable seating,
restrooms, and information kiosks that serve residents and
Bradley Beach, NJ
commuters alike.

31. Amenities are clustered together in centralized areas to
5 create synergy, enhance their impact, and maximize use.
Belmont, CA

32. The transit facility is attractive and visible from a
6 distance.

33. Design Great Boulevards
and Transit-Friendly Streets
Roads, streets, and transit stops
are public spaces and places that
can benefit communities socially,
economically, and environmentally.

34. Transit planned as part of a transportation
system linked to the street network
From Indianapolis Region Multimodal Corridor and Public Space Design Guidelines

35. Supporting Community and Mobility

36. Supporting Community and Mobility

37. New Manuals Add Context in
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES

38. Roadways adjacent to transit facilities are
13 pedestrian-friendly boulevards.

39. Transferring between train, buses, and cars is both
14 convenient and pleasant.

40. There are safe and pleasant ways for pedestrians and
15 bicyclists to reach the station - from many directions.

42. Streets that connect neighborhoods to transit
16 facilities are attractive, comfortable, and safe
feeling.
Colma, CA

43. Signage and information helps people find their way
17 to the correct bus or train and destination, and
promotes local businesses and attractions.

44. Grade-separation projects create connections, rather
18
San Carlos, CA than barriers, within a community.

46. 19 Neighborhoods are inclusive and
accessible to all

47. Portland, OR

48. Transit Links and is Integrated into
20 Community Anchors and Destinations

51. What is
Transit-Oriented Development
(TOD)?
Approach to areas around
existing and new transit that
– Helps communities control
and shape growth
– Is sensitive to existing
neighborhood character
– Is connected to regional
employment centers
– Creates local jobs and a
stronger tax base
– Is built through Bethesda, MD
collaborative partnerships

52. What it is not
• "One size fits all"
• Only high-density housing
• Only targeted to certain
market segments
• Disruptive of existing
historic centers

53. Components of Transit-Oriented
Development
• Walkable
Neighborhoods
• Accessible Mix of
Uses
• Travel Options
• Quality Public Spaces
• Community
Engagement
Village of West Clay, IN

54. TOD Opportunities from the
Community Perspective
• Lower Housing and
Transportation Costs
• Jobs and Value Premiums
• Preservation of
Community Identity
• Social Engagement
• Public and Environmental
Health
• Multi-Generational
Communities
South Orange, NJ Train Station

55. TOD Opportunities from the
Municipal Perspective
• Economic Development
and Expanded Tax
Base
• Congestion Mitigation
• Reduced Greenhouse
Gas Emissions
• Air Quality
Improvements Tuckahoe, NY
• Open Space
Preservation
• Efficient Transportation
Investments

56. Implementing TOD
Community
engagement
and visioning
• Station Area and • Capital improvement
Development Plans plans
• Community benefits • Programming and
agreements management
Private investment in Public investment
existing places and in transit, streets,
new development parks
• TOD Zoning
• Joint Development
• Financing tools (IDA,
TIF)

57. Benefits of Transit-Oriented
Development
1. Economic Development
2. Lower Housing and Transportation Costs
3. Placemaking
4. Environmental and Public Health
5. Community and Historic Preservation
6. Meet Market Demand
7. Improved Transportation System Performance
8. Transportation Choice

58. Benefits of a Placemaking Approach for
Community Supportive Transit
• Transit stations become community assets and destinations
• Pressure to increase parking capacity is reduced
• Station areas become more desirable as places to live and operate
businesses
• Ridership increases – alleviating auto dependence
• Real estate near train stations becomes more valuable
• Opportunities for partnering with other agencies, cities and civic
groups
• A sense of ownership is generated in the community
• Transit investments and assets are leveraged to achieve community
benefits

59. www.pps.org
@CynthiaNikitin
Cnikitin@pps.org