REDESIGNING SUBURBIA FOR WALKING AND TRANSIT - EMERGING CONCEPTS

Suburban sprawl has caused many problems in the last several decades. Of particular concern is overreliance on the automobile and the lack o f alternative forms of transportation such as walking, bicycling, and transit. The advocates of neotraditional town planning have developed the traditional neighborhood development (TND) and pedestrian pocket ( PP) concepts for redesigning American suburbia to solve its deficienci es. This paper describes these concepts and then evaluates their poten tial usefulness to allow walking and transit in suburbia. It is conclu ded that these concepts offer a unique opportunity to integrate land-u se and suburban development policies with transportation policy to sto p sprawl and create compact, mixed-use communities. However, of the tw o concepts reviewed, the pedestrian pocket offers a better potential f or developing a new suburban growth pattern on a metropolitan scale th at is pedestrian- and transit-oriented. Its successful implementation depends on the existence of a supportive metropolitan-scale land-use a nd transportation plan.