Transit-oriented development is a planning instrument where land use and developments are driven by the presence of transit around them. This planning tool is particularly crucial in urban cities facing rapid growth, where local and regional governments encourage sustainable developments via land use planning, zoning laws, and changes to building codes, among other things (Transit-Oriented Development, 2015). Many metropolitan cities may have Council-adopted districts to promote transit-oriented developments with an aim to balance density, mix use, affordability, sustainability, alternate modes of transportation, using land use policies and public transit investments. The objectives of any given city for their transit-oriented developments will be unique, subject to context and priorities. Currently, the City of Austin regulates and promotes such developments for three transit-oriented developments and two special regulating districts. It is important to evaluate the performance of Austin’s transit-oriented development districts against the city’s larger strategic goals. The City of Austin adopts many strategic plans with different scopes; some are city-wide, while some as program-based or area-specific. These comply with each other in order to address various city priorities. A crucial component of Austin’s strategic planning process is performance management. While there are many ways to approach performance evaluation in planning, currently there is no globally accepted gold standard for assessing transit-oriented developments. The City also revises and updates these plans/ ordinances when required, to reflect the current conditions and challenges. Large public investments, capital improvements and partnerships are driven by these strategic plans. Hence it becomes important to evaluate the results of implementation. By identifying and informing the gaps and opportunities from periodic performance evaluation, the city stands to optimize the benefits of transit-oriented developments. This report identifies ideal metrics for TODs in Austin, derived from the city’s strategic planning goals and evaluates these metrics using empirical data. This progress report will focus on a quantitative approach and serve as an important tool for making informed revisions in policy and providing transparency and accountability in decision-making. This assessment has potential importance to the city’s officials to keep track of progress, or lack thereof, of their implemented policies. Such studies also help for future relevant planning decisions.Architectur
