Saturday, October 16, 2010

Denver has increased 10 to 15 percent in public transit use in the downtown

Mixing Transit-Oriented Development with other effective urban regeneration strategies like mixed use functions and retail stores application seem to have influential results in the revitalization of the decaying central cities. 
One of the successful examples of this kind is Denver, Colorado. According to  TCRP report no. 95 (Chapter one, Transit-Oriented Development: Travelers Response to Transportation System Changes), Denver city has been successful in reusing old buildings, employing Light Rail Transit (LRT), and employing ground-level retail. 
The results show that the regeneration plan has caused the downtown is somehow revitalized. The population of the downtown has increased from 1000 people to 2500. The statistics also show good results in public transit. For example in a single street of the downtown (16th Street Transit Mall), the average weekday transit was 45000 per day in the year 1997, while it grew to 60000 in 2004. This growth was a result of building a new LRT and extending the transit mall shuttle service. The general work trips in the downtown has increased form 20-25 percent to 35 percent after implementing the plan. 
Also 50 derelict buildings were converted to new functions and reused. The success of such a downtown gentrification plan is clear. The main point is that the number of the people, who have opted to live in the downtown have been doubled in a relatively short time. 

Related posts:

What Andres Duany and Peter Calthrope Beieved in 1995

New globalism, new urbanism: gentrification as global urban strategy

Urban Revitalization: Best Practices to Prevent Residential Displacement Due to Gentrification


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