1 Why Austin Needs ETOD
In November 2020, after voters agreed to fund Project Connect, residents of Austin, the capital of Texas, had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage major public infrastructure investments to create a bold, community-led vision for the future.
The Connectivity Plan investments are designed to increase and optimize transportation options in Austin, including a zero-emission fleet, a new light rail system, additional rail service (Green Line), additional on-demand pick-up and drop-off areas, parking and ride-up services, and planned bus systems that expand service to the bus system, as well as the addition of new express lines.
Station areas along the Connectivity Plan are poised to be vibrant, livable, and inclusive communities that are compact, walkable, and centered around high-quality transportation options.
Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) works to ensure that those who need public transportation most benefit from this investment, including people of color, low-income households, seniors, people with disabilities, and households with limited or no access to cars. Achieving equity through ETOD requires a comprehensive approach that systematically considers the interrelationship of public transport infrastructure with racial discrimination, housing affordability, small business benefits, employment opportunities, education, and health.
此次研究由得克萨斯州首府交通管理局（CapMetro: The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority）和奥斯汀市（City of Austin）、奥斯汀公交合作伙伴（ATP: Austin Transit Partnership）联合开展，帮助现有居民和社区繁荣发展，并增加投资机会。 CapMetro从联邦交通管理局（FTA: the Federal Transit Administration）交通导向开发试点资助拨款（Transit-Oriented Development Pilot Grant）中获得了315万美元。 有效实施ETOD的重要因素是拥有共同的愿景和目标，ETOD团队制定了以下6个目标，以指导这一历史性投资项目的实施。
- Goal 1: To enable all residents to benefit from safe, sustainable and accessible transport
- Goal 2: Help close the health and wealth gap between different ethnic groups
- Goal 3: Preserve and increase access to affordable housing
- Goal 4: Expand access to high-quality jobs and job options
- Goal 5: Build healthy communities that support everyday needs
- Goal 6: Expand Austin's diverse cultural heritage and small, traditional businesses owned by non-whites (Black, Indigenous, People of Color).
2 Overview2.1 Partners
The Texas Capital Transit Authority (CapMetro) partnered with the City of Austin and the Austin Transportation Partnership (ATP) to conduct the ETOD study. CapMetro also collaborated with the Community Advisory Committee (CAC), a civil society group that advises community liaisons, senior community leaders, and grassroots groups on anti-displacement and equity issues.
2.2 Key Results
(1) Develop an ETOD policy plan and obtain approval from the Austin City Council in March 2023. The plan provides a comprehensive framework to ensure that Austin's future development around the Connectivity Plan supports residents of all incomes and backgrounds, especially those with a greater burden of transportation and land use.
and (2) the creation of an ETOD policy toolkit, including 46 implementable policy tools. The toolkit provides a framework for guiding small businesses and labor, housing, transportation, land use, urban design, and real estate for station areas along the Connectivity Plan.
(3) Establish two public data platforms for displaying the status quo of transportation and ETOD priority tools. The platform is a framework for guiding planning.
and (4) a compilation of key takeaways from existing ETOD research in the United States, drawing on strategies from successful practices.
2.3 Land use, urban design and real estate participation
The foundation of the ETOD study is to encourage communities to listen to the voices that have been overlooked throughout the planning process, and to achieve the true equity that the community needs in the station area. Stakeholder engagement is more than just a process of "ticking boxes", we organize a variety of forms of engagement – from traditional outreach activities to paid focus groups, community ambassador programs represented by community liaisons, workshops and community open days.
The major challenges we heard about included the following:
- Rent increases: Rents are rising at a rate that feels out of control for commercial and residential properties;
- Pressures for small businesses: New developments don't offer the right retail format and scale for small businesses, putting pressure on traditional businesses in Austin to relocate;
- Dissatisfaction with existing transport services, including lack of access to key destinations on bus routes, lack of bus waiting halls and amenities, long intervals, poor walkability and general lack of convenience;
- Poor government support and implementation of the housing crisis: There is a perception that government interventions have come too late, too late, and not culturally sensitive, and that the housing crisis has arrived;
- Lack of quality of life: lack of high-quality childcare facilities near stations, lack of adequate support and counselling for people looking for affordable housing and small business assistance;
- Lack of business diversity: It is difficult to attract diverse businesses and community organizations into the community, and it is difficult to create vibrant community centers that people will want to visit.
3 Purpose and Need
Over the past 30 years, Austin has moved beyond its historic role as the capital and college town of Texas to become an even more important urban center. Over the past decade, population and employment growth has been particularly significant.
- Population growth: Austin's population grew by 20% in 10 years, from 803,000 in 2010 to 962,000 in 2020. However, population growth varies across races and ethnicities, raising alarming population displacement.
- Employment growth: Job growth outpaced population growth over the same period, from 431,000 to 568,000, an increase of 32 percent. The new jobs spanned all industries, but most of them were in technology.
- Affordable Housing Crisis: The City of Austin's 2020 Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis Report noted that there is a gap in the supply of approximately 36,000 affordable housing units for very low-income households across the city, a shortage that has led to an increasing number of unhoused residents in Austin. Despite the increase in the city's overall housing supply, the growth in affordable housing remains limited.
- Displacement: Rising real estate prices have led to the displacement of low-income and non-white residents in various communities in Austin.
- Racial Inequality: In recent decades, income and wealth disparities have widened among Austin's various ethnic groups. According to a 2019 study by the Austin Community Foundation, the income of Black and Latino households in Austin fell by 9% and 14%, respectively, from 1980 to 2016. These inequalities are also reflected in the racial distribution of homeownership in Austin (Figure 1).
Fig.1 Ethnic distribution of homeownership in Austin
- Traffic congestion: In addition to rising housing costs, traffic congestion is also exacerbated by the increase in population. According to the 2021 Global Traffic Scorecard, Austin ranks 23rd in the ranking of the most congested cities in the United States, with an average of 32 hours per Austin driver wasted in traffic congestion per year.
This is an important milestone, not only for CapMetro, but for the entire city of Austin. As populations continue to grow and communities grow and prosper, we need to ensure that the city is moving towards an inclusive and inclusive approach that supports all Austin residents, meets the needs of a diverse population, regardless of their background and income level, and integrates it into the decision-making process. These policies and follow-up reports will help us better focus on development around cities and station areas, minimize displacement, and help us address the affordable housing crisis. —Sharmila Mukherjee, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategic Planning and Development Officer, CapMetro
3.1 From Traditional TOD to ETOD Traditional TOD refers to a planning and design strategy that advocates for compact, mixed-use, pedestrian- and bike-friendly neighborhoods around public transit systems. However, traditional TOD programs often do not reach everyone equitably, which means that some of those affected by the implementation of TOD policies lack effective participation, and TOD projects often lead to an increase in real estate values. All of this will ultimately lead to the displacement of low-income families and communities of color.
The ETOD aims to achieve equity through affirmative action, ensuring that everyone in the community, especially historically marginalized people of color, can benefit from the Connect Program. At the heart of the ETOD is the idea that new transportation infrastructure should be aligned with policies and strategies to reduce existing resident displacement and create thriving jobs for all Austin residents (Figure 2).
Figure 2 From traditional TOD to ETOD
Equity through ETOD must be considered in relation to the relationship between transportation infrastructure and racism, housing affordability, small business benefits, employment opportunities, education, and health, among others. Building on the priorities outlined in the Racial Equity Anti Displacement Tool, the City of Austin's Nothing About Us Without Us, the ETOD proposes strategies that directly support the needs of Austin's non-white community. 4 Connectivity Investments in the Connectivity Program will increase mobility options near new transit stations and meet housing and service needs in the vicinity.
If housing development is disproportionately increased and policies are not put in place to protect local businesses, many residents and businesses currently located near transit stations may be at risk of being forced to relocate. CapMetro is committed to ensuring that the development of areas around transit stations increases bus ridership, enhances community benefits, and encourages equity for those who have never benefited from infrastructure projects.
The ETOD builds on the city's existing initiatives, the principles of CapMetro, and the 30 ETOD resolution goals approved by the City Council in 2021. The ETOD resolution calls for the development of an ETOD policy plan with equity as the guiding principle for planning and implementation, and incorporates humane care strategies for affordability, increasing public transport ridership, and preventing displacement. The City of Austin and CapMetro recognize that implementing ETOD in Austin is critical to achieving the vision of a fully connected, and inclusive community connected by public transshipment.
Austin Light Rail expanded coverage in line with ETOD policies, with Phase 1 connecting densely populated areas such as the East Riverside, which are predominantly non-white neighborhoods, to work and education destinations throughout Austin (Figure 3). In addition to the first phase of the line, the line to the airport and 38th Street to Crestview have also been identified as priority expansion projects.
Figure 3 Austin Light Rail route map
4.1 Objectives
CapMetro, ATP, and the City of Austin developed the following 6 goals based on ETOD goals and racial equity anti-displacement strategies, drawing on other cities' ETOD strategies and listening to feedback from local communities.
- Goal 1: To enable all residents to benefit from safe, sustainable and accessible transport
We are committed to providing convenient, high-quality, and reliable transportation services to meet the travel needs of existing and new passengers. This includes assessing the current transportation network and ridership to identify service gaps and expand the bus service network.
- Goal 2: Help close the health and wealth gap between different ethnic groups
The strategy includes (but is not limited to): providing vocational training programs, ensuring that affordable housing residents have easy access to employment opportunities, encouraging commercial spaces that provide health care and food or groceries, supporting the growth and development of small businesses, and providing legal aid and funding to landlords and tenants to enhance housing stability. To achieve this, we need to both increase opportunities for communities that have been neglected in the past, and reduce and eliminate the burden on those communities in terms of accessing existing opportunities.
- Goal 3: Preserve and increase access to affordable housing
Current and future displacement interventions aim to protect existing affordable housing options, but new transportation investments may lead to their reconstruction. So in addition to protection, we need to work to support new affordable housing developments that match existing and future transit support networks.
- Goal 4: Expand access to quality jobs and career options
Promote economic prosperity and provide employment opportunities that at least meet the basic needs of life. Successfully achieving this goal requires reducing the cost of housing for households, as this is often the largest expense for households.
- Goal 5: Build healthy communities that support everyday needs
The most successful ETODs combine commercial, residential, and public uses to support daily family activities such as shopping, healthcare visits, outdoor recreation and gatherings, and education.
- Goal 6: Expand Austin's diverse cultural heritage and small, non-white-owned traditional businesses
This, in conjunction with Goal 2, encourages a wide range of businesses to participate in transit-oriented development, while ensuring that rental space is affordable and affordable, and assists those struggling to operate in high-value real estate markets. 4.2 Connectivity Program Cooperative Structure
Project Connect partners include CapMetro, the City of Austin, the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), and community forces involved in the development of ETOD policies, programs, and frameworks to reduce community displacement, preserve and encourage more affordable housing, spur the growth of small businesses, and create a more equitable quality of life for all (Figure 4).
Figure 4 Connectivity Program cooperation structure
In November 2020, CapMetro and the City of Austin formed the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) after the City of Austin voted to implement the Connectivity Plan. ATP is an authoritative, independent local government corporation licensed to design and build the Austin Light Rail. The ATP Board of Directors operates with full transparency and accountability to the community. The City of Austin works closely with CapMetro and ATP to ensure that Project Connect projects are built and implemented on a fully transparent basis.
The Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is a group nominated by community members tasked with advising the staff of the 3 agencies on equity and anti-displacement issues. The committee has set up one ETOD working group to provide analytical conclusions and recommendations on a regular basis throughout the ETOD planning process. Community Connectors are paid community members recruited from across Austin (12 were selected from 141 applications).
Community groups regularly participate in project workshops to provide input and recommendations that guide the direction of ETOD policy, design, and planning. Community liaisons will represent the interests of all people and groups, from long-time residents of Austin to people whose first language is not English, from the deaf community to the LGBTQ+ community, from disability advocates to students and staff.
5 Our Achievements5.1 Key ResultsThe Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) Policy Plan is a comprehensive framework to ensure that the future development of the Austin community supports residents of all incomes and backgrounds, especially those who have been burdened by past transportation and land-use decisions.
The plan was developed by CapMetro, the City of Austin Planning Authority, with the help of Austin Transit Partners (ATP) and the community. Staff and the public worked together to draft Austin's ETOD goals, policy toolkit, and action plan to advance equity goals for communities along public transit. The plan was approved by the Austin City Council on March 9, 2023.
The ETOD Policy Toolkit is a set of 46 policy tools that can be customized to the goals and needs of each site. The ETOD Policy Toolkit has been incorporated into the Implementation Plan to provide an implementation framework for planning and investing in station areas along the Connectivity Plan so that Austin's residents, businesses, and communities can more fully and equitably reap the benefits of transportation investments. The toolkit allows team members to choose from a list of policy tool options to identify funding sources for transit corridor and site-specific area implementation.
We launched Station Area Vision Plans for 2 surrounding communities along the LRT transit hub. CapMetro works with the city government to develop appropriate land use policies to increase future ridership and support local communities. We use community-building goals as guiding principles in our long-term planning, while also drawing on lessons learned from the development of our strategy, such as early outreach efforts that did not adequately represent the community's wishes, and this engagement has adapted our approach to ensure that the voices of non-white residents, low-income residents, daily transit users, people with disabilities, and older residents are heard.
Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) Policy Plan website: https://publicinput.com/Customer/File/Full/97a3315a-15ce-4dd2-b94c-0633abc49671.
5.2 Draw on existing research
We examine the ETOD and related practices of a number of U.S. cities to determine the feasibility of ETOD in Austin policies and programs, and to assess the characteristics of regions with similar demographics and trends. We also draw on the experience of other districts that also have restrictive laws and equity tools such as prohibiting inclusive zoning to develop our strategy. Each case provides a unique approach related to equity that contributes to the promotion of ETOD.
6 Engagement
7 Lessons learned
First, the importance of cooperation. Bus operators, regulators, implementing agencies, and communities need to work together holistically to achieve impactful change. Given the speed at which the market is changing, no institution can work on ETOD on its own.
The second is the feasibility of the implementation plan. We recognise the need for CapMetro to work with the municipality to establish a common framework, then focus on site-specific implementation (Station Area Vision), and finally pilot implementation on properties owned by CapMetro. The City continues to focus on broader system-wide implementation, including updates to the Imagine Austin program, various land development regulations, and zoning around the ETOD station area.
The third is the flexibility of cross-station policy schemes. Successful ETOD requires a unified framework for the entire transportation system, as well as the ability to adapt to the special circumstances and diverse needs of different station areas. In some cases, creative solutions may even need to be found at the level of individual plots or entire transport corridors. The ETOD toolkit initially included 46 actionable policy tools that identified the responsibilities of the public sector for planning and implementing effective ETOD. Additional tools will need to be added as needs and opportunities become more identified.
Fourth, there are pros and cons to ETOD. It needs to be acknowledged that TOD will accelerate the market forces that shape the community. However, we needed to engage in a conversation with the community to articulate how we can reduce the occurrence of evictions through additional funding sources, project management, and community engagement, as well as advance public priorities in the station area. These dialogues are necessary for the effective implementation of the ETOD and the resolution of potential legal and political constraints.
Fifth, the importance of community participation. We spend a lot of time providing opportunities for residents to co-create in an inclusive, transparent and interactive way. We implemented a range of strategies to hear the voices of community members who have historically been underrepresented in Austin and who have been impacted by racism, divestment, and gentrification.
8 Follow-up studies
After the basic framework of the ETOD policy plan has been established, the project partners will focus on implementation.
Cap Metro will work to achieve the goals of the ETOD through the implementation of pilot station area projects, such as CapMetro's vision plans for the North Lamar Transit Center and South Congress Transit Center station areas. As the land use authority, the City of Austin is systematically implementing the policy tools of the ETOD, focusing on its regulatory applications, such as revisions to the city's master plan, land development regulations, and station site visions for the remaining sites. The project team will continue to coordinate with the Austin Transportation Partnership on the implementation of the Austin Light Rail. UPI
注：“连接计划”（Project Connect）详见https://www.projectconnect.com/projects。
Translator: Li Rong, Liaison of Urban Planning International
Edited | Wang Xuan Gu Chunxue typesetting | Gu Chunxue
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