In recent decades, cities across the U.S. have expanded their transit infrastructure to reduce emissions from personal cars. As of 2019, 30 American cities have planned or built a light-rail transit system (LRT), and many are boasting huge gains toward carbon-neutrality in transportation (Tehrani et al., 2019). Boston’s light-rail Green Line, for example, reduces emissions per passenger mile by 62% compared to SUVs (Tehrani et al., 2019). Projects like these are often portrayed as part of a rosy dream for a car-less future, complete with sleek train cars and the holy grail walkable downtown. But oftentimes, this vision for transit-oriented developments (TODs) is implicitly intended for the white, upper-middle class and excludes communities of color and low-income families.
The very issue TODs intend to address – urban sprawl and car dependence – is inherently racialized. Suburbanization directly links back to the mass exodus of wealthy white families from city centers in the 1950s and 1960s, leading to the crisis of excessive car use the U.S. is experiencing today (Tehrani et al., 2019). Suburban commuters, most of whom are middle- and upper-class, disproportionately contribute to ozone pollution in the areas they drive through, heightening the risk of life-threatening respiratory conditions, cancer, and chronic illness in urban areas commonly populated by lower-income families (Rizzolo, 2022; Padiero et al., 2019).
TODs seem to be a solution to these dangerous auto emissions, but when their plans don’t incorporate expanded affordable housing or consider the concerns of low-income communities, transit projects benefit the privileged at the cost of the marginalized.
Though it’s true that TODs are associated with more efficient land use and fewer car trips, they’re also linked to higher housing prices (Hodges, 2010). In St. Louis, for example, it’s estimated that a property’s value increases $14 for every foot closer it is to a light-rail station (Tehrani et al., 2019). By creating vibrant and walkable neighborhoods which attract business investment, homes in TODs become more desirable and rents skyrocket, pushing out longtime residents and leading to an influx of wealthy inhabitants (Tehrani et al., 2019; Kim, 2021). This process of gentrification echoes the patterns of residential segregation that the U.S. has exhibited since the 20th century, with residents moving into TOD neighborhoods being more commonly white and those being displaced more commonly Black (Tehrani et al., 2019).
Gentrification nearly ensures that the goal of TODs – reducing the environmental costs of transportation – is not reached. The people who are attracted to these neighborhoods because of commercial investment have higher incomes on average and are more likely to own multiple cars, whereas the families that are displaced are low-income and likely rely on public transportation. These low-income residents are commonly pushed into areas further away from city centers and transit systems, potentially forcing them to travel by car (Chapple et al., 2017). In the aggregate, TOD-driven gentrification may actually cause local transit use to decline, increasing transportation-related emissions and worsening local air pollution, all while expelling families from their homes (Sivasubramanian, 2015; Chapple et al., 2017).
When communities are displaced by TOD-related gentrification, they reap none of the benefits from the project, become isolated from their support systems, and experience debilitating trauma (Sivasubramanian, 2015). As one 17-year old living near the site of a proposed TOD project in Los Angeles put it, “If the City doesn’t plan for affordable housing, then families like mine will get pushed out. Some of us will become homeless, while others will move… away from the services, schools, programs, and the community that we’ve come to rely on” (Sivasubramanian, 2015).
For example, TOD-related gentrification is a direct barrier to accessing health services, while also heightening the need for care (Tehrani et al., 2019). Residents are more likely to visit the emergency room and be hospitalized after being displaced, commonly for mental health issues (Lim et al., 2017). In the long run, people who are displaced by gentrification are at greater risk for asthma, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, as well as face higher rates of infant mortality and shorter life expectancies (Tehrani et al., 2019).
Even when transit-oriented developments have the best intentions to reduce transportation-related emissions and improve urban mobility, activists and project planners alike must recognize that the locations “optimal” for TODs are likely to be home to the most vulnerable populations. If care isn’t taken to ensure that these families are able to continue to live affordably in their neighborhoods, TODs will only reinforce the systemic inequities that plague our cities and threaten the well-being of marginalized populations. As such, TOD projects must be paired with investment in low-and-middle-income housing, and planners must engage with local residents to tailor the project to the needs and concerns of the community.
Transit-oriented developments must fundamentally be community-oriented: oriented not toward the wealthy and the white, but to the communities who have historically called those neighborhoods home.
References
Carlson, M. (2021, August 8). Light rail and buses help reduce carbon emissions. Valley Metro. https://www.valleymetro.org/blog/capital-construction-projects/2021/08/light-rail-and-buses-help -reduce-carbon-emissions
Chapple, K., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., Gonzalez, S. R., Kadin, D., & Poirier, J. (2017). Transit Oriented Development & Commercial Gentrification: Exploring Linkages. UC Berkeley Center for Community Innovation & UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge. https://www.urbandisplacement.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/tod_commercial_gentrification. pdf
Fol, S., & Pflieger, G. (2010). La justice environnementale aux États-Unis : construction et usages d’une catégorie d’analyse et d’une catégorie d’action [translated by Claire Hancock]. Justice Spatiale, 2. https://www.jssj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/JSSJ2-8en1.pdf
Guo, Y., Zhang, Q., Lai, K. K., Zhang, Y., Wang, S., & Zhang, W. (2020). The Impact of Urban Transportation Infrastructure on Air Quality. Sustainability, 12, 2626. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145626
Hodges, T. (2010). Public Transportation’s Role in Responding to Climate Change. U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration.https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/PublicTransportationsRoleInRespondingT oClimateChange2010.pdf
Kim, S. (2021). The Social Justice Impact of the Transit-Oriented Development. Societies, 11, 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11010001
Kumar, M. (2003). Environmental management during metro railway construction especially in highly polluted and densely populated city. Transactions on the Built Envrionment, 64. https://www.witpress.com/Secure/elibrary/papers/UT03/UT03060FU.pdf
LaFata, C. (2020 September 15). How To Build Equity Into Transportation Projects From the Beginning. Expert Talks. https://www.hdrinc.com/insights/experts-talk-environmental-justice-and-equity-transportation-ca thy-lafata
Lim, S., Chan, P. Y., Walters, S., Culp, G., Huynh, M., & Gould, L. H. (2017). Impact of residential displacement on healthcare access and mental health among original residents of gentrifying neighborhoods in New York City. PloS one, 12(12), e0190139.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190139
McConville, M. (2013). CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES: Strategies for Advancing Smart Growth, Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development. US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Sustainable Communities. https://todresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/equitable-development-report-508-011713b .pdf
Padeiro, M., Louro, A., & Marques da Costa, N. (2019). Transit-oriented development and gentrification: a systematic review. Transport Reviews, 39(6), 733-754. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2019.1649316
Plumer, B., & Popovich, N. (2020 August 24). How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming .html
Rizzolo, L. (2022, March 18). Transit-oriented communities can address history of environmental racism. The CT Mirror. https://ctmirror.org/2022/03/18/transit-oriented-communities-can-address-history-of-environmen tal-racism-lawrence/
Sivasubramanian, R. (2015 February 24). A Cleaner, Greener L.A. through Equitable TOD Planning. NRDC Expert Blogs. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/ramya-sivasubramanian/cleaner-greener-la-through-equitable-tod-p lanning
Spurr, B. (2017 March 11). Transit construction can cause greenhouse gas emissions that take decades to offset, study says. The Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/03/11/transit-construction-can-cause-greenhouse-gas-em issions-that-take-decades-to-offset-study-says.html
Tehrani, S. O., Wu, S. J., & Roberts, J. D. (2019). The Color of Health: Residential Segregation, Light Rail Transit Developments, and Gentrification in the United States. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(19), 3683. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193683
Turrentine, J. (2018 June 1). When Public Transportation Leads to Gentrification. onEarth. https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/when-public-transportation-leads-gentrification
