Transit-oriented development may succeed in Minneapolis neighborhood
From Joe Urban
By Erin McHenry
With the implementation of a new light-rail line underway, all the talk in Minneapolis is of development: How can the city develop around transit? How can the city most efficiently use urban space? How can the city concentrate housing, businesses and gathering places in one central location?
But planners may be overlooking key details to create a transit-oriented neighborhood. Under current plans for a revamped Corcoran Neighborhood, a farmers market is placed away from the most heavily trafficked areas, and all the new features seem to avoid the pre-existing bus routes.
Planners have the right idea in mind, writes Joe Urban blogger Sam Newberg, but aren’t thinking of their core audience. They’re worrying about parking spaces, which shouldn’t even be a part of the discussion, he writes:
“I just heard a presentation by a transit-oriented development expert who noted that the roughly 5 percent of households that don’t own a car make up 25 percent of all transit rides.”
The specifics of the Corcoran plan are still being finalized, but with a few tweaks, the project could create precedence for long lasting, idealist urban design in the Midwest.
Read more about Minnesota urban design and the Corcoran Neighborhood development project here.
Map of plan from Corcoran Neighborhood Organization.
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