Urban Transportation Planning

Readings

WEEK	READINGS
1: Course Overview and Introduction	No readings
2: Urban Transportation History and Institutions	Required Readings Kenworthy, Jeffrey R., and Felix B. Laube. Patterns of Automobile Dependence in Cities: An International Overview of Key Physical and Economic Dimensions with Some Implications for Urban Policy." Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 33, no. 7 (1999): 691-723. Chapter 2: “City-Transportation Relationship” in Vuchic, Vukan R. Transportation for Livable Cities. 1999. ISBN: 9780882851617. Chapter 1 in Meyer, Michael and Eric Miller. Urban Transportation Planning. McGraw-Hill. 2000. ISBN: 9780072423327. Roess, Roger, Mark Vandehey, and Wayne Kittelson. “Level of Service: 2010 and Beyond.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2173 (2010): 20-27. ISBN: 9780072423327. Supplementary Reading Chapter 10 in Lynch, Kevin. Good City Form. MIT Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780262620468.
3: No Class - MIT Holiday	Required Readings Chapters 1,2 in Warner, Sam Bass. Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston, 1870-1900. Harvard University Press, 1978. ISBN: 9780674842113. Abstract and Introduction of Block-Schachter, David. “Hysteresis and Urban Rail: The Effects of Past Urban Rail on Current Residential and Travel Choices.” PhD diss., MIT, 2012. Chapter 2 in Pucher, John, and Christian Lefevre. The Urban Transport Crisis in Europe and North America. Springer, 1996. ISBN: 9780333655511. Chapter 2 (sections 2.2-2.4) and Chapter 3 (sections 3.0-3.1) in Meyer, Michael and Eric Miller. Urban Transportation Planning. McGraw-Hill. 2000. ISBN: 9780072423327. Supplementary Reading Chapters 1, 10, and 11 in Haglund, Karl. Inventing the Charles River. MIT Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780262083072. Boston Public Library’s Photostream on Flickr Most, Doug. The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway. St. Martin’s Press, 2014. ISBN: 9781250061355.
4: Boston’s Highway Revolt: Anatomy of a Pattern Break?	Required Readings Gakenheimer, Ralph A. Transportation Planning as Response to Controversy: the Boston Case. MIT Press, 1976. ISBN: 9780262070652. Salvucci, Frederick P. “Some Observations on the Recent 25-year History of the Metropolitan Boston Transportation System, the Legacy of the 1970 Boston Transportation Planning Review: What We Should Expect from ISTEA, and Some New Directions Which May Prove Interesting.” Paper prepared for the Boston Conference on Shaping the Accessible Region. Undated. “Moving Forward: Transportation and the Massachusetts Economy.” White paper for Our Transportation Future, prepared by Economic Development Research Group, Inc. Supplementary Reading Lupo, Alan, Frank Colcord, and Edmund P. Fowler. Rites of Way: The Politics of Transportation in Boston and the U.S. City. Little Brown & Co. 1971. ISBN: 9780316536707.
5: Transportation Finance and Legislation: Economic Development and Externalities	Required Readings Taylor, Brian D. “The Geography of Urban Transportation Finance” in Hanson, Susan, and Genevieve Giuliano, eds. The Geography of Urban Transportation. Guilford Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781593850555. Banister, David, and Yossi Berechman. “Transport Investment and the Promotion of Economic Growth.” Journal of Transport Geography 9, no. 3 (2001): 209-218. Downs, Thomas M. “Is There a Future for the Federal Surface Transportation Program?” Journal of Transportation Engineering 131, no. 6 (2005): 393-396. (Originally presented at the Annual Convention of the American Society of Civil Engineers, October 16, 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland) Wachs, Martin. “Local Option Transportation Taxes: Devolution As Revolution.” ACCESS Magazine 1, no. 22 (2003). Chapter 9 (section 9.3) in Meyer, Michael and Eric Miller. Urban Transportation Planning. McGraw-Hill. 2000. ISBN: 9780072423327. Lukmann, Andrew T. “Unintended Effects of Federal Transportation Policy: A Look at the Lifecycle Costs of the Interstate System.” PhD diss., MIT, 2009. (Abstract and introduction) Supplementary Reading Antos, Justin David. “Paying for Public Transportation: the Optimal, the Actual, and the Possible.” PhD diss., MIT, 2007. (Abstract and introduction)
6: The Battle for the Space Between Buildings: Street Design and the Politics of Urban Mobility	Required Readings Southworth, Michael, and Eran Ben-Joseph. “Street Standards and the Shaping of Suburbia.” Journal of the American Planning Association 61, no. 1 (1995): 65-81. Ewing, Reid, and Eric Dumbaugh. “The Built Environment and Traffic Safety: A Review of Empirical Evidence.” Journal of Planning Literature 23, no. 4 (2009): 347-367. Henderson, Jason. “Level of Service: The Politics of Reconfiguring Urban Streets in San Francisco, CA.” Journal of Transport Geography 19, no. 6 (2011): 1138-1144. Baker, Billy. “The Future of Crossing the Street.” The Boston Globe. August 10, 2008. Swope, Christopher. “Rethinking the Urban Speedway.” Governing Magazine. October 2005. Powers, Martine. “A Cyclist’s Mecca, with Lessons for Boston.” The Boston Globe. Sept. 22, 2013. Cairns, Sally, Stephen Atkins, and Phil Goodwin. “Disappearing Traffic? The Story So Far.” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Municipal Engineer, vol. 151, no. 1, pp. 13-22. London: Published for the Institution of Civil Engineers by Thomas Telford Services, c1992-, 2002. Malouff, Dan. “Rockville Misses the Forest for the Trees with Its Plan for an 18-Lane Mega Main Street.” Greater Greater Washington. March 24, 2016. Supplementary Reading City of Cambridge: Transit Strategic Plan (PDF-13.2MB). 2015. NACTO Urban Street Design Guide Urb-I Street Design Before-After photos Institute of Traffic Engineers Traffic Calming Library
7: Transportation Planning Methods and Measures: The 4-Step Model (and Other Traffic Models)	Required Readings Beimborn, E., R. Kennedy, and W. Schaefer. “Inside the Blackbox: Making Transportation Models Work for Livable Communities.” Citizens for a Better Environment, the Environmental Defense Fund. 1996. Wachs, Martin. “Forecasting versus envisioning: A new window on the future.” Journal of the American Planning Association 67, no. 4 (2001): 367-372. Bain, Robert. Toll Road Traffic and Revenue Forecasts. Self-published, 2009. ISBN: 9780956152718. Pritchard, David. “Notes on Pushkarev and Zupan, Public Transportation, and Land Use Policy.” Supplementary Reading Chapter 5 (sections 5.0-5.1, 5.4) and Chapter 7 (7.0-7.2) in Meyer, Michael and Eric Miller. Urban Transportation Planning. McGraw-Hill. 2000. ISBN: 9780072423327. Zmud, Johanna P., Vincent P. Barabba, Mark Bradley, J. Richard Kuzmyak, Mia Zmud, and David Orrell. Strategic Issues Facing Transportation, Volume 6: The Effects of Socio-Demographics on Future Travel Demand. No. Project 20-83 (6). 2014.
8: Congestion and Solutions	Required Readings Downs, Anthony. Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion. Brookings Institution Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780815719236. Eisele, Bill, Tim Lomax and David Schrank. “TTI’s 2012 Urban Mobility Report (Powered by INRIX Traffic Data) (PDF).” Texas A&M Transportation Institute. December 2012. Cortright, Joseph. “Driven Apart: How Sprawl is Lengthening Our Commutes and why Misleading Mobility Measures are Making Things Worse: Executive Summary (PDF).” CEOs for Cities, 2010. Duranton, Gilles, and Matthew A. Turner. “The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from U.S. Cities.” The American Economic Review 101, no. 6 (2011): 2616-2652. Vickrey, William. “Principles of Efficient Congestion Pricing.” Columbia University (1992). King, David, Michael Manville, and Donald Shoup. “The Political Calculus of Congestion Pricing.” Transport Policy 14, no. 2 (2007): 111-123. Supplementary Reading Chingcuanco, Franco Franco Felipe. “Congestion Pricing: Policy Dimensions, Public Rejection and Impacts.” PhD diss., MIT, 2014. Gomez-Ibanez, Jose. “The Political Economy of Highway Tolls and Congestion Pricing.” Transportation Quarterly 46: 3, July 1992. Small, Kenneth A. “Unnoticed Lessons from London: Road Pricing and Public Transit.” (PDF) Access Magazine 26 (2005). Oregon Department of Transportation. “Road Usage Pilot Program 2013 and Per-Mile Charge Policy in Oregon (PDF-1.0MB).”
9: Project Evaluation and Environmental Impacts of Transportation	Required Readings Chapter 8 (sections 8.1-8.4) in Meyer, Michael and Eric Miller. Urban Transportation Planning. McGraw-Hill. 2000. ISBN: 9780072423327. United States Environmental Protection Agency. “Fast Facts: U.S. Transportation Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 1990-2011 (PDF).” Transportation Research Board. “Expanding Metropolitan Highways: Implications for Air Quality and Energy Use.” 1996. Jenkins, Joseph, Michael Colella, and Frederick Salvucci. “Agglomeration Benefits and Transportation Projects: Review of Theory, Measurement, and Application.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2221 (2011): 104-111. Kitman, Jamie Lincoln. “The Secret History of Lead.” The Nation. March 2, 2000. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Wynn Casino SSFEIR MEPA Certificate (PDF). Supplementary Reading Chapter 3 (pages 26-45, 59-72) in Meyer, Michael and Eric Miller. Urban Transportation Planning. McGraw-Hill. 2000. ISBN: 9780072423327. Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Wynn Casino Impact Analysis (PDF-1.6MB).
10: Land Use and Transportation Connections	Required Readings Ewing, Reid, and Robert Cervero. “Travel and the Built Environment.” Journal of the American Planning Association 76, no. 3 (2010): 265-294. Handy, Susan. “Smart Growth and the Transportation-Land Use Connection: What Does the Research Tell Us?.” International Regional Science Review 28, no. 2 (2005): 146-167 Krieger, Alex. “The Costs - and Benefits? - of Sprawl.” in Saunders, William S., ed. Sprawl and Suburbia: A Harvard Design Magazine Reader. Vol. 2. U of Minnesota Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780816647552. Benfield, Kaid. “Is It Time for ‘Smarter Smart Growth’?”
11: The Other Battle for the Space Between Buildings: Parking	Required Readings Chapter 1 in Shoup, Donald. The High Cost of Free Parking. APA Planners Press, 2011. ISBN: 9781932364965. McCahill, Chris, Norman Garrick, Carol Atkinson-Palombo, and Adam Polinski. “Effects of Parking Provision on Automobile Use in Cities: Inferring Causality.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board (2015). ISBN: 9781932364965. Ferrentino, Cara Elizabeth. “Cambridge in Transition: Regulating Parking in a Growing City.” PhD diss., MIT, 2013. Ruiz, Israel. “Announcing Access MIT.” Organizational Chart. MIT. June 14, 2016. Parking Debate (read in this order) Cowen, Tyler. “Free Parking Comes at a Price.” The New York Times. August 14, 2010. O’Toole, Randal. “Free Markets for Free Parking.” Cato at Liberty. The Cato Institute. August 16, 2010. Shoup, Donald. “Free Parking Markets (PDF).” E-mail to Randal O’Toole. August 31, 2010. O’Toole, Randal. “Donald Shoup on Free Parking.” Cato at Liberty. The Cato Institute. September 1, 2010. Shoup, Donald. “Shoup: Cato HQ the Perfect Lab for Reforming Commuter Parking Subsidies.” StreetsBlog NYC. September 9, 2010. Supplementary Reading McDonald, John M. “Parking on Campus: It’s Really a Numbers Game (PDF).” MIT Faculty Newsletter. Vol XIV, No. 3 (Jan/Feb 2002). p. 26-27. Chang, Winnie C. “Whose Parking Space Is It?: Managing Residential Parking in the Context of Urban Growth: Case Study of Cambridge, MA.” PhD diss., MIT, 2014. Chapter 3, sections 3.1-3.2 in Block-Schacter, David, Michael Kay, Francesca Napolitan, and Tegin Teich. “Sustainable Transport @ MIT: Final Report.” May 21, 2007.
12: No class - Thanksgiving Holiday
13: Transportation Planning Methods and Measures: Access to Destinations	Required Readings Handy, Susan L., and Debbie A. Niemeier. “Measuring Accessibility: An Exploration of Issues and Alternatives.” Environment and Planning A 29, no. 7 (1997): 1175-1194. State Smart Transportation Initiative. “Trip-Making and Accessibility: New Tools, Better Decisions (PDF-1.0MB).” 2016. Tomer, Adie. “Where the Jobs Are: Employer Access to Labor by Transit.” Washington, DC: Brookings Institution (2012). Supplementary Reading Levinson, David. “Access to Destinations: Access Across America.” University of Minnesota. 2013. Explore: Access Across America Maps and Studies Brisbane Case Study in Burke, Matthew, Jago Dodson, Anthony Perl, and Neil Sipe. “The Governance and Funding of Urban Access in Developed Countries.” Melo, Patricia C., Daniel J. Graham, and Robert B. Noland. “A Meta-Analysis of Estimates of Urban Agglomeration Economies.” Regional Science and Urban Economics 39, no. 3 (2009): 332-342. Graham, Daniel J. “Variable Returns to Agglomeration and the Effect of Road Traffic Congestion.” Journal of Urban Economics 62, no. 1 (2007): 103-120. Peralta-Quirós, Tatiana. “Exploring the Relationship Between Destination Accessibility, Cluster Formation and Employment Growth in Kendall Square.” PhD diss., MIT, 2013. Kothari, Tejus Jitendra. “A Comparative Financial Analysis of the Automobile and Public Transportation in London.” PhD diss., MIT, 2007. Abstract and introduction. Chapter 6 (section 6.0-6.2) in Meyer, Michael and Eric Miller. Urban Transportation Planning. McGraw-Hill. 2000. ISBN: 9780072423327.
14: Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Transportation	Required Readings Wald, Matthew L. “Travel Habits Must Change to Make a Big Difference in Energy Consumption.” The New York Times. December 30, 2006. Marshall, Stephen, and David Banister. “Travel Reduction Strategies: Itentions and Outcomes.” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 34, no. 5 (2000): 321-338. Banister, David. “Reducing CO2 by 60% in 2030: The Impossible Challenge for Transport?” Presented at the 11th World Conference on Transport Research, Berkeley, CA, June 2007. Handy, Susan, and Marlon G. Boarnet. Impact of Highway Capacity and “Impact of Highway Capacity and Induced Travel on Passenger Vehicle Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions (PDF).” California Environmental Protection Agency, Air Resources Board, Retrieved August 28 (2014): 2015. Yang, Christopher, David McCollum, Ryan McCarthy, and Wayne Leighty. “Meeting an 80% Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transportation by 2050: A Case Study in California.” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 14, no. 3 (2009): 147-156. Supplementary Reading Heywood, John. Speech in “Energy for a Rapidly Evolving World.” 33:28-47:07. MIT TechTV. May 2006. DiMambro, Antonio. “Boston’s Next Urban Frontier: Opportunities and Challenges for Infrastructure Development.” Lecture at Boston Architectural College, August 13, 2013.