Maintaining Diversity In America’s Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools for Equitable Neighborhood Change
Stephanie Pollack, Barry Bluestone, Anna Gartsman
October 2010
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Extending public transportation to a metropolitan neighborhood for the first time can, in some cases, raise rents and attract wealthier residents who would drive rather than ride the train.
New public transit investments can sometimes lead to gentrification which prices out renters and low-income households — people considered core public-transportation users — working against the goal of drawing in transit-oriented neighbors.
The study urges planners and policymakers to consider the unintended consequences of neighborhood gentrification when expanding or improving public transit, given the risk that transit investment can cause undesirable neighborhood change.
Connecting with Our Economic Future: A Transportation Investment Strategy for the Life Sciences Cluster
Stephanie Pollack
October 2007
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Transportation infrastructure is a critical yet often overlooked component to economic development.
The geographic compactness of the Greater Boston life sciences cluster is currently one of our strongest competitive advantages, allowing productive connectivity between university and hospital researchers, physicians, and industry. Yet thousands of daily trips between labs, classrooms, hospitals and companies within this same geographic concentration also create congestion. The challenge then becomes how to provide transportation infrastructure that can accommodate the demand for connectivity in this growing industry.
A 2001 Jones Lang LaSalle survey shows that over 75% of knowledge-based technology companies consider access to public transportation to be a key factor in evaluating potential sites. Throughout the U.S., cities and regions are investing in infrastructure and transportation improvements — particularly in transit — to better serve the anchor institutions and geographic areas that are most vital to their life sciences clusters.
Targeted and strategic investment in transportation that supports our life sciences will not only enhance our regional economic competitiveness and create ‘a better city’, but also ultimately enhance our competitive position across industries to make a better Commonwealth.
In October 2007, A Better City released a report that examines the role of transportation infrastructure in creating stronger and better connections among the institutions and businesses in the life sciences sector. The report, titled Connecting with our Economic Future: A Transportation Investment Strategy for the Life Sciences Cluster, includes a comprehensive set of transportation investment recommendations designed to maintain our competitive edge in the life sciences. These recommendations include short- and longer term recommendations in the areas of capital initiatives, operational initiatives, and policy and planning.
On the Right Track: Meeting Greater Boston’s Transit and Land Use Challenges
Stephanie Pollack
October 2007
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This report and recommendations from the Urban Land Institute Boston District Council – with support from the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy and The Boston Foundation – outlines the challenges and opportunities facing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and proposes a series of steps and an investment plan towards long-term regional sustainability.
“On the Right Track,” which was authored by Senior Research Associate, Stephanie Pollack, acknowledges that “the MBTA transit system is a regional asset and critical piece of economic development infrastructure that anchors regional efforts to increase housing production, create jobs, grow smart and embrace diversity and inclusion.”
