The Arvada, CO, request for qualifications for its Olde Town Arvada TOD project has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

Reconnecting America has released two documents related to the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts / Small Starts final rule and proposed policy guidance. The first is a broad overview of key features of the rule, along with a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The second provides a detailed look at the changes to the project justification criteria and FTA's new methodology for evaluating and rating projects.

In January, Transportation for America released Making the Most of MAP-21, a 109-page handbook that explains the many changes in federal transportation policy — positive and negative — and outlines how local officials and advocates can help get involved and urge states to make sure that MAP-21 — Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century — money is used for the priorities of local communities. On Feb. 27, Transportation for America held a webinar focused on helping rural communities to take advantage of the MAP-21 changes. Among the speakers was Reconnecting America's President and CEO John Robert Smith.

A memo outlining transit-oriented development opportunities surrounding the downtown San Francisco railyards at 4th and King streets has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

Visit the Are We There Yet? home While the creative class is causing seismic shifts in the urban landscape — bringing investment, entrepreneurship and creative class jobs into downtowns and urban neighborhoods — shifts are also underway in the suburbs. For every decade since the 1920s the suburbs have grown faster than their city centers but this summer census data showed that between 2010 and 2011 city centers grew faster than suburbs in 27 of the nation’s 51 largest metropolitan areas. From 2000 to 2010, in contrast, only five metro areas saw their cores grow faster than their surrounding suburbs. There is also anecdotal evidence of a similar shift in commercial real estate. The Wall Street Journal, for example, noted in 2012 that the big box chains Lowe’s and Best Buy are saddled with poorly performing stores “whose problems may have less to do with how they are run but more where they are located . .

The Ontario Growth Secretariat has completed two new case studies of completed projects that illustrate key policies in the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The case studies are King Street Reconstruction in Kitchener and Artscape Wychwood Barns in Toronto. These projects were selected because they:

Editor's Note: Metropolitan Areas across the United States are competing against each other to attract new business investment and an educated workforce – coined the "creative class" by Richard Florida. Many believe these are key ingredients to help regions remain economically resilient and strong in the 21st century. Yet, at a time when there is a rising demand for an educated workforce that meets the definition of the "creative class", we face the fact that one in four children under the age six are living in poverty which statistically leads to poor quality of life outcomes as they grow older. This excerpt from Are We There Yet discusses these disparate realities, raising the point that they are intimately intertwined, and that building complete communities is a way to address both.
Visit the Are We There Yet? home Much has been made in this country of the changing preferences of the younger generation of workers…

A trio of research papers have been added to the Research Center’s best practices database.