STRATEGIES FOR DESIGN: SHAPING PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT ADJACENT TO TRANSIT STATIONS By

Most urban planning practitioners agree that development near transit stations should be dense, should mix uses and should be oriented for pedestrians. To spur transit-oriented development, government must do two things: define the elements that make transit station-area design work, and create the regulations and process that ensures these elements become a part of station-area development. This thesis finds the elements that create a superior pedestrian experience near transit stations, and proposes a system of regulations, incentives and processes to make sure that developers integrate these elements into their projects. Design recommendations are based upon a review of successful and unsuccessful design elements at twenty-one case study station areas in California, Virginia and Arizona. Regulatory and process recommendations are based upon a review of four case study communities that have instituted different strategies for design. Conclusions are drawn from these cases and applied to the Tren Urbano system, a new rail system being completed in metropolitan San Juan, Puerto Rico. To successfully spur private development of high quality station-area projects, government must connect the fou