Bridging the Gap: Community-Oriented Transit Development

The bedroom community has become a prevalent and oft-criticized part of the modern architectural landscape. These suburban towns have continually grown radially outward from major cities across the nation since the end of the Second World War. While these suburbs have served to fulfill housing needs and wants of society, pressure to develop has often forced this growth to occur at a much more rapid rate than a traditional community. This rapid development has led to poorly implemented infrastructure, especially with regard to walkability and public transportation, which has fallen short of meeting the needs of users. These solutions in turn have contributed to the automotive dependence of society, despite the numerous detrimental effects this engenders, such as waste of natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and increased congestion of roadways. This has led many within the architectural community to push for a shift away from the suburbs due to their lack of sustainability, especially when compared to urban environments. However, the reality of the situation which our society faces does not enable us to simply abandon the suburbs in a mass exodus to city centers. Even if it did, there is a large percentage of the population which simply likes suburbia and its associated lifestyle. If this is the case, then, there needs to be a shift in the way transit is implemented within these communities. This thesis will examine how improving access to transit can revitalize bedroom communities and better serve their residents. Through examining the town of Beacon, NY, a bedroom community serving New York City and currently underutilizing its existing transit infrastructure, this thesis will explore how architecture can integrate mass transit into lives and daily activities of a community in order to better serve its residents and reduce automotive dependency