Village Station : a sustainable transit oriented community, Valparaiso, Indiana

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Authors
Haubert, Joseph E.
Advisor
Cairns, Malcolm D.
Issue Date
2008
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (B.L.A.)
Department
College of Architecture and Planning
Other Identifiers
Abstract

Millions of people commute to work every day in the United States, many of whom that live in larger metropolitan areas spend an hour or more one way. With issues like global warming and high oil prices adding time in cars simply idling on the highway is both damaging our environment and costing people money. There has even been a report done that said if people on the highway could cut just five minutes of idling out of there commute it could save 180 gallons of gas a day. The typical response to this is to create more highways with more lanes which then inevitably creates more sprawl which then bring back the congestion.This is why there has been a movement away from the typical way of community development. One way that has been in practice for decades that is now starting to take hold again is transit oriented developments (TODs). The key to the popularity of these designs is their centralization around a transit hub, typically a commuter rail station. This allows people to live away from the city but still have many of the amenities in their own community as well as the ability to access public transportation to take them quickly and easily to the urban areas."Transit Oriented Development as an approach to combat traffic congestion and protect the environment has caught on all across the country. The trick for real estate developers has always been identifying the hot transportation system. Today, highways are out urban transit systems are in."