The Livability Calculator

A tool to help professionals build better places.

Defining Livability

Join our March 16 webinar and find out more!

What if people could access most of their basic needs on foot or in a single transit trip?  While planners and designers stress the importance of livability and engage in land-use/transportation integration, little work has explored the potential of planning for livability at the corridor scale.  

 “TCRP Report 187: Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies“ by the Transit Cooperative Research Program, and its companion Livability Calculator, are designed to help planners, policy makers, and other stakeholders measure, evaluate, and improve transit corridor livability.  Interest in livability reached an important milestone in 2009 when the Secretaries of HUD, USDOT and EPA introduced six Livability Principles for the Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP), which have been refined to help build Livable Transit Corridors:
  • High-quality transit, walking, and bicycling opportunities.
  • Equitable and affordable housing near transit.
  • Transit-accessible economic opportunities.
  • Vibrant and accessible community, cultural, and recreational opportunities.
  • Effective corridor government and social services.
  • Healthy, safe, walkable transit corridor neighborhoods.

CFA’s livable transit corridor method translates these Livability Principles into measurable goals to identify and address corridor needs.

The Livable Transit Corridor method and Calculator are anchored by extensive research for the Transportation Research Board. Over 350 diverse corridors were studied nationally.  Case studies validated results and identified best practices for planning and implementation.