Impacts of light-rail transit on station areas in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, 2000--2005.

摘要

Light-rail transit (LRT) is increasingly being implemented alongside supportive policies such as overlay zoning---a planning ordinance that specifies the type and density of development---to stimulate land use change. Despite this thinking, no studies have examined the extent to which overlay zoning articulates with the improved accessibility provided by LRT to affect station areas. GIS-based analysis quantified the effects of light-rail and overlay zoning on three separate aspects of station areas in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, defined as those land parcels located within ½ mile walking distance of LRT stations: (1) residential density; (2) the price of pre-existing single-family houses and condos; and (3) the amount and form of new construction (2000--2005), defined as transit-oriented development (TOD). The first set of results show that overlay zoning rather than station area proximity creates more compact cities. The second set of results show that the economic valuation of LRT-related accessibility and overlay zoning vary by land use type: (1) for single-family houses, LRT-related accessibility commands a premium but overlay zoning generates a discount; (2) for condos, there is no nuisance effect associated with being "too near" a light-rail station, but rather the opposite effect; (3) for condos, overlay zoning generates a premium. The third set of analyses produced a typology of station areas: Low-Income Mixed-Use neighborhoods, Employment and Amenity Centers, areas of Urban Poverty, High Population Rental neighborhoods, and Transportation Nodes. Parcels in areas of Urban Poverty were three times more likely than other station area types to have overlay zoning but attracted a disproportionately small share of TOD. Conversely, Employment and Amenity Centers attracted a disproportionately large share of new construction on parcels without overlay zoning. Policy implications are that barriers to TOD vary across locations, that overlay zoning is critical in some locations to produce TOD and seemingly unimportant in others, and that the geographic distribution of TOD is strongly influenced by forces of agglomeration. Overall conclusions are that light-rail and overlay zoning have a complex relationship. Theoretical frameworks describing how land use and transportation interrelate in contemporary cities need to take into account multiple aspects of urban geography.