US Cities Still Struggle to Build Housing Near Public Transit

The principle behind transit-oriented development, or TOD, is so fundamental it might not seem like it needs an acronym. An urban planning term that emerged in the US in the 1980s, TOD calls for housing to be built near public transportation, boosting transit ridership and affordability at the same time.

But in a postwar era of suburban sprawl, highway building and deepening car dependency, centering public transit in the housing conversation was a major departure from the US norm. In recent decades, many state and local governments in the US embraced transit-oriented development policies to encourage denser, more walkable development as a solution to housing shortages, rising home ...