It’s the idea that development near public transit stations should include an abundance of housing so people can use transit as their main source of transportation to more easily access jobs and services.
If you’re familiar with the transportation industry, then you know that acronyms and abbreviations are a way of life. There are various acronyms you’ll likely run into, but one such acronym to be familiar with is “TOD,” which stands for transit-oriented development.
Transit-oriented development is both a strategy and an outcome. It’s the idea that development near public transit stations should include an abundance of housing so people can use transit as their main source of transportation to more easily access jobs and services. Sound Transit, a public transit agency located in the Seattle Metropolitan area, first introduced TOD as a policy framework in their TOD Program Strategic Plan in 2010. The policy and strategic plan provide the foundation for Sound Transit’s approach to integrating transit infrastructure and local and regional land use development.
In 2021, Sound Transit hired PRR to support community engagement for their TOD efforts to plan the transformation of industrial properties currently storing construction equipment into hubs of housing and services. Their goal is to attract developers that will honor community needs, which include having a percentage of affordable housing units near a transit center.
PRR’s TOD engagement efforts at a glance:
The above bullets are community engagement services PRR provides for Sound Transit’s TOD efforts. Our scope includes properties near the Kent/Des Moines Station area, Overlake Village Station, University District Station, and Lynnwood City Center Station. PRR also provides services such as digital engagement with community members through Social Pinpoint, community conversations, stakeholder interviews, surveys, language services, materials design, and marketing support. Sound Transit will use the community’s feedback to inform its process to select a developer at each site.
Our work has produced thousands of engagements in multiple languages so far, with more work on the way. We just won our third on-call contract to support even more TOD outreach starting later this fall.
Check out our key PRR team members who have worked on TOD projects across our different office locations: Abdullahi Jama, Alex Sobie, An Duong, Bree Narag, Brett Houghton, Bruce Brown, Daniel Ruiz, Emma Dorazio, Evgenia Zdravaia, Haden Reif, Jacqueline Ramirez, Jay Silvas, Jen Rash, Jenny Thacker, Megan Harris, Morgan Calder, Lauren Wheeler, Laurence Idos, Nick Terry, Nino Mascarella, Scott Burns, Yingwen Robertson, and Yiran Huang.
People are at the heart of our work, and we have some really great people.
We help our clients change the world for the better. Interested in joining the team?
An anti-racist PRR dismantles systems of advantage based on race when and wherever possible. We engage staff of all racial identities in dismantling white supremacy culture at work. This includes personal ideologies, beliefs, and behaviors. And, it includes removing white supremacy culture from the systems, cultural messages, institutional policies, procedures, and practices that PRR and our staff interact with and inform. We believe it is not enough to be “not racist.” We must be “anti-racist.”
