The Potential for 'Community Supportive' Transit

In a new article just published in the Journal of Urban Design, I present the findings of my research on the link between mass transit design and neighborhood identity. With a review of naming logics for several major transit systems, I argue that rail transit lines and stations are uniquely well-suited to the promotion of community identity through simple decisions about their identification and other basic design features.

By taking local identity into account, cities can not only foster a more transit-supportive community, but actually build more community-supportive transit. For cities like Los Angeles, trying to address recognized deficiencies in both mass transportation and community identity and cohesion, recognizing this connection could be crucial.

Here's the abstract for the article. It can be accessed here (or just email me for a copy).

Rail Transit Identification and Neighborhood Identity: Exploring the Potential for 'Community-Supportive Transit'

The preservation and promotion of neighbourhood identity is important in contemporary cities. Los Angeles, long known for its lack of both effective mass transit and, separately, local identity and cohesion among its neighbourhoods, is currently working to address each of these issues, yet little attention has been paid to the possibility that the two can be directly related. This paper investigates how rail transit line identification and station-naming decisions are not only important to community members but can have an impact on the neighbourhood identity. After introducing these ideas with the case of the identification of the Metro 'Expo Line' in LA, the paper turns to a comparison of naming logics for other local institutions and other major transit systems, arguing that cities could benefit from considering 'community supportive' transit design that promotes local identity in addition to more pragmatic wayfinding concerns.

Douglas, Gordon C. C. "Transit Identification and Neighborhood Identity: Exploring the Potential for 'Community-Supportive Transit,'" Journal of Urban Design, vol. 15, no. 2, May 2010. 175-193.