You’ve probably noticed that in several of my earlier posts, I have referred to the connection between transit and development. And you may have thought to yourself: “How can transit, which helps people get around, have anything to do with the kind of buildings that get built, and where they go?” Good question!
Historically, people have tended to settle and build at points along popular travel routes. And as places get built up, they attract more people, and more building. There is, and always has been, a linkage between the location of travel routes and the location of development. Here’s one interesting local example: archeologists working on the vivaNext project have focused their work on areas where creeks and the roadway intersect. Why? There is a greater chance of finding artifacts in such locations, because in the past, people travelling along those creeks would have stopped nearby for rest, for shelter, or to settle.
Another example in more recent Canadian history is that of the railways. When the railways were built across the country, little towns shortly began popping up all along the route. Many communities were built, or became as large as they did, because of the railways.
These examples demonstrate the strong relationship between transit and development. As a form of urban travel, transit creates natural stopping points along its routes. The more people there are using the transit system, the more activity there is at these points. Rapid transit–a form of transit that moves a high volume of people-creates stopping points with the potential to be visited by large numbers of people; this in turn spurs development.
Land use planners know this, which is why transit is a core component of York Region’s plan for managing future growth. Much of the new growth coming to York Region will take place in the areas closest to and along the transit routes. The transit routes have thus been planned in tandem with larger efforts to shape where growth will happen, tapping into the human pattern of wanting to build near travel routes.
We are already seeing proof that the pattern is once again playing out as expected, with many new developments being planned along the future vivaNext rapidways. Next time, I’ll talk more about the kind of development that you can expect to see along the rapidways.