1999 Grant Recipient Information
Connecticut

Picture It Better Together: Taking Transportation Goals From Policy to Reality
Hartford Metropolitan Area, Connecticut

Abstract

The Capital Region Council of Governments and the City of Hartford have merged proposals into a project that is innovative in content and in method. This fused proposal examines the links between transportation, land use, and economic development at both the neighborhood and regional level. Through the Picture It Better Together: Taking Transportation Goals from Policy to Reality project, we will research sustainable development practices informed by local and regional perspectives. Tensions often exist between grassroots, neighborhood efforts and more top-down regional planning. Our proposal seeks to use the creative potential of tension by building a team of community stakeholders and regional planners. This effort will use our different outlooks as catalysts for implementing actions that strengthen the transportation, land use, and environmental connection so that local and regional actions reinforce each other.

Picture It Better Together will identify traditional forms of circulation and land use patterns in three prototypical communities: one urban, one suburban, and one rural. Then in each we will plan for integrative patterns of development. At the regional level, we will research and form best development practices, business incentives, and public/private support for these strategies. We will also facilitate discussion about regional interdependence. At the neighborhood level, we will plan human-scaled land use designs that integrate multiple transport modes and address traffic conflicts. Working from both perspectives will yield local actions supported by broader policies and resources.

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