Building Inclusive Neighborhoods: Assessing the Socio-Spatial Implications of Transit-Oriented Development in St
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BUILDING INCLUSIVE NEIGHBORHOODS: ASSESSING THE SOCIO-SPATIAL IMPLICATIONS OF TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI BY DWAYNE MARSHALL BAKER DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Regional Planning in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Faranak Miraftab, Chair Associate Professor Joe Grengs, University of Michigan, Director of Research Associate Professor Bumsoo Lee Associate Professor Arnab Chakraborty Abstract This dissertation research emphasizes achieving greater urban inclusion through transit- oriented development (TOD). In exploring St. Louis, Missouri’s Delmar Loop TOD site, I specifically focus on the impact public transportation activities have on residents in neighborhoods surrounding light rail transit stations. I seek to understand if these developments indeed improve living conditions and urban inclusion for residents in areas around the station. TODs can be desirable spaces for residents, planners, and developers as they potentially enhance economic development, improve regional connectivity, increase transit ridership, among many other benefits and goals. However, this desirability of TODs may lead to the people with the most need for public transportation and improved neighborhood conditions being further marginalized. I argue that TOD activities can indeed assist in establishing non-inclusive spaces. By TOD activities, I refer to TOD plans, plan-making, plan implementation, and developments related to TOD plans. The following research questions guide this research: 1) Does gentrification and TOD related neighborhood change occur in light rail transit station neighborhoods? 2) What principles guide TOD activities? 3) What are the (overall and inclusive) TOD activities planners should undertake? 4) What overall and inclusive TOD activities occur? 5) How can planners better assist in establishing inclusive TOD neighborhoods? I answer these questions through a mixed method analysis, employing both quantitative and qualitative analyses. First, I use spatial regression analyses to explore the relationship between gentrification-related residential change and LRT stations. The results from the analyses point toward St. Louis, Missouri and the Delmar Loop TOD site specifically as a place to further ii examine gentrification and inclusivity. Second, I undertake a case study of the Delmar Loop utilizing interviews, observations, and document analysis to identify and analyze whether and how planners engage in inclusive TOD activities. I ultimately found that: 1) planners did not assist in establishing the Delmar Loop TOD site as an inclusive neighborhood and; 2) it is not a homogenous neighborhood where all TOD residents and spaces benefit from transit and neighborhood developments. Delmar Loop TOD activities ignored a portion of the TOD site largely occupied by minorities that most needed neighborhood improvements and increased transit access. Overall, the results of this dissertation describe the ways that planners consciously and inadvertently undertake activities that socially, spatially, and economically affect urban spaces largely occupied by minorities and the poor. Demonstrating how such planning activities unfold will show the specific, everyday ways in which blacks, minorities in general, and the poor are marginalized – contributing to the production and reproduction of U.S. urban segregation. The study of the Delmar Loop TOD site is instructive to TOD planners in general as it shows how not maintaining active leadership focusing on inclusion may possibly result in non- inclusive neighborhoods. It is also instructive to planners as it identifies how not identifying existing contextual issues may result in the marginalization of black (and minorities in general) and poor TOD residents. Both of which specifically aim to ensure that the people who need urban inclusion the most are served through projects improving transit access. iii Acknowledgements I first would like to thank my dissertation committee members. Thank you to my dissertation advisor, Faranak Miraftab, for her guidance and honest feedback at every point in this doctoral process. Her insight has been more useful than I could have ever imagined. I am much appreciative and far better off as a scholar for it. I also want to thank my director of research and co-advisor, Joe Grengs, for his time and dedication to this research project. Joe’s dedication and support provided me with the confidence needed to complete this project. Additionally, I want to thank Bumsoo Lee for his patience and mentorship as a committee member and collaborator. Finally, I would like to thank Arnab Chakraborty for his support and suggestions which pushed me to think more critically about my project. More than anything, from my dissertation committee, I learned how to be a better colleague – knowing that patience, support, and critical feedback provide the foundation for working amongst scholars. I would also like to thank my colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Sang Lee, Stephanie Timm, Max Pike, Shruti Syal, Sophia Sianis, Stephen Sherman, Aujean Lee, Matt Yoder, Ahmad Gamal, Haozhi Pan, Andrew McMillan, Esteban Lopez, Troy Mix, Mallory Rahe, Maria “Lupita” Gomez-Lang, Alex Stanton, Maximillian Eisenburger, and Shakil bin Kashem. I could not have completed this work without you. Thanks also goes out to all of previous colleagues at Binghamton University, Jackson State University, and Seattle University. The little moments and conversations I shared with all of you have broadened my world-view more than I could ever quantify. I would also like to thank the people I interviewed in the St. Louis region. Their stories and openness serves as the foundation to this work. And special thanks to my immediate family here in the Midwest and Nichelle. Moments with each of you provided the mental breaks I needed to make finishing this project possible. iv Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature Review .....................................................................................................11 Chapter 3: Gentrification and Light Rail Statistical Findings: Are Light Rail Stations Associated with Gentrification and TOD Related Neighborhood Change? ...........................38 Chapter 4: What guides TOD Planning Activities in St. Louis and at the Delmar Loop Site? A Content Analysis of TOD and Light Rail Plans ...........................................................85 Chapter 5: What are the St. Louis and Delmar Loop Planning Actions? Examining the Actions Associated with Procedural Guiding Principles ........................................................109 Chapter 6: What are the St. Louis and Delmar Loop Planning Actions? Examining the Actions Associated with Substantive Guiding Principles .......................................................148 Chapter 7: Conclusion: How Can Planners Assist in Establishing Inclusive TOD Neighborhoods?..........................................................................................................................191 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................206 Appendix A: 30-year change (1980-2010) OLS Regressions Results ....................................224 Appendix B: 20-year change (1990-2010) OLS Regressions Results ....................................226 Appendix C: Descriptive Statistics – 30-year change (1980-2010) Variables .......................228 Appendix D: Descriptive Statistics – 20-year change (1990-2010) Variables .......................229 Appendix E: Set 2 Results, 30-year change (1980-2010) ........................................................230 Appendix F: Set 2 Results, 20-year change (1990-2010) ........................................................231 Appendix G: Light Rail Line and Station Shapefile Sources ................................................232 Appendix H: Initial Interview Question Guide .......................................................................234 Appendix I: Interview Log ........................................................................................................235 Appendix J: Direct Observations Log......................................................................................236 v Chapter 1: Introduction For the last 30 years, leading scholars and national and Federal agencies have promoted the importance of Transit Oriented Developments (TODs), identified as cohesively planned mixed-use neighborhood-scale developments with a specific focus on pedestrian and public transit usage within a quarter- to half-mile radius of a transit stop. This is because TODs are expected to improve a multitude of urban and regional conditions, including economic opportunities (Corbett & Zykofsy, 1996), environmental sustainability (combating climate change) (Chatman, 2013), regional and transit access (Lund, 2006), social equity (Atkinson- Palombo & Kuby, 2011), and land use (Calthorpe, 1993) – all of which, taken together, provide livable neighborhoods (Bernick & Cervero, 1997). As a result, planners have turned to TODs as a more sustainable and overall beneficial form of development. This dissertation research shows that TOD activities