Author(s)

A. Savvides

Abstract

The connection between improved public transit and mobility on the fundamental trip between residence and workplace or leisure becomes especially important as gasoline prices – affecting the users of private automobiles – become prohibitive. Whereas before the crisis housing development locations may have been affected predominantly by land values, post crisis development may be shifting towards the proximity to public transportation infrastructure in order to offset enhanced mobility costs. Transportation nodes, from their initial inception, have been organizing forces in a city’s housing development policies. At the same time, driving and the use of highways has been a fact of life for many people in Cyprus who live in circumstances that demand car travel. At the community level, local governments are beginning to establish development policies to promote this enhanced connectivity by relating transportation cost savings resulting from new housing development at points of exchange that allow enhanced connectivity to the primary destinations of work and basic services. Incentives used for new development to locate near transit lines and stations are explored, as are design guidelines for projects aimed at improving access beyond public transit stations to a network of arterial roads that improve mobility options. Alternatives in the use of the automobile to connect local destinations are investigated, such as at the nodal points of education, healthcare and retail and professional services.

Keywords

social housing, housing policies, housing finance, housing demand indicators, transit oriented development.