Livability Topic Guide

Livability entails the factors that create a community's quality of life, including access to transportation, natural resources, educational opportunities, medical care, employment, and leisure activities. 



National RTAP Resources

National RTAP and Shared-Use Mobility Center's Technical Brief, Livable Communities: Transit Services and Infrastructure that Promote Livability, 2021, discusses how transportation services can be adapted to build more livable communities in rural areas. 

Programs

FHWA's Livability Initiative

Western Transportation Institute and Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute's Small Urban and Rural Livability Center (SURLC)

Resources

AARP's Livability Index (search filtered by transportation), Roadmap to Livability, Transportation Workbook, 2018, The 8 Domains of Livability: An Introduction, 2020, Rural Livability Workshop Report, 2020, and Walk Audit Tool Kit Worksheet: Public Transit Access, 2022

FHWA/FTA's Livability in Transportation Guidebook: Planning Approaches that Promote Livability, 2010, and FHWA's Community Impact Assessment: A Quick Reference for Transportation, 2018 and Transportation and Rural Livability, 2020

International City/County Management Association's (ICMA)/Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Putting Smart Growth to Work in Rural Communities, 2010

Minnesota Department of Transportation's Measuring the Livability Framework, 2024

Mountain Plains Consortium's Developing a Livability Program for Indian Reservations: A Methodology and Case Study, 2015

National Association of Area Agencies on Aging's Making Your Community Livable for All Ages: What's Working! 2015

National Institute for Transportation and Communities' (NITC) Planning in Gateway and Natural Amenity Region Communities: Understanding the Unique Challenges Associated with Transportation, Mobility, and Livability, 2019

New England University Transportation Center's Understanding Perceptions of Transportation for Livable Communities, 2019

Project for Public Spaces and Main Street America's Navigating Main Streets as Places: A People-First Transportation Toolkit, 2019



Reconnecting America/CTAA/Rockefeller Foundation's Putting Transit to Work in Main Street America: How Smaller Cities and Rural Places are Using Transit and Mobility Investments to Strengthen Their Economies and Communities, 2012

SURLC/NCTR's Transit and Livability: Results from the National Community Livability Survey, 2018

TCRP's Understanding Changes in Demographics, Preferences, and Markets for Public Transportation, 2018 and Coordination of Public Transit Services and Investments with Affordable Housing Policies, 2022

Texas A&M Transportation Institute's National Rural Transit Livability Performance Measures

Transportation for America's Case Studies on Transit and Livable Communities in Rural and Small Town America, 2010

Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute's Transit and Community Livability Report, 2018, and Exploring Transit’s Contribution to Livability in Rural Communities: Case Study of Valley City, ND, and Dickinson, ND, 2016

Victoria Transport Policy Institute's Community Livability: Helping to Create Attractive, Safe, Cohesive Communities, 2017

Walk21's Integrating Walking and Public Transport, 2024

DISCLAIMER: The resources provided in each topic guide are not an exhaustive survey of every available resource on each topic. If you would like to add a resource to a Topic Guide, please email info@nationalrtap.org. This document was prepared by National RTAP with the financial assistance of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The contents do not necessarily represent the opinions or policy of any agency of the U.S. Government, and the U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. It does not have the force and effect of law and is not meant to bind the public in any way.

Updated June 27, 2024