Metropolitan Research Center College of Architecture + Planning University of Utah WHITE PAPER ON REGIONAL CENTERS, TOWN CENTERS, AND TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENTS Reid Ewing, Kathryn Terzano, and Guang Tian REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANS AND DEFINITIONS OF CENTERS A review of the general and transportation plans of 123 cities across the nation shows that the term “center” is used in connection with various geographic levels--region, city, subregion, town, community, and village. Generally, no matter the geographic level, the center is described as the densest part of an area, characterized by compact, mixed-use development, multiple transit options and employment opportunities. These centers are nuclei, drawing people, goods, and activity towards them, thus generating and attracting trips. Alternatively, the term ‘center’ is used to signify clusters of certain activities or functions--an area with a single concentrated use, such as an employment center, transit center, residential center, or entertainment center. Unlike geographic-level centers, these types of centers are not necessary dense or mixed-use. For example, a city’s Central Business District may be described as an employment or economic center; a sprawling subdivision may be considered a city’s housing or population center; and the convergence of an airport and train station may constitute a city’s transit center. Among the surveyed plans, incidences of specific, quantitative definitions of ‘centers’ are rare. The most useful quantitative definition is provided by the City of Los Angeles which defines different geographic centers on the basis of dwelling units and jobs per acre. The most intense center--the urban urban center--has 82-120+ housing units per acre and provides at least 260 jobs; a city center provides 120-260 jobs acres and 48-82 dwelling units per acre; and a town center contains 16-48 units of housing and 30-120 jobs per acre. These benchmarks seem consistent with other cities’ use of the term.