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Livability 101

Six Principles of Livability

  • Provide more transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our dependence on oil, improve air quality and promote public health.
  • Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.
  • Improve economic competitiveness of neighborhoods by giving people reliable access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs.
  • Target federal funding toward existing communities – through transit-oriented and land recycling – to revitalize communities, reduce public works costs, and safeguard rural landscapes.
  • Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding and increase the effectiveness of programs to plan for future growth.
  • Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods, whether rural, urban or suburban.

Partnership for Sustainable Communities

Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHoodSoon after Ray LaHood was sworn in as Secretary of Transportation, an intermodal working group was formed to start shaping the Department’s vision of Livability. Initial steps included the identification of all existing programs and authorities within the Department that already supported livability in one way or another and drafting possible changes to these programs that would allow the Department to make Livability a priority and make real improvements in the lives of American citizens.

Soon after Ray LaHood was sworn in as Secretary of Transportation, an intermodal working group formed to shape the Department’s vision of Livability. Initial steps included the identification of all existing programs and authorities within the Department that already supported livability in one way or another and drafting possible changes to these programs that would allow the Department to make Livability a priority and make real improvements in the lives of American citizens.

Updated: Monday, October 1, 2012