MnDOT’s Office of Livability developed the Livability Framework to help guide planning, programming, and project development processes. It is being piloted in MnDOT Metro District. The outcomes should result in more people focused outcomes for the plans, programs and projects in the District. The Livability Initiative wants each of the Livability Pillars of the Livability Framework to be thoroughly considered and evaluated when planners, project managers, and others make decisions about transportation policies, programs, and/or projects.
To support this effort, the Office of Livability is creating a Livability Measurement Tool that will help planners, project managers, and others understand and integrate livability considerations, and determine what actions can address these needs. An initial step for this is a summary of current best practices for how to measure livability.
A recently completed Transportation Research Synthesis provides a literature review of research on measuring livability. The summary covers policy-informed best practices for measuring livability and identifies points of consensus, debates, and gaps in research on how to measure livability as the MnDOT Office of Livability defines it.
Within the body of research analyzed, there was consensus regarding the effect of the built environment on human health and subjective wellbeing, and measurements for its assessment. However, there are notable gaps in existing literature for measuring feelings of belonging, the inequitable burden of transportation systems on vulnerable populations, and distrust in government by residents, among other issues.
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