Built environment: housing, transportation and development patterns
Draft Goals and Indicators
The built environment supports good health, a thriving economy, and equitable
and cohesive communities. All residents enjoy decent, affordable housing. The
spatial arrangement of buildings, transportation networks and other infrastructure
supports community interaction and services, while optimizing energy
expenditure, green spaces, and ecosystem services. These patterns of
development form a resilient landscape that can absorb the impacts of climate
change and other environmental stressors with minimal disruption.
1.0 Transportation
1.1 Transportation networks support the efficient mobility of people and the
efficient movement of goods to support a robust regional economy,
Transportation infrastructure, comprising roads, bridges and tunnels, bicycle
and pedestrian routes, public transit and rail systems, ports, and airports, is
constructed and used in a manner that minimizes environmental impacts.
1.2 Transportation infrastructure is maintained to a functional and structurally
sound standard.
1.3 Transportation infrastructure is resilient to the impacts of climate change:
remains functional under conditions of extreme heat, high winds, worsening
inland and coastal flooding, and storm surge. (This is a climate resilience
indicator).
2 Housing
2.1 New Jersey residents have housing choices that are decent (provide safe and
healthy environment with adequate plumbing and heating) and affordable.
(equity indicator).
2.2 Housing and business properties are resilient to the impacts of climate
change; that is, their design and location minimize vulnerability to damage
associated with climate [variability and] risk. (climate resilience indicator)
3 Development [and open space]
3.1 Development and redevelopment patterns optimize existing infrastructure and
underutilized spaces (brownfields in particular), while incorporating green
infrastructure and open space.
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INDICATORS
1.0 Transportation

1.1 Efficient transportation (supports efficient housing pattern); (a climate
mitigation indicator):
Growth in VMT (plotted with population) or VMT/capita or VMT/capita
normalized for GDP/in a baseline year GDP
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/tvtfaq.cfm
[Alternate or additional indicators:
 Efficient choices: Total percentage of workers commuting via walking, biking,
transit, and carpooling; ACS – see p 9 in OSHC manual for instructions (would
need to sum counties to get a state value)

Efficient movement of goods & support for economy: potentially ‘share of rail
mode’ for freight movement – listed as an available indicator in the NJDOT
LongRange Transpo plan

Safe: Number and trend in total vehicle-related fatalities (car on car, ped, bike –
broken out by category); (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration –Fatality
Analysis Reporting System http://wwwfars.nhtsa.dot.gov/)

Accessible and affordable transportation options: % of [urban] households within
0.5 mi of a regular transit stop

Transportation affordability from H&T index – (Transpo portion of index is based
on estimates>> an algorithm which combines auto & public transit costs. I have
heard and read serious critiques making this a dubious choice). ]
1.2 Transportation infrastructure condition

% or miles/# of roads and bridges in need of repair (ASCE)
1.3 Transportation infrastructure climate resilience

#, % or miles of roads and bridges exposed to flooding, now and with estimated
sea level rise (range) by 2050 (eventually + storm surge, inland flooding)
(indicator not yet available, under development)
2.0 Housing
2.1 affordable housing – cost of housing relative to (Also consider
availability of (affordable) housing).

% of all residents [in each quintile?] that are spending >30% of their
income on rent – benchmark vs US avg; ACS 1996-2010
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Alternate indicators or additional in some future report
 Percentage of housing units that are affordable to low-moderate income
households [NYSERDA method, p.20 – from HUD source, http://egis.hud.gov/cpdmaps/]
 Homeless population/ rate of homelessness
 Affordable and available units per 100 households at or below extreme
low-income threshold (data in report for 2012? only; could calculate or
request historical data? National Low-income Housing Coalition)
 Housing availability: Vacancy rates in NJ compared to US: rental and
owner-occupied [available from HUD site]
 foreclosures
2.2 Housing climate resilience

# of repetitive loss properties

# (%?) housing units and business properties exposed to flooding
today + sea level rise projected by 2050 (range) (in future take into
account; elevated homes, storm surge, inland flooding)
Potential future indicators:
o % of population living in hazard prone area
o % housing of socially vulnerable population in floodplain
3.0 Development [and open space]
3.1 Density & location of (re)development
o % redevelopment vs. ‘sprawl’: % of Certificates of Occupancy that
were issued in municipalities are built out (defined at 90%)

Total ‘protected open space, including recreational areas, with public
access (ROSI)
Crosslinks with Social/community capital and Ecosystem Services: landscapes &
biodiversity
Alternate indicators or additional in some future report
 % of new development in: planned growth areas: % building permits or COs issued
for Planning areas 1 & 2
 per capita land consumption – area of developed (or “urban”) land/population = trend
in per capita consumption of land for each new person added to the population (a
measure of sprawl), compared to a base line year (rate of change) (Hasse and
Lathrop 2010 LU/LC report – 1972 - 2007; new report w/ 2012 data in the works but
not likely to be ready in time)
 Open space as a % municipal land area – mean, also lowest – or: per capita on a
municipal basis – mean and lowest; future analysis to neighbourhood or census
block level would demonstrate inequity (compare w/ race and income)
 % of urban dwellers that live within a 0.5 mile of a park [or] recreational facility
with public access
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