ABSTRACT
The counterpoint to the correlation between low-density sprawl and automobile dependence is that between high density and more transit use. These correlations are in general empirically supported, and while the United States is the exemplar of the first correlation, much of the rest of the world is representative of the second. However, this chapter does not focus on this somewhat banal observation. Rather, it is concerned not with statics but dynamics, not with description but with policy. With special attention to the Atlanta metropolitan area, although the arguments can easily be extended to other US metropolitan areas, the key questions are: Can a city increase transit use and decrease automobile dependence by increasing densities? Or, would an increase in the supply of public transit result in increase densities? Of course, there are important feasibility issues here. How long does it take for a city, via changes in zoning ordinances and other measures, to affect a significant increase in densities? Does a city have access to the fiscal resources (from the local to the Federal) to invest enough in public transit to influence densities?
