Simulating the Effect of Light Rail on Urban Growth in Phoenix: An Application of the UrbanSim Modeling Environment

THE task of planning urban land-use and transportation systems has become more challenging in the face of an increasing set of dynamic influences on the behavior of households and businesses. The integration of the global economy, leading to both a quantitative and qualitative change in flows of information, capital, people, and goods, has, in part, led to a realignment of land uses. While some traditional industries have become de-centered within the urban context, other forms of economic activities are leading to re-centering around new nodes. On one hand, increasing affluence among many households has increased demand for land for housing and caused a dispersion of households farther away from the center. On the other hand, however, households that are being marginalized by globalizing processes are finding more segregated quarters and a limited ability to access urban amenities. In Phoenix, Arizona such processes are evident in the continued development of large, master-planned communities at the periphery, together with the movement of jobs to new employment clusters along major transportation corridors. At the same time, downtown Phoenix is also receiving significant attention as the location for a new campus