Livability is a broad concept – for a reason. Although Livability has specific targets in RF it can be influenced by a wide variety of factors – housing transportation education safety health environment etc. – nearly everything that RF is focused on. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently spoke at-length to Grist about his conception of livability the department’s agenda for the nation’s transportation and the impact of the political climate on that agenda.

Under LaHood the DOT has partnered extensively with HUD and EPA on the promotion of livable/sustainable communities. The Livable Communities Act which was mentioned in Tuesday’s Morning Measure is largely based on the acknowledgement of the interplay between transportation housing and the environment. In Tuesday’s post there was a call for livability legislation “with teeth.” However Jonathan Hiskes argues that a carrots and sticks approach may not be necessary as long as strong incentives (carrots) are put in place.