Case Study: Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG)
Planning for Alternative Scenarios to Address Climate Change with Integrated Simulation Models
About
New Mexico’s Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) is a metropolitan planning organization for the Albuquerque Metropolitan Planning Area. It is responsible for identifying the transportation planning priorities for the metropolitan area. It also assists with implementing the commuter rail service between Belen and Santa Fe.
Need
MRCOG required a tool which could better simulate reality. The goal was to develop strategies to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions through changes to land use plans and policies as well as transportation system investments. The team wanted to seamlessly integrate with other tools to create a complete land use, transportation, and economic development modeling toolkit.
Solutions
A set of three scenarios were developed with UrbanSim scenario modeling: a trend scenario which represents current land use policies and historical development patterns; an ‘emerging lifestyles’ scenario which promoted infill, transit-oriented development, and mixed development; and a ‘jobs/housing balance’ scenario which focused on developing housing near employment centers and vice versa.
