opinion

How mass transit can save Nashville-area green space

Mayor Megan Barry recently unveiled Let's Move Nashville, one of the most ambitious public investments in the city's history.

During the announcement, Mayor Barry displayed an uncommon expertise in urban mobility for a mayor — pointing out that "we can't pave our way out of congestion," and acknowledging that transit is really economic development at its core. But despite the considerable stagecraft, Mayor Barry undersold what may be the plan's most vital long-term impact: reining in Middle Tennessee's runaway open space development problem.

Right now, the Nashville region is growing at a breakneck pace — and the boom's impacts on long-standing urban communities are well-documented. But the blessing is similarly mixed for communities like Murfreesboro and Lebanon, where new development has chewed through pristine farmland and forests just to keep pace with exploding housing demand.

Since 1999, Middle Tennessee has lost 20 acres of open space each day to new development. Once that conversion occurs, it can't be rolled back, so our community's agricultural character is irreparably diminished one field or hillside at a time.

Such is the dilemma of suburban life, as the writer Jane Jacobs aptly described it. The ideal American home combines rural and urban, sitting right at the edge of pristine wilderness. But with every wave of new development, that wilderness edges further and further away — and our connection to nature grows dimmer.

That's not to say that suburban living should be discouraged or shamed. It's an essential part of our region's success story. But for now, we may have built enough suburbs. According to market analysis from the University of Arizona, both Millennials and Baby Boomers are gravitating toward walkable lifestyles and communities, while eschewing traditional suburban homes.

Meanwhile, losing open space across the region deeply impacts our quality of life. Communities with access to recreational green space are healthier, happier, and more prosperous. The local produce supplied by Tennessee farms makes our food systems more resilient — and the ecosystem benefits of forests and wetlands can even help fight flooding.

As a region, the best tool we have for protecting open space is encouraging the shift to concentrated development. Growth will come, and housing will follow — we can either welcome it in urban areas, or accept the fact that it will sprawl. Every new apartment building or "tall skinny" within Nashville's existing bounds represents an open space going unpaved somewhere on the edge.

The indispensable key to concentrated development is great transit — like the system outlined in Mayor Barry's Plan. Without transit access and walkability improvements, dense urban neighborhoods will become congested and unlivable. With diverse options for getting around, however, concentrated development feels vibrant and easy. Renters, buyers, and developers will do the rest.

If the mayor succeeds in funding it, the Let's Move Nashville plan will enhance many aspects of our city's culture. It's not hard to imagine catching bus rapid transit (BRT) from Hillsboro Village to the Predators game, or commuting by light rail from Antioch to a job site downtown. There will be many visible impacts on our daily lives — and that convenience will be crucial for keeping our city livable.

But Nashville's beloved Southern character owes just as much to the rural fabric of greater Middle Tennessee: Family farms, small towns, deep quiet forests, country roads. And in an equal, if invisible, way, Mayor Barry's transit plan — if it succeeds — will leave a legacy there, too.

Sam Warlick is senior digital strategist for the National League of Cities and a Nashville native.