What are the two things you complain about most (not including the heat wave and the President)? We're guessing the cost of housing (rent, mortgage) and traffic (including the cost of gas). WorldChanging links up to a new tool developed by the Center for Transit Oriented Development which combines the cost of housing and the cost of transportation into one index "that recognizes the tradeoffs households make between housing costs and transportation."
We're guessing that the CTOD finds transit oriented development as the way to reduce you cost of living. The goal of the new tool is to aid developers find the best locations for siting of affordable housing developments, where the poor and working-poor can use mass transit instead of spending money on their own automobile. As WorldChanging notes, the basic premise is to save us all money by putting density next to transit and within reach of basic necessities that we are now forced to drive to. A pilot study has been launched in the Twin Cities, with the Los Angeles-Long Beach metro area in the crosshairs for future study.
· The Housing & Transportation Affordability Index [WorldChanging]