Lindiwe Rennert Transit-oriented Development Specialist , MassINC

Lindiwe currently serves as Transit-oriented Development Specialist on the MassINC Gateway Cities Initiative research team. Her work is focused on leveraging transit in order to generate inclusive economic growth and revitalization within Gateway City downtowns.

Lindiwe holds a BA from Harvard University in development economics with a focus on poverty alleviation, and a Masters in City Planning from MIT with a concentration in transportation, spatial analytics, and displacement management. She has experience in both the public and private sectors in Washington DC, Boston, Detroit, Caracas, Medellin, Nairobi, and Zurich on matters of mobility network design, project monitoring and evaluation, housing policy, race and gender equity, and economic development. In addition to TOD, her research over the past year has focused primarily on equitable and sustainable urban mobility, land use planning, mapping/data visualization creation, and community engagement regarding both transportation and housing policy.

Outside of the office, Lindiwe can be found zipping through the streets of Boston on her bright green Bianchi (bicycle) scouting out new ramen joints, competing in racquetball tournaments at the YMCA,  or grabbing a drink with the house band at Wally’s at the night’s end.

ARTICLES By Lindiwe Rennert

The Geography of Incarceration in a Gateway City

The Cost and Consequences of High Incarceration Rate Neighborhoods in Worcester

In 2016, MassINC and the Boston Indicators Project issued a report detailing the geography of incarceration in Boston. Utilizing new data provided by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department, this report extends that line of research by examining incarceration in a Gateway City. The analysis explores the cost and consequences of high incarceration rates in Worcester

Reading employer demand for transit in the job growth tea leaves

The picture we get is revealing

The best data we have to look at where jobs are growing over time come to us at the municipal level.* This isn’t great for getting a sense of whether employers are migrating to locations with strong transit service—ideally we’d have job counts for Census tracts or smaller geographies that represent actual station areas—but it’s

Looking for a Transformative Transit-Oriented Development paradigm

View the Boston skyline from afar and you can pick out transit stops from the cranes poking out above active construction sites. TOD is occurring all over the city. This development has been fueled by relatively strong regional population and employment growth, high-frequency transit service, and perhaps most importantly, consumers with a preference for walkable

Bending the business as usual growth curve

Leveraging existing transit assets

Massachusetts is projected to add more than a half million new residents over the next two decades. Where these new residents settle will have important consequences for quality of life, the environment, economic growth, and access to opportunity. How we grow will also have critical implications for the fiscal health of state and local governments.

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