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GREENSBORO -- Hundreds of urban planners, transportation experts and elected officials gathered in Greensboro where they shared ideas on how to make their communities more livable.

Livable Communities Summit keynote speaker, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, said livable communities are marked by affordable housing and ease of travel.

He said most people are always going to have automobiles but many of them are looking for other options.

"In some communities people are getting back into the streetcar business,” said LaHood. “Some communities want very good mass transit where people can catch a bus and quickly get to a store or get to work or get to a school. In some communities people want walking and biking paths."

He said good transportation options attract business and jobs.

As she oversees a fledgling light rail line, the newly appointed director of public transit in one North Carolina city agreed.

"The rail line has led to mixed use development," said Carolyn Flowers of Charlotte Area Transit System. "It has provided an increase in our tax base and it has provided access and mobility to that entire alignment."

LaHood said it's best done neighborhood by neighborhood.

"You start with walking and biking paths,” said LaHood. “You start with a bus system. Maybe your streetcar system runs from a university to a hospital."

Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation operates buses over an eight-county area.

While PART's executive director Brent McKinney looks at a larger picture, he said coordination with local transit systems is key to making communities better places to live.

"We really need to start in our local communities, have good distribution systems and then we can meet that demand to get them from one community to another,” said McKinney. “Coordination is paramount of importance."

The summit was sponsored jointly by PART and Piedmont Triad Partnership.