Symposium to seek transportation solutions

How do you develop land and improve transportation, while accounting for the needs of the environment, the economy, public health, and minimize congestion, all at once?

Organizers will assemble U-M and national experts from numerous fields and disciplines Dec. 3 for a symposium on creating sustainable, accessible transportation.

"We hope to walk away with some ideas and some new research concepts,'' says Moira Zellner, a doctoral candidate in urban and regional planning and one of the organizers of the event.

The conference, which starts at 8:45 a.m. in Room 2104 of the Art and Architecture Building, will feature nine U-M speakers from the fields of architecture, urban planning, business, economics, natural resources, public policy and the Ford Research Laboratories.

The event, dubbed "From Mobility to Accessibility: A Symposium on Sustainable Transportation,'' also will feature leaders in their fields, including:

• Hank Dittmar, president and CEO of The Great American Station Foundation and head of Reconnecting America, which has worked to revitalize historic rail stations to improve rail access and inter-modal connections and stimulate community development

• Anthony Downs, a senior fellow in metropolitan policy at the Brookings Institution and an expert on "smart growth," suburban sprawl and urban policy

• Susan Handy, associate professor of environmental science and the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. She focuses on the relationship between transportation and land use

• John Pucher, professor of urban planning and policy development, and research associate for the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University, will speak on public health and sustainable transportation

• Susan Zielinski, co-founder and director of Moving the Economy and a former transportation planner for the city of Toronto, will address integrating mobility solutions.

The symposium is sponsored by the Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, the Center for the Study of Complex Systems, the Center for Advancing Research and Solutions for Society, the Erb Environmental Management Institute of the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

For information, visit http://www.tcaup.umich.edu/newsevents/2004/mobilityaccessibilityf04.html.