Transportation Systems for Livable Communities. Summary of a Conference.

摘要

Transportation plays a key role in creating livable communities. Transportation systems create livability by working with land uses to give individuals multiple travel choices for meeting their daily needs affordably, safely, conveniently, and efficiently. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) hosted the Transportation Systems for Livable Communities Conference at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, D.C., in October 2010. This meeting was the fifth in a series of spotlight conferences funded by the university transportation centers (UTC) program of the U.S. Department of Transportations Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). The UTC program awards grants to universities across the country to advance the state of the art in transportation research, to conduct technology transfer activities, and to educate the next generation of transportation professionals. TRB assembled a planning committee, appointed by the National Research Council (NRC), to help organize and develop the conference program. The planning committee was chaired by Lisa Aultman-Hall of the University of Vermont. Committee members provided expertise in bicycle and pedestrian transportation, transit planning and operations, land use, urban street design, and management of transportation organizations. The planning committee was responsible solely for organizing the conference, identifying speakers, reviewing submitted poster abstracts, and developing topics for the breakout group discussions. Katherine Turnbull of the Texas Transportation Institute served as the conference rapporteur and prepared this document as a factual summary of what occurred at the conference. Responsibility for the published conference summary rests with the rapporteur and the institution. Implementers of livability projects joined faculty, students, and researchers from UTCs and other universities to explore transportation approaches for livable communities. In addition, the conference considered the unique role UTCs can play in undertaking research to advance transportation for livable communities. Through a series of presentations, panels, and discussion groups, conference attendees and panelists considered case studies, research needs, and the challenges of incorporating livability into transportation programs and projects. On the basis of expert panels and facilitated discussion, attendees identified promising directions for research that could help implement the state of the practice and advance the state of the art. The conference attracted more than 170 participants from a variety of organizations, including universities; transportation agencies; and other public, private, and nonprofit organizations. The conference was characterized by broad and active participation and discussion, with nearly half the attendees participating in the program via a panel or poster presentation.