Webinar: Rethinking Streets During COVID

2021 NITC Webinar - April 6.png
DATE: 
Tuesday, April 6, 2021, 10:00am to 11:00am PDT
SPEAKERS: 
Clare Haley, John Larson-Friend, Marc Schlossberg and Aliza Whalen, University of Oregon
COST: 
Free
CREDIT: 
PDH: 1 | AICP: 1

PRESENTATION ARCHIVE

OVERVIEW

Re-allocating space on streets to accommodate new uses – particularly for walking, biking, and being – is not new. However, COVID-era needs have accelerated the process that many communities use to make such street transitions. Many communities quickly understood that the street is actually a public place and a public good that serves broader public needs more urgent than the free flow or the storage of private vehicles. This seminar describes a new case study book that captures some of these quick changes to city streets in response to societal needs during COVID, with two open questions:

  1. what changes will endure post-COVID?; and
  2. will communities be more open to street reconfigurations, including quick and inexpensive trials, going forward?

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • To understand the range of street reconfigurations different cities have undertaken during COVID;
  • To reflect on why the changes happened, happened quickly, and what that means for future local decisions about streets;
  • To think through the role of the street and how to make this vast public resource more responsive and more flexible to short and long-term societal needs.

THE RESEARCH

This webinar is based on a study funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) and conducted at the University of Oregon. Read more about the research: Rethinking Streets for Physical Distancing.

SPEAKER

Clare Haley, University of Oregon

Clare Haley will graduate from the University of Oregon’s Community and Regional Planning program in June 2021. Clare is a 2020-21 Eisenhower Transportation Fellow and is interested in micromobility and mobility justice. Clare serves as co-president of LiveMove, a project-driven active transportation student organization.

 

 

 

John Larson-Friend, University of Oregon

John Larson-Friend is a Graduate Student in Community and Regional Planning at the University of Oregon. He is interested in issues of equity, justice, and technological advancement surrounding transportation. In the Spring of 2020, John created the first national database of U.S. transit agencies’ responses to COVID-19 as part of a NITC scholarship. He is currently the Planning Intern for the City of Cottage Grove, is researching Equity in Shared Mobility with Dr. Anne Brown, and will graduate in June 2021.

 

Marc Schlossberg, University of Oregon

Marc Schlossberg is a Professor of city and regional planning and co-Director of the Sustainable Cities Institute at the University of Oregon. The focus of his work is on re-designing cities so that more people can use low or no carbon, space efficient transport more of the time.  He is a two time Fulbright Scholar. 

 

 

 

Aliza Whalen, University of Oregon

Aliza Whalen is a Graduate Student in Community and Regional Planning at the University of Oregon. She is a 2020-21 Eisenhower Transportation Fellow and National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) Master’s Student of the Year who is interested in transportation equity and improving mobility outcomes. Aliza will graduate in June 2021. 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This 60-minute webinar is eligible for 1 hour of professional development credit for AICP (see our provider summary). We provide an electronic attendance certificate for other types of certification maintenance.

LEARN MORE

Photo by RoamingPanda/iStock

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This webinar is hosted by the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University. The research was funded by the Summit Foundation and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a program of TREC and one of five U.S. Department of Transportation national university transportation centers. The NITC program is a Portland State-led partnership with the University of Oregon, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Utah and new partners University of Arizona and University of Texas at Arlington. We pursue our theme — improving mobility of people and goods to build strong communities — through research, education and technology transfer.

Researchers: