Dear Friend of SMART:
Welcome to Issue #13 of SMART’s e-NEWS briefs. In this issue we share upcoming events and we'll also catch you up on some of the latest SMART news. To learn more about SMART’s mission and activities and how to get involved, please go to um-SMART.org
And we'd like to hear from you. Please send your comments, questions, related research, favorite innovations, case studies, and collaboration ideas to me, Susan Zielinski, Managing Director of SMART at susanz@umich.edu. For past issues of SMART e-NEWS, go to:
Issue 1
Issue 2
Issue 3
Issue 4
Issue 5
Issue 6
Issue 7
Issue 8
Issue 9
Issue 10
Issue 11
Issue 12
SMART upcoming events
June 4. 1 pm – 5:30 pm. Connect and Prosper: Accelerating New Mobility and Accessibility Opportunities for Southeast Michigan.
Detroit Regional Chamber, 1 Woodward Avenue. Detroit, MI 48226.
To request a table place and to register (before May 29), email connectandprosper@gmail.com
If you are a mover in advancing or supporting next generation transportation in Southeast Michigan, you are invited to this half-day working meeting to connect the transportation dots region-wide. It is free of charge and open to those working on transportation-related projects. The agenda includes:
1) HOPEFUL SIGNS (Dots to Connect) (1 – 2:15 pm)
• Two Great Stories: Denver’s Transportation Transformation (Matt Rossetti), and Detroit’s Woodward Avenue Light Transit in a Regional Context (Ann Lang and John Swatosh)
• 5-minute vignettes from across the region, selected from a growing roster of exciting initiatives including: 3 local Transit Oriented Development projects; Ann Arbor’s budding New Mobility hub network; Ford Motor Company’s urban mobility innovation; Aerotropolis; the Community Foundation’s walkability and bikeability work in Detroit; SDAT’s “Urban Villages” and urban farming plans; recent regional goods movement efforts; municipal cycle commuting plans; and more.
2) WORKING SESSION: MAPPING THE CONNECTIONS (2:15 – 5:30 pm)
This session is based on an approach SMART* has collaborated on in a number of other cities around the world. It is based on two premises: a) that transportation innovation is burgeoning, but so often the individual innovations are not connected in a way that offers a feasible practical affordable door-to-door trip for the user and b) in an urbanizing world there are emerging and growing business and innovation opportunities related to integrated multi-modal urban transportation.
Here’s how the process works: Participants map a region-wide New Mobility network or grid linking transport modes, services, technologies, and urban design geared to providing more seamless, multi-modal, accessible, and sustainable door-to-door travel. They then identify innovation, business, and employment opportunities and partnerships that emerge through the mapping. This process more often than not catalyzes pilots, partnerships, or at the very least, efficiencies and community co-benefits, and brings a regional context and profile to more localized innovations and initiatives.
Because the region is so big, this process will start with a local focus area / community as an exercise in multi-modal mapping, then it will move region-wide. No prior knowledge of the local areas is needed. Experts will be present to introduce the focus area’s context, challenges and opportunities, and to answer questions that arise at each mapping table.
Connect and Prosper is a forum, or “link tank” that brings together transportation, business, economic, and community leaders from across the region to connect and accelerate sustainable transportation and accessibility initiatives region-wide, and to help rekindle Southeast Michigan’s role as a major center of transportation innovation and business opportunity. Building on current efforts, it fills gaps by:
• Accelerating and catalyzing pilots and ongoing initiatives focused on New Mobility (connected, multi-modal, technologically advanced sustainable transportation & accessibility)
• Fostering innovation, funding, business, research and entrepreneurial partnerships (locally and region-wide)
• Promoting and sharing key events, networks, and supporting resources, including case studies and best practices from around the world.
Connect and Prosper is spurred by a vision of next generation transportation as key to a sustainable, livable, just, and economically vital Detroit region for the 21st century. In partnership with a range of local transportation leaders, it is an incubator initiative of SMART*, Sustainable Transportation and Accessibility Research and Transformation, a project of CARSS (Center for Advancing Research and Solutions for Society) at the University of Michigan.
For more information, visit SMART’s website http://um-smart.org or contact ConnectandProsper@gmail.com
November. 2009. SMART'S (now annual) Summit - Moving Minds: The Next Transportation Infrastructure.
Michigan League, Ann Arbor
In November 2009, SMART's Sustainable Urban Mobility & Accessibility Summit is back by popular demand at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Moving Minds: The Next Transportation Infrastructure will bring researchers together with business leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners and policy makers from around the world:
• to share new knowledge and experience in piloting and implementing innovative, integrative sustainable urban mobility and accessibility in urban regions around the world
• to share conceptual and theoretical foundations, research, and methodologies related to implementing sustainable urban transportation (see themes below)
• to build on an evolving collaborative research network to study and support sustainable transportation integration and implementation
• to build on a collaborative industry network (a collaboratory, or "link tank") to support and accelerate private sector innovation and new business development related to New Mobility (sustainable urban transportation).
This year's summit will give special attention to:
• Emerging policy framworks and directions for the next transportation infrastructure and building the New Mobility economy
• "Moving Minds" -- understanding the cultural, psychological, and aspirational underpinnings of our relationship to transportation (for both users and leaders), and responding with innovative systems that address these dimensions sustainably, equitably, and compellingly
• "Resilience" - designing and operating transportation/communication systems with capacities for transformation learning, adaptation and creative renewal when confronted by crisis, surprise, stress and trauma
• Innovative Capacity Building - developing and sharing the knowledge and skills to address the emerging global challenges and opportunities of New Mobility / sustainable transportation in urban regions
The three-day program makes space for related projects and partnerships to meet in parallel while drawing new knowledge, energy, and inspiration from the core program. (Let us know if you would like to organize a parallel stream).
The meeting aims to build on the invaluable wisdom and experience of its participants, and on SMART's ongoing work to understand and accelerate development and implementation of sustainable, systems-based solutions to mobility and accessibility in global urban regions.
NOTE: This event was originally slated for June 2009, and has recently been moved to the week of November 9.
Check the SMART website or watch future editions of e-News for more information, conference schedules and fees, and updates.
Other Great Events
WTS Annual Conference May 20 – 22. Seattle
Founded in 1977, WTS is an international organization dedicated to the professional advancement of women in transportation. Boasting roughly 4,400 members - both men and women - WTS is helping women find opportunity and recognition in the transportation industry. Through its professional activities, networking opportunities, and unparalleled access to industry and government leaders, WTS is turning the glass ceiling into a career portal. For information on their Annual Conference, where Sue Zielinski will present in a panel this year, go to http://www.wtsinternational.org/SecondaryTemplate.aspx?id=5378
May 26 – 29: Transport for a Global Economy – New Challenges and Opportunities – (along with the new Young Researcher Award of the International Transport Forum)
Leipzig, Germany
Efficient Transport is a cornerstone of our global economy. Competitive transport services operated securely and sustainably are essential for growth and development. But now the financial crisis coupled with volatile oil prices poses demanding new challenges for international transport systems. What does the present economic crisis mean for globalization? Transport and globalization – who stands to lose and win? How will the global credit crunch affect transport investment programmes? These questions will be addressed at this forum, hosted annually by the International Transport Forum, which provides an annual platform for Transport Ministers from around the world to meet with researchers and leaders of civil society and examine strategic policy issues facing the sector. The Forum is supported by the Joint Transport Research Center, which is a joint initiative of the International Forum and the OECD. For more information, go to: http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/
In addition, the forum offers a “Young Researcher Award” to a young researcher (or researchers) who submits the best research paper on the 2009 forum theme: “Transport for a Global Economy, New Challenges and Opportunities”. For more information on the Young Researcher Award, go to http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/2009/pdf/Award.pdf
June 2 - 3: "Meeting of the Minds"
Manhattan, New York
Meeting of the Minds is an invitation-only, no-charge event held in a different city annually. It started in Berkeley, moved to Portland (Oregon) and this June it will take on New York City.
The event was designed to bring together leaders from multiple sectors and geographies to share ideas, learn from each other, and shape the agenda for creating more sustainable cities, with a particular focus on transportation and mobility.
Those attending in Portland last year included over 200 policy makers, decision makers, opinion makers, rainmakers, and thought leaders from the commercial, nonprofit, and public sectors. The guests included representatives from the environmental, energy, economic development, and urban design communities with a stake in transportation, with many coming from Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, but approximately 20% were national and international participants.
SMART has had a presence at each of the "Meeting of the Minds", most
recently when Susan Zielinski presented at the session in Portland
. If you're a business leader and
you'd like to be invited to the 2009, send your note to Meeting2009@UrbanAge.org. The session convenes early morning June 2
through the afternoon of June 3 in Manhattan and is spoonsored by Toyota,
Siemens, ZipCar, UN, World Bank, Asian Devt Bank -- and is organized by
Gordon Feller and his team at Urban Age Institute. A 30-minute film,
produced with support from Microsoft, helps to explain how the "Meeting
of the Minds" differs from all those other conferences on sustainable
urban development http://www.meetingoftheminds2009.com
Contributed by Gordon Feller, Urban Age Institute
June 2 - 4: 12th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED 2010).
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is proud to present the "12th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED 2010)", 2 to 4 June 2010. This event is hosted by The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation and co-sponsored by the U.S. Transportation Research Board.
Please click here to download the first announcement and call for abstracts for TRANSED 2010.
June 15, 16, & 17: International Conference on Efficient, Safe, and Sustainable Truck Transportation Systems for the Future
Michigan League Ballroom, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Building the Policy Options Roadmap: Legislators and transportation policy experts around the world are challenged by rising energy costs, an increasing freight demand and growing concerns regarding greenhouse gas emissions. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is conducting an international study of highway freight transportation safety, efficiency and policy with a view to sustainability. The preliminary findings of this study will be discussed at the conference together with the most recent domestic and international highway freight research results with a view to building policy options that support a vibrant economy while protecting environmental and public interests.
The conference will include:
• plenary sessions on the future direction of both domestic and international highway freight transportation including international benchmarking of transportation efficiency and safety performance
• executive sessions featuring speakers from around the world, presenting key findings of research and policy enacted
• technical sessions on advances in truck technologies and operational practices as well as safety, performance-based standards and operational innovations
• closing sessions in which attendees will produce a roadmap outlining highway freight policy recommendations for use in future policy development
The conference is hosted by UMTRI, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Major sponsors include the United States Department of Transport, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Trucking Association, and Conway Freight.
Who should attend? Stakeholders in the highway freight transport system, including legislators and their staff, federal and state transport and highway infrastructure officials, shippers, motor carriers, commercial drivers’ representatives, motorists, insurance industry officials, manufacturers, suppliers and researchers. For more information contact Karen Szemak szemak@umich.edu (734-647-8633).
Contributed by John Woodrooffe, Research Scientist, UMTRI.
June 15 - 17: The National Summit, (Detroit Economic Club) Marriott Renaissance Center, Detroit
Transportation content is anticipated at this Detroit based national conference on the future of America’s economy. For more information, please visit http://www.nationalsummit.org/
June 18 – 19: Sustainable Mobility Symposium: A Practical Applications Approach for Engineers
Next Energy, Detroit Michigan
Automotive design or manufacturing engineers have direct involvement with sustainable mobility whether they are aware of it or not. What they need to know is how Sustainable Mobility concepts are translated into product / process design and technical specifications. Participants will discuss how the goals of the 2030 sustainable mobility report can be translated into product specifications that define and design the space. This “practical approaches” symposium will address the concepts of sustainability with the idea that if done correctly engineers can walk away with ideas and practices to take back to integrate into their work environment. OEM and supplier case-studies, industry / government co-operative ventures, panel discussions, and a hands-on exercise will introduce participants to concepts and practices of Sustainable Mobility that can be applied to their job function.
Contributed by Marc LeDuc, Technical Program Engineer, Society of Automotive Engineers
July 2009 UN Habitat Business Forum: Innovative Cities. New Delhi.
The Habitat Business Forum on Innovative Cities will provide a platform to present practices and innovation for sustainable and harmonious cities, from housing to basic services needs, real estate, finance and infrastructure to energy and transport. Raj Cherubal and Sue Zielinski will present on New Mobility and accessibility solutions, as one of the various presentations and debates on business solutions and technologies to achieve sustainable cities. For more information, visit http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6321&catid=46&typeid=11&subMenuId=0
Case study briefs
Don’t Forget INSPIREMOBILITY, SMART’s OnLine Innovations Library and Blog
Inspiremobility is a case-based library of innovations related to sustainable transportation. Find the link on SMART’s home page or at www.inspiremobility.blogspot.com. If you’d like to contribute innovations you know about to the blog, please E-mail the URL to inspiremobility@gmail.com and your submission will be posted within 48 hours.
Knoogle - A New Smart Search Engine
Mike Tuori and Chris Ash of the SMART team have been working over the last several months with Eric Britton of EcoPlan International and the New Mobility Agenda in Paris to contribute to the development of a new "smart" search engine that has as its specific purpose to comb through the activities and information contained in the websites of close to 500 leading programs, sources, and projects – specifically active in the field of new mobility and sustainable transportation, and primarily in cities. The intended coverage is worldwide, as is appropriate for our program.
If you click to www.knoogle.net you will be taken to the new power browser which is part of a new project entitled New Mobility Knowledge Environment (http://www.knowledge.newmobility.org) which has as its goal to stimulate knowledge sharing and project activity in the many groups and programs working in our field .
And while Knoogle is still in beta form, if you try a few searches you may find that it just may become a useful research tool for you in your work in this field. And if you have any other reactions to share with us all on this, it would be great if you could communicate them by e-mail to knoogle@newmobility.org, or if you prefer by phone to +1 310 601-8468 (North America) or +331 4326 1323 (Europe and other), or by Skype to ericbritton or newmobility. We expect to continue work on this in the months ahead so your feedback will be most welcome and help us to make what is already a good research tool better yet.
Contributed by Eric Briton, EcoPlan
SMART News
Brief News Clips:
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to know more, support, or get involved with any of the activities below.
Accessibility Website Launched!
For the last couple of years you’ve been reading about the Accessibility Study and Index led by Jonathan Levine, Chair of Urban and Regional Planning, Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning. Now you can get more in-depth background on this exciting collaborative work by visiting the newly launched Metropolitan Accessibility website at http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~cliu8
Moira Zellner appointed Great Cities Institute Faculty Scholar and Invited to Attend Two Important Events
Great Cities Institute Faculty Scholars are chosen from UIC faculty through a competitive peer review process. The Scholars will spend the time of their award conducting research, working collaboratively with other Scholars and Institute Fellows and sharing the results of their work through lectures and informal forums. The Faculty Scholars program is a vital component of the Great Cities Institute's goal of advancing urban knowledge through engaged research built around partnerships and interdisciplinary innovation." Moira will be working on the project "Towards Urban Sustainability in the Chicago Region: Using Agent-Based Modeling for Social Learning and Environmental Planning."
Moira Zellner will be attending a workshop by The Aberdeen Global Land Project Office on Integration and Modeling and the US NSF-sponsored SLUCE 2 Project. This workshop will be held from 29-31 May 2009 at the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. Workshop discussions will cover a range of issues related to land market models, abstract and empirical and rural and urban, including issues of integration between rural and urban market models.
Moira has also been invited by the Santa Fe Institute to attend the Summer Program on Global Sustainability. "The Santa Fe Institute is a private, not-for-profit, independent
research and education center founded in 1984, for multidisciplinary
collaborations in the physical, biological, computational, and social
sciences. Understanding of complex adaptive systems is critical to
addressing key environmental, technological, biological, economic, and
political challenges. Renowned scientists and researchers come to Santa
Fe Institute from universities, government agencies, research
institutes, and private industry to collaborate in attempts to uncover
the mechanisms that underlie the deep simplicity present in our complex
world."
Breif description of the program she will be attending:
2009 Global Sustainability Summer School - Santa Fe, New Mexico USA
Santa Fe - July 12 to July 25, 2009. The Santa Fe Institute and the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory are pleased to announce a new
program on Global Sustainability, to be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico,
USA. Co-directors are Doug Arent, Director, Strategic Energy Analysis,
National Renewable Energy Laboratory; J. Doyne Farmer, Professor, Santa
Fe Institute; John Schellnhuber, Professor and Director, Potsdam
Institute; and Jessika Trancik, Postdoctoral Fellow, Santa Fe Institute.
This intensive two-week program explores global sustainability from many
perspectives with particular focus on problems posed by climate change.
With enrollment limited to 30 participants, the school will include
graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior and senior faculty, and
individuals from the private sector.
The program consists of lectures and discussion sessions. These will be
supplemented by a one-day mini-conference on July 18 featuring
additional presentations. Topics include population and social
development and its effects on energy resource consumption; climate and
energy economics; energy technologies and associated paths to transition
to low-carbon energy infrastructure; land use; and innovation and
technology.
Volunteers Welcomed!
SMART activies have been growing by leaps and bounds. If you would like to volunteer your skills (technical, design, research, people skills, other), your wisdom, or your time to advancing sustainable transportation here in the U.S. or around the world, please contact Sue Zielinski at susanz@isr.umich.edu.
Other SMART News:
SMART has recently been working to develop integrated hub network projects in a number of west coast cities, as well as here in the Detroit region. If you are interested in knowing more about or being part of the west coast or Detroit region efforts, please contact Sue Zielinski at susanz@isr.umich.edu.
Meanwhile, SMART continues to move forward on projects in India, South Africa, and Brazil, and to participate actively in the EcoMobility Alliance , (http://www.ecomobility.org/) , T4 America (http://t4america.org/) the infrastructure committee of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (http://www.thepresidency.org/). TCAUP recent grad Chris Ash will be attending the Cisco Systems Connected Urban
Development summit in Seoul Korea on SMART's behalf later this month.
In the near future, SMART will be participating and presenting at meetings and events in Seattle, New York, India (at the UN Habitat Cities meeting in July), Brazil, and at home in the Detroit region.
SMART also continues forward with accessibility research and with other emerging and evolving research collaborations around the globe.
About SMART
Visit um-smart.org to learn about SMART.
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