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Win-Win Transportation Policy Talk with Todd Litman and Ron Colman
7:00pm
- 9:00pm
Monday June 16 2014
Venue: Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS)
Address: 1723 Hollis Street
Win-Win Transportation Solutions for Equitable and Affordable Communities
Todd Litman, founder and executive director of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute will speak about the paradigm shift in transportation planning toward a new way transportation problems are defined and potential solutions evaluated. The old paradigm assumed that “transportation” meant automobile travel, and so evaluated transport-system performance based primarily on the ease of driving. The new paradigm is more comprehensive and multi-modal, considering a wide range of planning objectives, and recognizing the unique and important roles that walking, cycling and public transport play in an efficient and equitable transportation system. Dr. Litman will use specific examples: congestion reduction strategies that can also help reduce parking problems, improve mobility for non-drivers and save consumers money; emission reduction strategies that also help reduce traffic congestion and improve public fitness and health. This presentation will be of interest to planners, elected officials, public health professionals, and anybody interested in creating healthier, fairer and more sustainable communities.
Todd Litman, PhD, founder and executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, an independent research organization dedicated to developing innovative solutions to transport problems. His work helps expand the range of impacts and options considered in transportation decision-making, improve evaluation methods, and make specialized technical concepts accessible to a larger audience. His research is used worldwide in transport planning and policy analysis.
Trends in Transportation: the Nova Scotia Context
Ronald Colman, founder and executive director of GPI (Genuine Progress Index) Atlantic, will give an update of the GPI Transportation Indicators, identifying trends over the last 5, 10, and more years that show what solutions are needed for Nova Scotia.
Ronald Colman, PhD, is founder and executive director of GPI Atlantic, a non-profit research group that has constructed an index of wellbeing and sustainable development called the Genuine Progress Index, using Nova Scotia as its test-bed. The GPI is a response to narrow measures like Gross Domestic Product, which record ecological destruction as economically positive. As Ron has put it, under such measures “we may appear to be richer, but our natural world is poorer.” Ron travels extensively to present to the public and media, and advises governments, universities, and communities on indicator work. He also works closely with the Royal Government of Bhutan, which has adopted Gross National Happiness (rather than Gross National Product) as its central policy goal.
*The evening includes a tour of the 2 Wheelers art exhibition at AGNS, which features the GPI Youth community art project "Be a Cog in the Wheel of Change" and a very short presentation about our Youth Ride! transportation research in St. Margarets Bay.
Topics: Transportation
428 words
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