Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation

The Innovative Cities Lecture Series

Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation presentation by Susan Handy, professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California at Davis and Director of the National Center for Sustainable Transportation

Lecture Summary

The many woes of our transportation – seemingly endless highway expansion, congested roads, car dependence, rising pedestrian death rates, and more – stem from a way of thinking that has dominated the transportation profession for more than a century. Susan Handy takes a critical look at the ideas that make up the traditional way of thinking and explores alternative ideas that are now gaining traction. The new way of thinking promises a more diverse transportation ecosystem that allows for choice in daily travel and produces more just and sustainable communities.

Biography

Susan Handy is a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California at Davis, where she is also the Director of the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, part of the federal university transportation centers program. Her research focuses on strategies for reducing automobile dependence, including bicycling as a mode of transportation. Susan also authored Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation, published in October 2023 by MIT Press.