Sustainable Transportation, Norman W. Garrick

	DATE	SUBJECT	READINGS
01	W - Jan 17	Introduction: The Lure of Automobility	Good, Ecology, Freedom and Automobility Garrick, Transportation in Kingston, JA an Overview
02	M - Jan 22	TRB Meeting – No Class
03	W - Jan 24	TRB Meeting – No Class
04	M – Jan 29	What is Transportation Sustainability?	Low and Gleeson, 1-22
05	W – Jan 31	What is Transportation Sustainability?	Low and Gleeson, 1-22
06	M - Feb 05	Sustainability: The Developed vs. The Developing World	Leitman, 4-24 Pugh, 73-90
07	W - Feb 07	The Newburgh Charrette and Equity
08	M - Feb 12	A Global Comparison	Low and Gleeson, 25-41
09	W - Feb 14	Snow Day
10	M - Feb 19	Climate Change	Inconvenient Truth
11	W - Feb 21	Energy and Oil - Some Basic Statistics	Low and Gleeson, 42-65 Alternative Energy - Myths and Realities Transportation Energy Use
12	M – Feb 26	Motor Vehicle Pollution	Low and Gleeson, 84-100
13	W – Feb 28	Assign and Discuss Project
	*M - Mar 18*	*Spring Break*
	*W - Mar 20*	*Spring Break*	.
14	M - Mar 12	Atlanta: Form and Function	Bertaud, Clearing the Air in Atlanta
15	W - Mar 14	Atlanta: Reluctant Poster Child	Lewyn, How Atlanta became Sprawl City
16	M - Mar 19	Transportation Sustainability Indices Guest Lecture by Maureen Hart	Maureen Hart, Sustainability Measures
17	W - Mar 21	A Framework for Sustainable Transportation Planning	Garrick, Sustainable Transportation Planning
18	M - Mar 26	Project Work
19	W - Mar 28	Project Work
20	M - Apr 02	A Framework for Sustainability Transportation	Garrick, Sustainable Transportation Planning
21	W - Apr 04	A Framework for Sustainability – World Bank Perspective	“Cities on the Move – World Bank”
22	M - Apr 09	Presentation and Discussion of Project Work
23	W - Apr 11	Project Work
24	M - Apr 16	Project Work
25	W - Apr 18	Project Work
26	M - Apr 23	Project Work
27	W - Apr 25	Presentation

The three projects tackle the issue of sustainable transportation from different direction and at different scales but they are all interrelated in creating the possibilities for meeting our need for access and mobility while addressing to various degrees the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

Car sharing and bike sharing are relatively new concepts in the USA but they provide important means for extending the mobility of people who choose to forgo the purchase of a personal automobile. In other words, they enable more people to live a largely car free existence. The concept is fairly well entrenched in countries such as Switzerland and German and is growing rapidly in the USA and Japan. In this project you will investigate the technology, management and implementation of car and bike share programs, whether or not these programs are important for sustainability or just a fad, and the conditions under which they are succeeding. You will apply the lessons in coming up with a prototype plan for the Storrs Community.

The Tale of Three Cities: Linking Sustainability, Transportation and Urban Form

Newman suggests that transportation sustainability is directly linked to urban form. In this project we will test this concept by characterizing the transportation and urban form in three distinctly different metropolitan areas: Portland (OR), Atlanta (GA) and Zurich, Switzerland. All three cities where chosen because they have been studied widely and lots of data should be readily available.

Zurich is often considered to have one of the most innovative and successful approaches to transportation and land use planning in the world. As Newman puts, Zurich is a global model of sustainability. One question that might be asked is how good is this global model? Do we need to do better? The two American cities represent the ends of the spectrum in terms of urban design and planning in the USA. In this project will give you the chance compare these two American cities and also to see how they stack up against a well planned global city with a comparable income level.

You will develop quantitative indicators to compare the urban form, the provision of transportation, the use of transportation in these cities. In your comparison you will pay particular attention on assess to the extent to which these cities can be considered to be satisfying sustainability concerns. You will also characterize the policy and planning that has lead to the differing outcomes in these three regions.

In his book “The Transit Metropolis” Robert Cervero argues against the possibility of sustainable automobility – in other words, he is saying that we cannot build a sustainable transportation system that is automobile dependent. Nonetheless, technology holds out the possibility that we can build a ‘greener’ car. This needs to be a part of the sustainability equations since cars will continue to play a role in urban transportation for the foreseeable future. The questions for this team are, what should be the characteristics of this green car? And what does the technology exist now or in the immediate future to produce this green car? Your goal is to investigate the feasibility of this green car and to characterize its potential advantages and shortcomings. You should also expand on the theme of ‘sustainable automobility’ and the role of the green car in a sustainable transportation system.