­For the past two weeks, I've been traveling a lot for business and pleasure and I realized that I've utilized a healthy mix of transportation options: light rail in Minneapolis, planes between Denver and Minneapolis and Philadelphia, commuter rail in Philadelphia, automobiles in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and good old fashioned walking. What has been great about this trip, is that I've used each of these methods as part of a transportation system--a network of options. This seems like an obvious observation, but what troubles me is that too many discussions on transportation seem to separate out the various modes (cars, trains, planes and bike/ped) into warring camps.

Many people understand implicitly that different transportation options operate as a system. For example, I may drive my car to the airport, get on a plane to fly to some distant city, and then get off and catch a train to my hotel. Each transportation choice is made based on a mix of economics, convenience, and efficiency. Driving a car during off peak hours when roads are less congested may make more sense than waiting an hour for a train, but catching a frequent train during rush hour may save the unnecessary stress of congestion.

While it is very easy to see how each transportation mode can operate as part of an integrated system, we often do not address transportation solutions systemically. Instead, the debates fall into unnecessary camps that create a false notion of either-or decisions. This has part to do with the way in which we finance transportation as well as the limited pool of funds available (especially in these times). However, we need some bold leadership and clear communication that all options need real consideration. Now is the time to build a global competitive advantage by strengthening our major regions with integrated systems.

Integrated transporation systems not only gives expanded choice to American citizens, but can be an important economic development tool. Imagine a 36 minute commute from downtown New York to downtown Philadelphia on a truly high speed system. If the high speed rail was then linked into strong local transportation options, mobility would increase for the region allowing the efficient movement of goods, services, and ideas. This would link the two city economies, enabling better global competitiveness. By now, the high speed rail corridor map has spread around the blogoshpere, but you can see a very specific strategic approach to funding priority corridors.

Richard Florida has much more to say about this specifically as it relates to mega-regions. He also mentions Patrick Adler's (of the Martin Prosperity Institute) high speed rail time table, which compares average drive times between major cities and the hypothetical high speed rail time based on average French TGV speeds of about 155 mph. The table is show below courtesy of Richard Florida's blog and the Transportation Quarterly.

Before I get too far off track (no pun intended) talking about just high speed rail, I wanted to bring this post back to its initial motivation. High speed is just one piece of an infrastructure framework we can build in this country to reinvent and reinvigorate regions. Too often we break it down into its component parts and lose the forest for the trees. If I were to zoom into the map above, you ideally would see local systems that integrate into these regional links. The challenge for planners and policy makers is to help people visualize and understand these connections and how each piece - local, regional, and national - fits together. This was best done recently by NC3D to help pitch high speed rail to Californians, which I'll leave you with to enjoy.

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Once again, US Air (a.k.a. US-SCARE) has made my life difficult. I was hoping to fly back from Myrtle Beach, SC to Denver yesterday and they cancelled my flight (Myrtle Beach is where the GeoTools conference was and a meeting of the Ecosystem Based Management Tools Network).  

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­Once again, US Air (a.k.a. US-SCARE) has made my life difficult. I was hoping to fly back from Myrtle Beach, SC to Denver yesterday and they canceled my flight (Myrtle Beach is where the GeoTools conference was and a meeting of the Ecosystem Based Management Tools Network).  

While sitting in my hotel, I decided to do something I have not done for a long time – random surfing. I thought, what if I googled “go to tinyurl.com” to see what people had posted? Tinyurl.com/ht-harlem2, caught my eye because I thought you could only create tinyurl’s with the arbitrary 6 letter codes tinyurl.com generated for you and yet they some how made one with their own customized code (a new feature now available on tinyurl).

What I found was amazing -- an extremely sophisticated stitched together panorama of Harlem. A month ago, I had seen a similar high resolution images of Inauguration day where you could zoom in to see everyone on stage with the President as well as people’s faces a good 1/2 mile down the DC mall. But the resolution of this site is even more incredible – you can zoom in to a building several miles away and still see detail down to the individual bricks of the building.

­Because they created this zoomable panorama with stitched together images, you get some interesting images in places where there is movement -- ghost images of cars going through each other and semi-transparent people walking down the sidew­alk.

What does this mean for planners?  You tell me.  One thing is for certain – Harlem is a much more interesting place than this pit of a hotel plopped in the middle a maze of concrete ugliness at 1 AM in the morning.

Here are two sets of screen captures I took showing how far you can zoom in.  The first set, I zoomed into a building way off in the horizon.  The second, probably a mile away, you can see a dad holding his son's hand while walking on the street.

It took some sleep and a shower to ponder the significance of this technology to planning. I remembered a review I read in Outside about the latest line of ultra-high resolution video cameras from the Red Digital Cinema Camera company.  To quote them:

"If you're used to shopping for digital still cameras by megapixels—a good one now gets 10 to 20—consider that the Epic shoots up to 260. That's not an incremental shift; it's like releasing the iPhone in 1980."

The Epic sells for $50K, the Scarlet for $3K.  And we're talking about video, not just still shots, so imagine being able to take 65 megapixel shots at 50 frames a second. So:

1. Say good-bye to privacy in public spaces!  Unless you have 4 walls around you or you're in a thick fog, don't be surprised to see a recognizable photo of yourself someday  in a picture taken miles away.

Over the last weeks I finally found the time to put together a video outlining our eMeetings using  the video footage we collected during our community workshops for the Routt County 2030 project. 

Today I was invited to host a webinar for the EBM Tools Network  talking about our civic engagement work. I boiled down the longer presentation I usually give to leave room for a very interesting Q&A session afterwards.

Play audio file to listen to a recording of the presentation >>
 

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In my work with PlaceMatters and APA’s Technology Division, I am constantly looking for more effective tools and techniques to engage citizens in land use planning and community building.  The continual emergence of innovative GIS and online tools has made the search exciting and rewarding.

As technology becomes more an integral part of planning and public outreach around planning, the need for a “creative touch” becomes increasingly important. While technology can increase the quality and quantity of public input, it can also diminish the quality of human interaction and creativeness.  In particular, we look for activities that use technology but also engage youth, utilize art materials, maps and other visuals, and encourage storytelling.

Last month, PlaceMatters helped run five workshops in Routt County Colorado as part of their Vision 2030 process.  We used keypad polling and content management web technologies to collect ideas, let people identify what qualities of community character are most important and most threatened, and vote on the issues submitted to the larger group. The use of wirelessly linked laptops at each table and keypads for each participant enabled us to have four feedback mechanisms packed into a single evening.  These tools illustrate the rapidly changing science of public participation.

­“These two trees have been standing next to our school since it began. They remind us how change can be beautiful if done right.” -Madison King

 
­Nonetheless, two of the more rewarding and engaging activities of the evening were sharing photos and statements provided by school children in the community, and going around the table and sharing favorite memories of living in Routt County.  These two activities were critical in adding energy and excitement to the evening. In preparation for the first activity, we had local schools engage in an art project tied to the initiative.  Students were given disposable cameras to take pictures of the things they like most in their community and to add statements.  These images were then shown at the public workshops both as a PowerPoint and posted on a physical display in the room.  The photos and statements (example to the left) reminded people why we are engaging in a conversation about the county’s future – to sustain the elements of community we find so important and pursue activities that continue to build a sense of community for future generations.

The second activity involved going around the table and having people share their favorite memories of living in the valley.  For those who were not shy to speak into a microphone, we had inexpensive microphones attached to the computers at each table and collected stories digitally.  In the end we collected over 100 stories, which will be available on a rotating basis on the Vision 2030 media site.

Without these two activities we would have missed great stories and information about what makes a place special. As science and technology play a more prominent role in public gatherings, it is critical also to identify creative and artistic activities that balance the technical tools.

This evening my wife, Beth Conover, will appear on a televised panel discussion on "Immigration and Sustainability" aired on Rocky Mountain PBS's Colorado State of Mind, hosted by Greg Dobbs. The panel includes former Gov. Dick Lamm, former Post columnist Diane Carman, and State Rep. Michael Garcia (D-Aurora). An mp3 of the program is already available at the following link. ­

My wife worked for Denver Mayor John Hicklooper and created the Greenprint Denver program. The topics being discussed are immigration and sustainability and to what extent these issues are linked. While, immigration is a real issue that will require new policies and creative thinking, I would argue it is the weapon of mass distraction when it comes to thinking about what needs to be done to make the U.S. more sustainable.

The League of Conservation Voters recently did an analysis of all the Presidential debates on national TV ("What Are They Waiting For?", League of Conservation Voters). In total, 2,679 questions were asked at Republican and Democratic debates. Of the, 2,679 questions, illegal immigration was the topic of 165 questions while the words global warming and climate change came up less than 25 times. The words “global warming” actually tied with questions about UFOs (three times). Arguing that immigration is an environmental issue while ignoring climate change is like focusing on the energy consumed by the light bulb in your refrigerator while keeping the door open.

As planners, we need to incorporate global warming into our work. The way we plan our cities and towns has a major impact on our energy footprint, whether it’s creating communities that support alternative modes of transportation, building energy efficient homes and buildings, or planting trees and protecting open space as carbon sinks, planning impacts energy use for decades.

The Presidential Climate Action Project recently issued a 10 page Presidential Climate Action Plan, encouraging the next president to focus more seriously on climate change. The report states:

We must recognize that national climate policy and national energy policy are inextricably linked. The United States must make a deliberate and rapid transition away from carbon-based fuels, whether they come from the Persian Gulf or from domestic sources. We must turn with unprecedented speed to a future of energy independence, resource efficiency, renewable energy technologies and low-carbon fuels. Public policy must support only those technologies and resources that simultaneously stabilize the climate and enhance national energy security.

We must acknowledge that global climate change is much more than an environmental issue. It is a threat to national security because an unstable world is a breeding ground for extremism and terrorism. It is an urgent economic issue in which the price of action is much less than the costs of delaying, or doing nothing.

… We must recognize not only the threat of climate change, but the enormous opportunities that we can capture by addressing it. The urgent worldwide demand for clean energy technologies is arguably the greatest entrepreneurial opportunity the United States has ever known. As the world’s leading innovator, we can and should become the world’s leading supplier of the technologies and products that will help all people in all nations achieve dignity and a decent standard of living, without contributing to climate change.

I couldn’t agree more, and yet immigration is getting a disproportionate share of attention when it comes to discussions about national security, the environment, and sprawl. Smart Growth America conducted a study to investigate the linkages between sprawl, immigration, and population growth. Less than a third of sprawl development can be attributed to population growth (natural, legal immigration, and illegal immigration combined). Sprawl and its negative impact on the environment is mainly an issue of poor planning and the developer interest in building large lot single family houses. As planners and citizens we help keep the focus on issues of more long-term strategic importance.

This blog entry was also posted on Planetizen Interchange 

This evening my wife, Beth Conover, will appear on a televised panel discussion on "Immigration and Sustainability" aired on Rocky Mountain PBS's Colorado State of Mind, hosted by Greg Dobbs. The panel includes former Gov. Dick Lamm, former Post columnist Diane Carman, and State Rep. Michael Garcia (D-Aurora). An mp3 of the program is already available at the following link.

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