Cities are complex organisms. They have traditionally been shaped by professionals - planners, designers, engineers - and they in turn impact the ecosystems around and within. But the traditional ways of building cities have inhibited human health, and negatively impacted the natural environment. Building Health is an event series designed to bring together students, faculty, and practitioners from across city-making disciplines, as well as others from public health and environmental sciences to exchange ideas and connect around designing healthy, sustainable cities. There will be five events during the 2018-2019 academic year. The first is on connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs).
Isolation, obesity, congestion, emissions, sprawl. These are just a handful of the consequences of our auto-oriented transportation infrastructure. How will connected and autonomous vehicles change the system, with an eye to these specific issues? How can autonomous and connected vehicles be integrated into a multimodal system which still prioritizes people above machines of any kind? These are the types of questions we plan to explore with our panelists.
Attendees will learn about:
· The intersection of planning and research on CAVs
· The potential effects of CAVs on human and environmental health
· Steps that are currently being taken to mitigate these effects in Minnesota
· How an interdisciplinary approach can help planners prepare for CAVs at the local, regional, and state levels
Attendees will have the opportunity to ask their own questions of the panelists, and to network with other attendees. This is a great opportunity to connect not only with other planners interested in these ideas, but also academics and professionals from across a variety of disciplines.
Katie Caskey
Katie Caskey is the Policy Planning Director at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. In this role she leads policy analysis and scenario planning work related to connected and automated vehicle technology. Recently, she was Project Manager for the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan update, Minnesota’s highest-level transportation plan. She also ...
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Katie Caskey is the Policy Planning Director at the Minnesota Department of Transportation. In this role she leads policy analysis and scenario planning work related to connected and automated vehicle technology. Recently, she was Project Manager for the Statewide Multimodal Transportation Plan update, Minnesota’s highest-level transportation plan. She also has a professional interest in exploring new and innovative public engagement methods to increase participation in transportation decision-making. Caskey has a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
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Emily Smoak
Emily Smoak is a Transportation Planner at the Minnesota Department of Health working to implement people focused transportation plans, policies, and environmental changes that support happy, healthy communities. Emily works to build capacity for local public health staff to effectively engage in community planning and serves as an advisor on ...
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Emily Smoak is a Transportation Planner at the Minnesota Department of Health working to implement people focused transportation plans, policies, and environmental changes that support happy, healthy communities. Emily works to build capacity for local public health staff to effectively engage in community planning and serves as an advisor on multiple statewide transportation policy and planning efforts. Prior to living in Minneapolis, Emily was in Seattle where she worked as planner and studied at the University of Washington.
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Michael W. Levin
Michael W. Levin is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received a B.S. degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013 and 2017, respectively ...
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Michael W. Levin is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received a B.S. degree in Computer Science and a Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013 and 2017, respectively. He is a recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Fellowship from the Federal Highway Administration and the 2016 Milton Pikarsky Award from the Council of University Transportation Centers. His research focuses on traffic flow and network modeling of connected autonomous vehicles and intelligent transportation systems.
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Thomas Fisher
Thomas Fisher is a Professor in the School of Architecture and the Director of the Minnesota Design Center at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design. A graduate of Cornell University in architecture and Case Western Reserve University in intellectual history, he was previously the Dean of the College ...
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Thomas Fisher is a Professor in the School of Architecture and the Director of the Minnesota Design Center at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design. A graduate of Cornell University in architecture and Case Western Reserve University in intellectual history, he was previously the Dean of the College of Design. Recognized in 2005 as the fifth most published writer about architecture in the United States, he has written 10 books, over 60 book chapters or introductions, and over 450 articles in professional journals and major publications, and he has been named a top-25 design educator four times by Design Intelligence.
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Frank Douma
Frank Douma is director of the State and Local Policy Program and coordinator of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree program at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and a research scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies, both located at the University of Minnesota. He manages research ...
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Frank Douma is director of the State and Local Policy Program and coordinator of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree program at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and a research scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies, both located at the University of Minnesota. He manages research projects related to several different areas of transportation policy, including impacts of developments in information and communications technologies (ICT), planning alternative transportation options in both large and small communities, and understanding the impacts of freight transportation.
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