Thu, May 28, 2020 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

Register here

Learn about the various strategies communities are implementing in response to increased demands for safe public space for walking and cycling during the COVID19 crisis.

Researchers at UNC’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center will present on an effort to collect and analyze data on these strategies in order to identify community-based factors related to their adoption, impacts, long-term viability, and potential unintended consequence.

Tools for collecting pedestrian data in all communities will be presented and a range of possible indicators and creative indirect measures of pedestrian activity will be explored.

Attendees will be invited via instant polling to contribute to this ongoing research by sharing observations and opinions about the changing demands on public space in your community:

• Are space considerations a significant issue in your community?
• What is your experience in sharing public space and social distancing?
• How safe are you feeling?
• What feedback are you hearing from others in your community about what’s working (or not working for them)?

Presenters will also share suggestions for creative approaches attendees can use to estimate the impacts of COVID19 on walking conditions and pedestrian activity in their communities. Join us and become a citizen scientist for helping us all understand the many ways that COVID19-induced stay-at-home orders and social distancing are changing the way we use public space.

Presenters

Dr. Tabitha Combs has expertise in transport and land use planning, the built environment-travel behavior connection, equity impacts of new mobility innovations, and transport planning in developing contexts.

She has a particular focus on understanding the social and environmental impacts of transport policies. She has a Ph.D. and master’s degree in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an undergraduate degree from Davidson College.

Dan Gelinne is a Senior Research Associate at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center. Mr. Gelinne manages research and technical assistance programs related to road safety with an emphasis on pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

He serves as a Program Manager for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC), and has managed the development and delivery of numerous training programs for State and Federal clients.

Heyden Black Walker (CNU-A, MSCRP) is Director of Planning for Black + Vernooy, carrying forth a family legacy of local urban design and community advocacy. Together with her father, Sinclair Black, she created Reconnect Austin, a community-based call to lower the main lanes of I-35 through downtown Austin, creating a vision of the highway rebuild that reconnects neighborhoods while providing multi-modal access to jobs, medical facilities, transit, and civic resources.

With the goal of equity in transportation and increased access for all, Heyden also donates her time and advocacy efforts to the City of Austin Pedestrian Advisory Council (member), the Congress for the New Urbanism – Central Texas Chapter (Board of Directors), Vision Zero ATX (member), and Austin Outside (Board of Directors). Heyden is a 2016 fellow of the national Walking College.

Connect the Dots, a Philadelphia- and Dublin-based civic engagement group, equitable engagement, and design thinking specialist agency, is teaming up with Project for Public Spaces, a leader in public space development and placemaking having completed projects in more than 3,500 communities in over 50 countries and all 50 U.S. states.

April 30th @ 11am EST

Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/9192592714748597776

This webinar will feature a conversation featuring a variety of perspectives, tools and experiences related to engagement practices considering the difficulties posed by COVID-19.

• As a result of what’s happening now, how will engagement evolve moving forward?
• How are communities included in the recovery process?
• What can we do to better inform our practice?

This international conversation comes at a critical time, as the world’s inhabitants share an unprecedented experience, from billions of individual perspectives. While commonalities exist, respect for diversity and equity is the key to creating solutions that work on a massive scale.

After pulling questions in advance from registered participants, we will look at sharing best practices that can be applied to a range of contexts, and why, instead of putting engagement on hold, it is more important to do what we can right now.