Rolling along...

I've been doing some thinking about my online life of late, and have decided to make a change so that I can do this blogging thing in a way that makes more sense for me. Consequently, this will be the last post at this location, but Seeking Ecopolis will live on. To see the new digs and more on what is going on, head over here. I'm looking forward to seeing you in the new neighborhood!

Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute

Today and tomorrow I'll be at a great land use planning conference that takes place right here in Denver every year. No wifi today, but may post ocassionally from my iPhone, time permitting. Should be a great time!


Preparing for the opening keynote at DUs Newman Center.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What is transportation for?

I came across this in a reading for my class Case Studies in Sustainable Transportation. The question, "What is transportation for?", was asked by urban theorist Lewis Mumford in 1958 after Congress passed and President Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act, which lead to the construction of the Interstate Highway System. I love Mumford's response to his own question:

"The purpose of transportation is to bring people and goods to places where they are needed, and to concentrate the greatest variety of goods and people within a limited area, in order to widen the possibility of choice without making it necessary to travel. A good transportation system minimizes unnecessary transportation; and in any event, it offers change of speed and mode to fit a diversity of human purposes."

Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, quoted in How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken, by Alex Marshall (emphasis mine)

What would our cities be like today if this paradigm had been headed, and our cities hadn't been ripped apart to make room for the interstates and the cars they would bring? I'll explore this in a future post.