Follow along on this blog to discover how we can create great communities and what role transportation systems, including bicycling transportation, play to improve livability, connect people to other people and places and sustain a healthy environment (the air we breathe, the pollution we create).
A cohort of Oregon transportation professionals will travel with a group of University of Oregon professors and students to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit the office of the renowned Copenhagen firm Gehl Architects and see the city through its people-centered urban design lens. For two weeks, students and professionals are immersed in the design and planning strategies that make this one of the leading cities in bicycle and pedestrian planning and one of the “most livable” in the world through site tours, office visits and lectures with the municipality and leading firms and practitioners that focus on public space, bicycle urbanism, climate adaptation, and urban play. Learning and experiences will continue in the Netherlands for the second half of the program. The Oregon cohort will visit Nijmegen, Utrecht, and Amsterdam over two more weeks. Scan Design Foundation is generously supporting this Travel-Study experience to help improve transportation safety, sustainability and livability in Oregon communities.
The Scan Design Foundation is dedicated to advancing American Danish relations through the exchange of people, ideas, and cultural experiences. Scan Design Foundation is sponsoring an international study experience to expand understanding of planning and design solutions for community building, livability, sustainability and transportation safety with a special focus on bicycle transportation. In 2022, five professionals from Oregon were selected to participate in the study and create a working cohort for Oregon. The group will travel together to cities in Denmark and the Netherlands. The cohort includes Robin Lewis, Transportation Engineer with the City of Bend; Andrew Martin, Development Planner with Lane Transit District; Susan Peithman, Active Transportation Policy Lead for the Oregon Department of Transportation; Shane Rhodes Transportation Options Program Manager for the City of Eugene; Katherine Ambrose, Director, Pacific Northwest Policy and , Spurlock Regional Trails Planner for Oregon Metro. The Oregon Cohort also includes Katherine Ambrose, director of Pacific Northwest Policy. Ambrose currently serves on the Oregon House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
This program is led by Marc Schlossberg, Professor University of Oregon’s City and Regional Planning Department, co-Director Sustainable Cities Institute. Professor Schlossberg is joined by Associate Professor Rebecca Lewis, co-director Institute for Policy Research and Engagement as well as Nick Meltzer, Transportation Manager for Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments.
During the trip, the Oregon Cohort will examine several questions.
How can bicycling bring a community together?
What policies improve livability?
What are sustainable transportation policies?
What makes a comfortable route to ride your bike on?
The Bend, Oregon Transportation System Plan’s tagline is Great Communities don’t Happen by Chance. What can we do to ensure Bend remains a great community and how do transportation policies and facility types/connectivity contribute?