Thursday, March 10 at 12:00 p.m.
Main Ballroom
The Wild West: Can Cities in the American West be Livable?
Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles…the list goes on. Great cities, big cities that were built in the era of automobiles. In the 1950’s a car could take a businessman from his downtown office building to a quiet, leafy street in the distant suburbs in less than 20 minutes. A new house and a big yard had a lot to offer compared to a cramped, noisy, rundown apartment in the city, But now that 20 minute commute has become 90 minutes, parking is expensive and smaller families with two working parents are more likely to eat out than cook big meals every night. Now affluent millennials are flocking to inner cities that were deserted by their parents and grandparents in the late 20th century. Neighborhoods like Over the Rhine in Cincinnati that were vacant and dangerous 15 years ago, are now vibrant with restaurants, microbreweries, bars and galleries. How can transportation change to make these “new” cities more livable? What about Western cities that were built for cars? Can they develop neighborhoods in areas where neighborhoods never existed or were destroyed? Is this urbanization just a phase or a long term lifestyle change and what are the implications for transportation planners?
Van Nguyen is President and CEO of Tempo Bicycles, an innovator of human-powered personal mobility and an advocate of healthy and sustainable everyday living. Designed with the needs of commuters in mind, Tempo hybrid bikes let you travel farther and faster than conventional bikes while still providing health benefits of cycling. Tempo hybrid bicycles enable more people to bike and help people to bike more often.
At Tempo, they believe that we can make our cities more livable by enabling everyone to embrace a lifestyle change that not only benefits them, but also their communities and the environment. Their mission is to empower everyone to live a healthier and greener lifestyle by making bicycling more enjoyable every day.
Ms. Nguyen will share her personal passion for active, sustainable transportation, provide insights into this mega trend and discuss the trails related policy/operational issues we all need to consider if we are to be prepared for it.
