[van-announce] Fw: Update: Larry Frank on Transport & Health, Nov. 13

[Paul Browning]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ray Straatsma 
To: Trans-Action 
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 2:53 PM
Subject: Update: Larry Frank on Transport & Health, Nov. 13


Please pass this notice on.....(apologies for cross-postings)

---------------------------

Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST), Smart Growth BC and UBC's School of Community and Regional Planning  present: 

Urban Form, Transportation, Air Quality, and Health: Measuring the Links, Finding Surprises

A public lecture and discussion with:   

Dr. Larry Frank, UBC Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Urban Transportation 

With concluding remarks by:  Mr. Johnny Carline, Chief Administrative Officer,  Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)

Thursday Nov. 13. 7-9 pm  ---  UBC Robson Square (800 Robson at Howe) 

Admission by donation  --  More info at: www.best.bc.ca or 604-669-2860.

*********BELOW: Summary of Dr. Frank's talk************

Recent research suggests that "smart growth" approaches to urban development, including increased compactness and mix of use, and street network connectivity is not only associated with reduced auto dependence and air pollution, but also with reduced rates of obesity. It is currently inferred that this reduced likelihood of obesity is due to increased physical activity that occurs in more compact environments due to increased time spent walking. 

Dr. Frank will present emerging evidence in two regions of North America, Seattle and Atlanta, that help clarify the measurable linkages between urban form, transportation, and public health - and extends this work to air quality and climate change. The findings from this research will demonstrate ways that important synergies can be established between programmatic approaches to stem auto dependence, transportation related air pollution, climate change, and obesity. 

While these findings definitely help make needed connections between land use, transportation investment, personal quality of life, and sustainability, they fall short of addressing the underlying market forces that shape the built environment. Dr. Frank designed the SMARTRAQ program in Atlanta to address the political dimensions of residential location choice: http://www.smartraq.net/

New research underway at UBC documents that a considerable amount of latent demand exists for a less auto dependent approach to community design, and that an increased supply of smart growth development would most likely result in behaviors that improved personal health and environmental sustainability. The talk will conclude with a discussion of how this research could be applied to the Lower Mainland. 

Johnny Carline, Chief Administrative Officer at the GVRD will make some closing observations regarding Dr. Frank's research, and the regional and institutional opportunities and constraints associated with growth in the Greater Vancouver area. 


*************
Ray Straatsma
Policy and Communications
BEST - Better Environmentally Sound Transportation
ph. 604.669.2860
fx. 604.669.2869



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