Electric, Autonomous, & Green: The Future of Personal Transportation – Columbus Metropolitan Club – May 3 2023

On Wednesday, May 3 2023, I had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion on the Future of Personal Transportation at the Columbus Metropolitan Club. Joining me on the panel were Preeti Choudhary, Executive Director, DriveOhio, Ted Angel, Director, Aerospace Affairs, Dayton Development Coalition, and  host Walker Evans, Co-Founder & CEO, Columbus Underground.

My main message – the future of personal transportation should be similar to the history of personal transportation – walking, biking and public transit. Electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and advanced air mobility are simply continuations of the same thing we have been trying for a century – cars and car dependence.  As should be clear, cars are not working well, and we can’t solve our car problem with more car-ing.

Event Page

Video of the panel discussion

Why is sustainable mobility so hard? Some observations on the paths forward

On April 14, I had the opportunity to give a lecture in the Mobility and Planning for Human-scale Cities lecture series organized by the Mobility Lab at the University of Tartu in Estonia, sponsored by the US Speaker Program of the US Department of State.

Mobility is central to urbanity, and urbanity is central to our common future as the world’s population crowds into urban areas. This is creating a global mobility crisis due to the unsustainability of our 20th century transportation systems for a crowded and connected 21st century world. We need to move beyond inflexible, unsustainable and brittle car-dominated mobility monocultures to flexible, sustainable and resilient mobility polycultures with a wide spectrum of integrated mobility options. This transition is hard because mobility is complex, a wicked problem and a fundamental social dilemma.

In this lecture, I address the transition towards sustainable mobility. I discuss how we can leverage the urban data revolution to resolve these challenges. In particular, I focus on the role of next generation urban observatory science that respects complexity, embraces uncertainty and conflicting values, facilitates urban experimentation and creates environments for collaboration and knowledge co-production. I identified the major scientific challenges, merits and broader impacts of the observatory approach to transportation and urban science.

A recording of the lecture is available via the link below:

Why is sustainable mobility so hard? Some observations on the paths forward – 14 April 2023

CURA is hiring!

Are you a geospatial geek who wants to make cities and regions more sustainable, equitable and resilient places? Do you have technical and management skills combined with a passion for engaged urban science? Would you like to build a career at dynamic, interdisciplinary urban research and outreach center at a highly collaborative and comprehensive university?

The Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) at The Ohio State University is seeking a Consulting Manager/Senior Researcher to join our team. CURA engages in a diverse portfolio of data-intensive research projects focused on urban and regional issues, with a special emphasis on geospatial data science. Many of our projects involve close collaboration with community partners in Central Ohio and beyond. The Consulting Manager is responsible for managing these projects and ensuring that they have the necessary resources and provides direct supervision for the center’s student research associates. The Consulting Manager also helps to define the strategic direction of the organization and to identify and develop new project opportunities.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Geography, Geographic Information Science, Computer Science, or a related field.  Experience in research involving geospatial analysis or data science is required, as well as experience using Python or R in this context.

Desired Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree and 5 years’ experience or Master’s degree and 3 years’ experience in a related field. Detailed understanding of urban and regional issues, as demonstrated by possession of a related degree, professional experience, or extensive personal engagement.  Supervisory experience is desired, with preference for supervision of students. Experience in a consulting service or similar is desired.

More information and to apply:

External Career Site:

https://osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/OSUCareers/job/Columbus-Campus/CURA-Consulting-Manager_R51999-1

Internal Employee Career Site:

https://www.myworkday.com/osu/d/inst/15$392530/9925$97204.htmld

Internal Student Career Site:

https://www.myworkday.com/osu/d/inst/15$392530/9925$97206.htmld