For decades, planners have been discussing integrating land use and transportation in hopes that people will use transit more and drive alone less.  We have built (or improved) a few transit lines and added some bike lanes.  We have also developed guidelines for transit-orientated development (TOD) around our transit stations.  These have helped central cities gentrify, but they may also have displaced transit-accessible affordable housing.  For all our talk, we have mostly just maintained the status quo in our rules that promote outward growth, continuing to plan, design, and build unwalkable cities of single-family homes with inadequate transport alternatives.
 

In this interactive session, we will briefly discuss the state of planning practice, identify issues through several large and provincial city studies, and build a case for the imperative to build equitable and accessible cities.  Issues will be presented and discussed through the lenses of diversity/equity, accessibility/mobility, and housing choice/affordability on an array of topics that cities, regions, and transportation agencies are struggling to address as changes in society and technology lead to different expectations of urban life. Our presenters will ask for audience feedback throughout the presentation, using the audience responses to frame a post-presentation discussion with the audience.

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