She’s a fan of bike lanes, urban renewal and, in particular, Campus Martius park in downtown Detroit. Over the past decades, Janette Sadik-Khan has redefined how people get around cities, and she’s coming to Detroit to talk more.
As a leading urban transportation policy expert and best-selling author, Sadik-Khan will deliver a keynote address at the 2017 Detroit Policy Conference March 2 at MotorCity Casino Hotel.
Multiple groups are likely to be interested in Sadik-Khan’s message and ideas. For example, her topics are key to groups such as Mode Shift, an online hub that provides stories, tools, and know-how that empowers people to take action and make Michigan communities more walkable, bikeable and livable.
According to the Michigan Fitness Foundation, sponsors of Mode Shift, the timing for Sadik-Khan’s visit is perfect. Detroit is in the middle of such an energetic and globally recognized transformation as opportunities for walking/biking/running continue to expand quickly. At the core of it all, says the Foundation, what’s occurring is a community re-shaping itself to make it easier for people to be active at all ages and abilities –that’s what’s so exciting for The Michigan Fitness Foundation and its partners as they work to make regions, cities and communities more walkable and bikeable.
An urban transformation leader, Sadik-Khan served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) from 2007-2013, where she implemented a program to improve safety, mobility and sustainability, and ensure a state of good repair on the city’s roads, bridges and ferries. She is now the principal transportation consultant for Bloomberg Associates.
In her book, “Street Fight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution,” she explains how she managed the seemingly impossible and transformed the streets of one of the world’s largest cities into dynamic pedestrian- and bike-friendly spaces.
Having recently worked in Detroit, Sadik-Khan is familiar with the challenges the city faces and recently consulted on molding Detroit into a more pedestrian-friendly city. She will discuss the noticeable changes in Corktown through dedicated bike lanes and what can be done to help craft a long-term vision for mobility across the city.
Sadik-Khan also will speak at other area organizations. As part of its 2016-17 Lecture Series, Detroit Mercy School of Architecture Sadik-Khan at 5:30 p.m. March 1 in the Warren Loranger Architecture Building’s Genevieve Fisk Loranger Architecture Center. This event is free and open to the public.
The Chamber event is from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 2 at the MotorCity Casino Hotel’s Sound Board. The event is $159 for Chamber members and $235 for future members.
At Bloomberg Associates, she works with mayors around the world to reimagine and redesign their cities with innovative projects that can be developed quickly and inexpensively. Before joining the Bloomberg Administration, she was a Senior Vice President at Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international engineering firm. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration.
At NYC DOT, she oversaw the nation’s largest bike share program. She added nearly 400 miles of bicycle lanes and installed 60 plazas across the city. She also developed and published New York City’s first-ever Street Design Manual and Street Works Manual, defining new standards for creating more resilient and attractive streets.
Sadik-Khan is the chair of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), an organization of transportation commissioners in over 40 US cities, and is a member of the board of directors of both the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and the Regional Plan Association (RPA). She also sits on the Board of Trustees of Occidental College, from which she holds a B.A. in Political Science, in addition to a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
Editor’s Note: Registrations are currently being accepted to attend the Detroit Policy Conference.
Lead Ann Arbor street photo: Tim Galloway
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