Spring Luncheon: Moving to Access—Is the Current Transport Model Broken?

About the Event

For several generations, urban transportation policymakers and practitioners around the world favored a “mobility” approach, aimed at moving people and vehicles as fast as possible by reducing congestion. The limits of such an approach, however, have become more apparent over time, as residents struggle to reach workplaces, schools, hospitals, shopping, and numerous other destinations in an equitable and sustainable manner. 

Researchers have been able to define this challenge more precisely and elevate the importance of “accessibility” over the past few decades, but the adoption of new policies, tools, and investments by practitioners remains slow and uneven across most regions. In this presentation, Adie Tomer consolidated results from the Brookings Institution's Moving to Access Initiative, which visualizes challenges from the current mobility model, impediments to adopting an accessibility-focused approach, and where metro areas can go from here.

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Speaker:

Adie Tomer is a Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, where he directs the program’s infrastructure portfolio. His work focuses on metropolitan transportation, broadband, and the intersections between infrastructure and technological development. He is a noted expert on driving trends, transit accessibility, metropolitan aviation patterns, and regional goods trade and industrial composition. His work has received coverage and citations in academic journal articles and international print publications, including The Economist, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from American University and a B.A. from the University of Florida.