Streetsblog

Walk21 Conference: A Chance to Improve Our Streets

Next week, the Department of Transportation will host the tenth annual Walk21 Conference, an international conference devoted to walking, and achieving livable, sustainable cities. The conference will take place next Wednesday to Friday at NYU, and you can register for it here. The conference began in London back in 2000, and has been featured in a different major city ever since.

By Mathew Katz

2:39 PM EDT on October 2, 2009

The conference is in New York this year, in part, to recognize the innovative work that NYC DOT is undertaking. Walk21 is a great opportunity for livable streets advocates, government officials, urban planners and sustainable transportation wonks from around the world to gather and share ideas for making cities greener and healthier.

There are a ton of great-looking events and panels (download the program) at the conference, and here are a few that members of the Livable Streets Initiative and The Open Planning Project will be running:

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking: How Local Livable Streets Advocates Are Using the Internet to Build a Movement: Streetsblog’s editor-in-chief, Aaron Naparstek, will be moderating a panel of top bloggers on how web-based media can be used to organize activists and keep a media spotlight on important livable streets issues.
Friday, Oct. 9, 9:00 – 10:30 a.m., Room 802, NYU Kimmel Center
We’re Walking Here NYC: Livable Streets Education will be having a city-wide celebration of Walk to School Day for K-12 students, with lots of fun activities focusing on green and healthy lifestyles.
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., Washington Square Park
Pedestrian Films Screening – A screening of pedestrian-related films, put on by Streetfilms.
Thursday, Oct. 8, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., Room 914, NYU Kimmel Center
Using Powerful Apps to Build a Livable Streets Movement: Nick Grossman, Director of TOPP Labs at The Open Planning Project, will be moderating a panel on how to use the power of the web to share urban data and build support for more walkable communities.
Thursday, Oct. 8, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m., Room 802, NYU Kimmel Center
Creating and Sustaining Successful SRTS Programs: Lauren Marchetti, Director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School, moderates a panel that includes Kim Wiley-Schwartz of Livable Streets Education.
Thursday, Oct. 8, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m., Room 914, NYU Kimmel Center

Mathew Katz

Mathew Katz is a Canadian freelance reporter/producer living in New York City. His writing has appeared in The Toronto Star, The Village Voice, Torontoist, The Huffington Post, and NPR.org. He's also had radio pieces appear on National Public Radio and the BBC World Service. Mathew graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is 2009, and before that completed a B.A. at the University of Toronto. He's an avid baker, and rides a worn-down hybrid bike around the city.

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