Mobility Without Borders on Transportation Innovation

Featured in the presentation are ways to escape from inefficient transportation planning. It lays out better structures than the “just build bigger roads” mentality that has overtaken the greater Mississauga area over the last few decades. Far too many suburban and urban cities in the world face rising business costs, poor air quality, and a loss of regional and global positioning facilitating a negative impact on economy.

On June 23, 2008 the Canadian Urban Institute held this International Symposium on Transportation Innovation. See the Canadian Urban Institute for a list of presentors and a copy of their presentations on how cities around the world, including Toronto and Hamilton, are changing how they think about transportation.

The presentation emphasizes the bringing together of both the public sector and businesses to cooperate and create consensus. This demands effective governance and will result in a “win-win” mentality between the partnering groups.

Mississauga is right in the sweetspot of transportation development between Hamilton and Toronto. To their credit, cooperation is being developed between key transportation initiates such as Metrolinx and the Mississauga Cycling Master Plan. Mississauga has also made moves in re-thinking the old mall layouts and planning to convert them into “retail nodes” with street level access that is friendlier to walkers, cyclists, and public transportation. Building higher density residential accomodations around these nodes give them an attractive and warmer community feel. See here and here for news on Mississauga’s move to smarter urban development and their proposed “de-malling” strategy.

The Mississauga Cycling Advisory Committee is asking that these plans acknowledge cycling as a key factor in the multi-mode structures. This would involve some of the following considerations:

• Routes for bicycles to both the retail nodes and public transportation stops
• Main feeder routes for bicycles to public transportation
• Public transportation allowing facilities for bicycles at both the stations and on the buses or trains
• Safe places for bicycles to travel in areas with high pedestrian density