[sustran] Visit and presentations, etc. in North America - July/August

eric.britton at ecoplan.org eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Wed Jun 30 02:03:23 JST 2004


Tuesday, June 29, 2004, Paris, France, Europe

 

Dear World CarShare Colleagues (and particular those of you in North
America),

 

It has been several years now since I last worked in North America, and
as luck would have it I have just accepted a short assignment in mid
July in Boston, which I have decided to try to parlay into a series of
funded presentations, seminars, whatever on the topic of sustainable
mobility in general and carsharing in particular in a handful of leading
North American cities.  And while time is clearly very tight on this,
not least because of the often fast summer period, I nonetheless thought
to give it a whack, starting with this note to you here this afternoon. 

 

If the past is any guide, these are the sorts of events are organized
and sponsored by mayors and local government, transportation operators
and planners, foundations, city development specialists and planners,
public interest groups concerned with sustainable development, the
environment, quality of life in cities, and the development of children
into responsible citizens and active players in the community. Also
Women's groups, local Chambers of Commerce, various clubs such as Rotary
and Lyons, university programs with a hand in these areas, and on
occasion even concerned religious groups,

 

The common theme for all these events and presentations: sustainable
development and social justice under duress, technology and society,
public/private partnerships, grassroots developments, and the role of
(local) government in actively creating the preconditions of innovation
and adaptation.  A range of possible topics might extend to:

 

*	Many aspects of carsharing from an international perspective,
but also on creating  the necessary preconditions for success (Sometimes
referred to here as the Sustainable Mobility Symphony Orchestra).
*	"Sustainable Transportation's Dirty Secret" 
*	The Walk to School - a program and active curriculum for
children, parents, schools and local government 
*	Five point strategy for creating a sustainable mobility system
in your community
*	How to organize a lousy conference that everyone forgets
immediately (a list of things not to do, and a few others too)
*	Local Government and Leadership - Profiles in courage and
effectiveness from Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia, France and the
United States

 

All of this at this point is very general of course, which as it should
be since my specialty is not smooth canned presentations but in trying
to react live and real time to specific challenges and places with
positive ideas for "pattern breaks" adapted to the unique conditions of
that time and place.  Best way to get a feel for the range of issues and
possibly topics is not only by checking out the World Carshare
Consortium at http://worldcarshare.com and the New Mobility Agenda at
http://newmobility.org <http://newmobility.org/> , but also the mother
of all websites (as we say in Baghdad), The Commons, at
http://ecoplan.org <http://ecoplan.org/> .  I do not generally make use
of PowerPoint or slides, but at times if a proper beamer is available
and high speed internet connection, it can be handy to have access to
the websites for illustration and reference.)

 

If you want to get a feel for what this might yield, let me point you to
my personal website at http://www.ericbritton.org
<http://www.ericbritton.org/> , and in particular to the section with
Videos/Presentations. There you can see the beast in action (for better
or worse).

 

Finally and if circumstances permit, I would very much like to spend a
few days sitting down with the folks in charge of a local government or
transportation agency or program at the level of city, region or what
have you -- to do some hard interactive rethinking of the concept of
"Sustainable Mobility: Policy and Practice" and in the process to talk
over and perhaps set out some new signposts for their own work in the
next couple of years. 

 

There you have it. I will be pleased to hear from you with your ideas
and leads as to who I should be contacting to fill out this program.  I
hope that this will give a certain number of us a chance to meet in
person.  The internet is great, but from time to time a bit of personal
contact does not hurt either.

 

With all good wishes,

 

Eric Britton

 

 

 

 





 <http://ecoplan.org/> 

 <http://ecoplan.org> Technology. Economy. Society.

 



Francis Eric Knight Britton
Managing Director 

EcoPlan International
8/10, rue Joseph Bara
75006 Paris, France 


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 <mailto:eric.britton at ecoplan.org> eric.britton at ecoplan.org
 <http://www.ecoplan.org> www.ecoplan.org 


 

+33 (1) 4326 1323
+33 (1) 5301 2896 

 



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