URP 610, Section 2

Expanding and encouraging active transportation through public transit, bicycles, and walking is an essential component of any plan to mitigate the damage of climate change, promote public health, and help make cities more livable and environmentally sustainable. These modes of travel provide a wider range of options for people who have few, enabling access to essential destinations like stores, medical clinics, and childcare centers. Communities want more options than automobile travel, and the success or failure of active transportation initiatives depends largely on effective planning and public policy. This course focuses on the policy and practice of implementing active modes of travel, with a focus on the circumstances of the United States but informed by innovations elsewhere. The course will help you understand the challenges of active travel so you can work with communities to support transit, bicycles, and walking as part of a larger effort to create healthier and more sustainable cities.