SPUR Citizen Planning Institute Series: Fifth Session

Session Five: Local Government’s Role in Low-Carbon Development

“Traditional traffic models rely on outdated data and assumptions and don’t measure many things we care about such as air pollution and climate impacts. How can cities and counties use updated models and new proposed CEQA guidelines to encourage low carbon development? In this session, we will do exercises using the URBEMIS traffic mitigation component, a simple yet powerful tool employing standard traffic engineering methodologies but providing the opportunity to adjust Institute of Traffic Engineers average rates to quantify the impact of a development’s location, physical characteristics and demand management programs. With Jeff Tumlin, NelsonNygaard and Stephanie Reyes, Greenbelt Alliance.  

About the SPUR Citizen Planning Institute Series: 

Five weekly sessions starting July 9 at 4 p.m.

“As individuals, institutions and governments struggle with the implications of global warming and climate change, we are faced with a dizzying array of possible actions. Continuing to make smart personal and political choices is essential to try and stave off the worst disasters of global warming. But something much bigger needs to happen—a change in the course of business as usual. In this first series of new informative programs at the new SPUR Urban Center, we will focus on what we can do at the community level, from the perspective of good government and good planning, to reduce CO2 emissions. Responding to the legislative context, we will focusing on greener buildings, smarter land use, more efficient transportation and market responses.

This five-part summer series is coordinated by Jeff Tumlin of NelsonNygaard Consulting Associates, Stephanie Reyes, policy director at Greenbelt Alliance and Jim Chappell, director of the Citizen Planning Institute at SPUR.”