Title

Congested Development? Rethinking the Causes and Consequences of Metropolitan Traffic Delays

Time

1:40 pm - 3:00 pm

Location

1605 Tilia, Room 1103, West Village

Abstract

Big cities in California are notorious for traffic congestion, which is widely viewed to be detrimental to both the regional economy and quality of life. Both metropolitan Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area regularly rank at or near the top of lists ranking the nation’s most congested areas. The case that Californians and their regional economies are hurt by traffic congestion seems obvious. But is it? Professor Brian Taylor explores this question by considering the role of transportation in, and the effect of traffic delays on, activity participation, accessibility, and the regional economies in LA and the Bay Area. He will report on research with colleagues at UCLA and the University of Virginia on how travel speeds and differences in the built environment within and across communities interact to determine trip-making and access to jobs across a variety of economic sectors. Access refers to the ability of people and firms to avail themselves of economic and social opportunities in space, which is a function not only of the speed at which one is able to travel, but also of the proximity of desired destinations both within and across communities.

Biographical Sketch

Brian D. Taylor, PhD, FAICP is Professor of Urban Planning, Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, and Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. His research centers on transportation policy and planning – most of it conducted in close collaboration with his many exceptional students. Professor Taylor’s research examines travel behavior, traffic congestion, transportation economics & finance, public transit, transportation equity & politics. Prior to UCLA, Professor Taylor was on the planning faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and before that he was a planner with Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the San Francisco Bay Area.