Volume 1 | 28 March 2018
The Right Path Monthly Newsletter
Pursuing Healthy Mobility
Dual Membership
As an IPATH member, you are automatically a member of the Transport & Health Study Group (THSG) and access to a copy of Health on the Move 2. If you are not receiving emails from THSG or have not yet received a welcome letter as a new member, please contact Liz Davies, [email protected]
President's Message
Depending on where you are in the world, it's spring time. A time of beginnings, but also a time of reflection and renewed energy. With that said, IPATH is working strategically to take the association to the next level through lessons learned and a proactive sense of determination. We have had a solid team of professionals to lay the foundation for the association. Collaborative leadership has provided the guidance to enable others to continue and build upon the work done.

Over the course of the next year, we will be seeking out collaborative partnerships with other professional organizations, writing policy briefs, drafting guidelines and pursuing funded research opportunities. We will need the help of the membership to:
  1. Recruit team members to fill gaps in marketing and communications, advocate for policy and serve as research chair on committees
  2. Grow the association by increasing membership and expanding partnerships (academic and professional).
  3. Collaborate by offering a guest spotlight in the monthly newsletter; opportunities at international conferences and training seminars, and positions on IPATH and/or partner committees.
  4. Do more in terms of research, grant work, attend networking events, or other member suggested activities
  5. Do better by focusing on becoming one of the premier think tanks and go-to resources on transport and health
  6. Create balance, continuity and communication as a professional association dedication to improve quality of life, health and well-being in communities by encouraging collaboration among cross-disciplinary and cross-sector professionals.
  7. Replicate the IPATH formula byway of a strategic plan to fill the niche of integrating health into what transport is already doing for the masses.
  8. Create something bigger than ourselves – IPATH is building a team that will do great things together...elicit a paradigm shift in culture 

I hope this lends a glimpse into our purpose and vision for 2018. Ww look forward to meeting and working with innovators who are on the same path. Email us, it would be great to hear from you, learn about your ideas and suggestions on how IPATH can serve the transport and health community better.

Regards,

Al Almasy
President, Board of Directors
ICTH Late Breaker
Abstract Submission

Did you miss the abstract submission deadline for the International Conference on Transport & Health (ICTH)? No worries. Due to the high number of requests received, the Programme Committee has an out of this world opportunity for you! The decision was made to RE-OPEN Abstract Submission, 2-9 April.

Don't miss out on the chance to be part of an avant-garde conference experience where art and science collide! Click HERE for more information.
Health, Transportation, & Vision Zero
Megan Wier, MPH is director of the program on Health, Equity and Sustainability in the Environmental Health Branch at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where she and her team develop and apply innovative approaches to using health data and evidence to inform safe, sustainable and equitable planning and policy in collaboration with local communities and government agencies. Megan co-chairs the San Francisco Vision Zero Task Force and oversees comprehensive, collaborative data systems in support of evaluation, monitoring and analysis of San Francisco’s evidence-based transportation injury prevention initiatives.
Good Luck Silvia!
Silvia Poggioli has been a valued member of the IPATH Board of Directors from January 2017 to March 2018 as the Student Committee Representative and Student Committee, Chair. In May, Silvia will leave Brazil for Monrovia, Liberia to serve as Programme Director of 'Disability and Start Up' an empowerment initiative of the Italian Non-Governmental Organization, Associazione Italiana Amici di Raoul Follereau. The project calls for the formulation of inclusive public policy and the active participation of 'Organisations of People with Disabilities’ to promote socio-economic growth with regard to disability rights.

Silvia's reflection of IPATH and her new role as a cross-disciplinary professional: “I expect the dimensions of transport and health to play a fundamental role and at times, a fatal role to improving or hindering accessibility to economic activity for people with disabilities in Liberia. As a member of IPATH I have the opportunity to keep up to date with the latest thinking on innovative solutions in transport and health. I believe my experiences and knowledge gained through IPATH will benefit the disabled community in Liberia."

IPATH would like to thank Silvia for her hard work and dedication to laying the foundation for a successful student leadership programme. We wish Silvia and her family well as they travel to Liberia to begin a new and exciting chapter in their lives.
Jennifer is assuming the role as Chair of the IPATH Student Committee as Silvia moves on to her exciting new position in Nigeria. Since launching IPATH in the fall of 2016, Jennifer has been actively involved in developing the strategic direction and foundation of the Student Committee. She is the President and CEO of Sirius Strategic Solutions; a management consulting firm with expertise in public sector governance, government relations, organizational and policy development, research and planning. She has built Sirius into a collaborative venture focusing on road safety, justice, health policy and governance. We could not have hoped for a better leader to grow the IPATH Student Committee. Welcome Jennifer!
Welcome to the IPATH Family!
After taking time off to get married to the man of her dreams, Slande is rejoining the TPH Link family as the IPATH Membership Manager and resuming her role as ICTH Abstract Submission Manager for 2018. Many of you who attended the inaugural ICTH 2015 in London may remember Slande as the calming voice and friendly smile at the registration desk. Slande is that special type of person who is always available to lend a helping hand. Welcome Slande!

If you have any questions regarding IPATH membership or ICTH Late Breaker Abstract Submission, contact Slande, [email protected]
A New Tool for Walkable Cities
"Cities around the world are recognizing how essential walkability is for the access and health of their citizens, and the economic growth of their cities. The new tool, Pedestrians First: Tools for a Walkable City will facilitate the understanding and the measurement of the features that promote walkability in urban environments around the world at multiple levels." Click HERE to be direct to the ITDP website and download the tool.
Tracking of 2016 pedestrian fatalities showed an alarming increase in the number of people killed while walking. Late last month, the Governors Highway Safety Association shared its Preliminary Estimates for 2017, and it seems as though little has changed: an estimated 5,984 people were killed compared to 5,997 people in 2016. Read the AmericaWalks Response to the disappointing numbers here.
Where Are the Gaps in Your Transit System?
"Where should your city aim to add transit service? The places where more buses and trains will be most useful are areas where lots of people live or work, but there’s not enough service to meet the demand.

A new data tool from the Center for Neighborhood Technology helps pinpoint these locations in cities around the U.S. The “Gap Finder” — an extension of CNT’s All Transit database — overlays demographic data and transit schedule information on maps that highlight where more people would ride transit if service levels were higher." Click HERE to read the full article.
FREE Webinar - Making the Case for Transit

"Every trip is a walking trip, whether you are on foot the entire way or just to the nearest transit stop. Transit can be a critical partner and advocate in the fight for walkable communities. Join us on 11 April at 14:00 EST for our webinar, " Making the Case for Transit," to learn how, working together, we can create livable communities where all members have access to school, work, play, and more. This webinar will feature successful resources, programs, and campaigns on how to make the case for people-first walking and transit solutions. This webinar assumes some knowledge of issues related to walking and walkability."
Guest Spotlight - Pedro B. Ortiz
Pedro has been a long time contributor to the development of the Transportation Public Health Link (TPH Link) and has served as a keynote at ICTH 2016. It is only fitting that IPATH share his innovative approach to cities, but first, here is a little bit of background about this passionate innovator.

Pedro has extensive experience in the academic, professional and political fields. As former Deputy Major of Madrid and Director General for Metropolitan Planning and Management of Madrid, he was in charge of developing the 1996 Madrid Metropolitan Plan. For the first time in Madrid’s history, the Madrid Plan integrated the disciplines of the Environment, Transport, Social facilities, Production activities and Housing. The city’s explosive growth mandated an innovative methodology (Metro-Matrix) to address this pressing issue in a sustainable manner. Since Pedro has consulted with numerous international Governments confronted with urban rapid growth phenomena.

In 2010, Pedro joined the World Bank with the mission to apply the Metro-Matrix methodology to the explosive phenomena most metropolises throughout the world are confronting. His reports have been the framework for many of their policies. Pedro is currently working in Nairobi with the Kenya Government and the World Bank developing the metropolitan strategy based on TOD Metro-Matrix principles. He is also a private consultant to other multinational firms for metropolitan and transport issues.
Here is a brief excerpt of Pedro's work from his book entitled, " The Art of Shaping the Metropolis".

"Metro Matrix is a methodology to understand and plan Metropolises. The book ‘The Art of Shaping the Metropolis” presents the methodology application. The approach are rooted in a conceptual framework that integrates intellectual thinking since Leonardo da Vinci’s mental geography, along the Empiricism and Neo-Platonism dichotomy in Western evolution of thought, up to actual Structuralism. 

The conceptual understanding of space at large scale is new to Metropolitan Planning. Disjointed incrementalist procedures of the different sciences involved in its interpretation, description and prescription (Geography, Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Environment, Engineering, etc.) lacked a spatial framework to relate to. Metro Matrix provides this conceptual framework. 

It is the first time the architectural thinking is applied to Metropolitan Scale. It is the first time architects can both understand and have a say to a spatial scale. A scale they did not yet grasp, nor were able to provide specific project proposals: a scale up to now solely on the hands of the mentioned empirical disciplines. Metro Matrix provides gateway key to that scale for Architects and Planners.

Metropolitan conceptual understanding results in a mental map that provides the framework for specific project locations (engineering, architecture, environment, productive, social) and its relation to upper and lower scales. Decision-making is supported not just by quantitative measurements, as well by a qualitative conceptual framework that provides rationale and consistency in the long term. 







" APA's Healthy Communities Policy Guide identifies policy ideas for local, state, and federally elected officials aimed at improving community health and quality of living through planning.

APA believes "healthy communities" are places where all individuals have access to healthy built, social, economic, and natural environments that give them the opportunity to live their fullest potential regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, income, age, abilities, or other socially defined circumstance.

Share this action-oriented guide with policymakers representing your community. Planning for health requires government at all levels to address determinants of chronic disease early by integrating health considerations in planning." Visit the APA website for other valuable resources.
Resources & Reference Articles






A new book published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Low Income Investment Fund, attempts to address these stubborn challenges by highlighting entrepreneurial solutions for addressing poverty from leading experts in community and economic development, academia, government policy, health, and philanthropy.





Conferences

Intersections: Creating Culturally Complete Streets, April 3-4 2018, Nashville, Tennessee

International Conference on Transport & Health, 24-27 June 2018, Mackinac Island, Michigan
No cars allowed! The only place in the USA where active travel and the horse are still the primary modes of transport. Join us for this avant-garde conference experience!

International Association for Travel Behavior Research, 15-20 July, Santa Barbara, California

Cities Alive, 24-28 September 2018, Brooklyn, New York


The world’s flagship physical activity and public health congress is coming to London for the first time, attended by over 1000 representatives from across the continents.
Employment Opportunities

Planetizen Great source of open positions!

Smart Growth is hiring! Click HERE to learn more.
  • Complete Streets Program Associate
  • Communications Associate
  • Policy Intern
  • Policy Associate Transportation For America
Thank you for taking the time to read through The Right Path Newsletter! If you have ideas to improve the newsletter or would like to contribute, please email us at [email protected]