This year, the 15th Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference will be held in Seattle, on September 2-5th. This is the biggest annual gathering of walking and biking advocates, public health and transportation professionals, and community organizers in the country.
If you have a recent project or advocacy success relating to walking and biking, or expertise in the field to share, or research to add to the discussion, consider proposing a presentation! You don’t have to be a big cheese to present – the standard presentation is about 20 minutes long, and you get grouped with other presentations on similar subjects. You can also submit a poster presentation for display. The deadline for proposals is next Friday, February 1st.
Here are the details on the conference format and how to propose a presentation. The general themes they are looking to cover are:
* Demonstrating best practices – Incorporating cycling and pedestrian projects in planning, engineering, design, and political funding for transportation and broad support for Complete Streets.
* Better communication – Techniques for communicating clear messages to convince politicians, elected officials, other interest groups, business leaders, and transportation agencies/engineers that biking and walking and active communities are far from frivolous and need to be seen as critical, viable transportation options
* Research – What research do we have on hand that can be used in making the case for bicycling and walking as sustainable transportation modes? What research do we need that isn’t currently being conducted, and how are we going to go about getting that information?
* The Economics – Showing the economic savings and efficiencies of sustainable community development (reduced parking, greater densities and mixed uses to reduce auto-dependency, household savings from lower-cost transportation options).
* Healthy/Active Communities – Show how urban planners and health departments can better work together to develop policies and plans that support active transportation modes and help reduce obesity.
* Education – Show how we can reach and teach all segments of the population about key needs for change. How can the educational system be better used to raise awareness? And, what does it really takes to provide the conditions conducive to children bicycling and walking to school?
* Trails –Creating trails that connect to the places people want to go (parks, shops, work), integrating existing trails networks, and overcoming barriers to trail development.
* Sustainable organizations and initiatives – How do we continue to build, nurture, and sustain a grassroots advocacy movement to bring about the changes we want to see in our communities?
* The Basics – Yes, we realize that there are new people entering the field all the time, and some need to “learn the ropes.†We’ll offer a collection of “Bike-Ped 101†presentations and workshops during the conference and during the days surrounding the conference.
