Auckland

Kia ora tatou

You are invited to the second NZ Walking Summit on 20 – 21 June 2019 in Auckland – your chance to talk walking, children walking, and walking to public transport!

• What can we learn from the experts about how to make New Zealand safer for our children and why we should?
• What are we doing to make walking and public transport better for all of us?
• And, what is the government doing in this space?

Our Living Streets Aotearoa Walking Summit offers a unique opportunity to network with thought-leaders and practitioners. Together we can transform cities and towns for children and all pedestrians from 5 to 95. Walkability is the essential connection to increase public transport use.

We have an outstanding line up of presenters covering a range of critical topics, including:

 

Pollution and children’s health in London: What lessons can we learn from overseas?

Jenni Wiggle, Senior Director Living Streets in London, will share insights into how the United Kingdom have encouraged and supported children to walk to school over many years. The serious issues with air pollution and the flow on impacts to children’s health have been key motivators. Some significant changes in approach have resulted and valuable lessons have been learned.

 

Different views: Walking through the eyes of a child

Sandy Mandic, from the Active Living Laboratory at the University of Otago, will look at Walking to school as an opportunity for adolescents to be physically active. She will present findings about school travel from the Otago-based BEATS Research Programme. In most Western countries, walking is the most common mode of active travel to school among adolescents. Presenting findings related to adolescents’ transport to school behaviours in urban, semi-urban and rural areas, perceptions of walking to school and associations of transport to school behaviours with  physical activity levels.

Ryan Gage, research fellow for the Health Promotion and Policy Research Unit at the University of Otago, will present findings from Kids’Cam – one of the first studies worldwide to objectively examine children’s’ environments from their perspective. Where do children go and what do they see? We follow their journeys through a camera lens and look at children’s use of green space and use of the great outdoors.

Alex Bonham, researches children’s needs to play and challenge themselves, by looking at changes over time in how far children roam independently. This highlights the great play amenities available but the neglect in focus on how children access those play spaces.
She presents some measures we can take to fix this.

 

Making a difference: The relationship between public transport and walking

Find out about the Government’s plans through Public Transport 2045 and explore future scenarios for shared mobility with Nick Potter from the Ministry of Transport.

What about the design of our public transport facilities, bus stops and the like? Hear from Pam McConchie of NZTA on resources available and the development of standards and guides.

Is public transport truly public if not everyone can use it? We will consider what is required for inclusive and accessible design of public transport from both a research and user perspective.

Do we value public transport and the first mile / last mile connection adequately? Courtney Groundwater, from Abley consultants, will talk about data needs and the framework we need to consider the social and accessibility implications of changes in public transport service levels.

 

Local government leading the walking way to school

Local government have taken the lead in supporting the walk to school with many programmes – and we share a few. Auckland Transport is walking the talk with a wide range of initiatives to encourage the walk to school. AT staff and researchers outline some of the many projects.

Dunedin City Council have recently completed an area wide approach to improving safety around five schools.

 

Don’t miss out – register now

Register now for the walking event of the year which will provide something new and informative, and a unique opportunity to hear from experts and discuss issues that matter. Please visit our website for conference details and to register.

Presented by Matthew Blaikie, Auckland Council.

Climate change has been described as “humanity’s greatest threat in thousands of years” by the champion of the natural world Sir David Attenborough. Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, says that we should act as if “our house is on fire.”

On 11 June 2019, members of Auckland Council’s Environment and Community Committee voted to join a growing community of cities around the world who have formally and publicly recognised the urgency for action on climate change by declaring a climate emergency.

Matthew Blaikie is a Senior Sustainability and Resilience Advisor in the Chief Sustainability Office at Auckland Council. He will be presenting on Auckland’s Climate Action Framework and what climate action means for Auckland, with a specific focus on transport.

Tuesday 13 August, 6pm
Auckland Town Hall, Council Chambers, 305 Queen Street
RSVP here 

There will be an opportunity for networking with nibbles provided and a cash bar from 5pm, the presentation will start at 6pm.

Auckland’s Climate Action Framework is out for public consultation until Friday, 6 September and is available to view here:

https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/topics-you-can-have-your-say-on/auckland-climate-action-framework/Pages/default.aspx

Open to members and non-members, we hope to see you there!

Following his presentation at the Transportation Group Conference, Roger will discuss the benefits of On-Demand Public Transport Solutions in addressing real world travel problems.

Using the Case Study of the NSW Government On-Demand Public Transport Trials, his team and partners, have developed a new public transport offering to make travel more efficient for passengers and more efficient for government to operate. This new ‘on-demand’ transit service, using technology enabled minibuses running on flexible routes, has been developed under the NSW Future Transport Technology Initiative to support Sydney’s response to the transport challenges we are experiencing through rapid population growth.

The service is being tested and will be launched in early 2018 for people traveling to and from the Macquarie Park precinct, one of Sydney’s employment, education and leisure hubs. It will transport people within a 10km radius of the precinct, who will schedule, pay and track their journey to and from the precinct using a mobile app.

The pilot will provide valuable insights for the future development of similar services throughout Australia, New Zealand and internationally. This presentation will further discussion around this topic.

About Roger:
Roger is the Director leading the NSW Transport Advisory Team for AECOM. He is also ANZ Technical Practice Leader for Transport Advisory at AECOM. Roger has 17 years’ of experience in transport advisory services, including 10 years’ in a leadership role as project director/ manager / technical lead for major urban transport infrastructure projects.

Roger is a specialist in the delivery of transport and urban development strategies, transport and urban infrastructure project development and assessment. His technical expertise and interests lie in transit planning/ operations for passenger rail, surface mass transit and new technology driven mobility solutions and urban renewal creating vibrant places for people. He is a strong believer in public transport as a service to create liveable urban environments.

Location: AECOM House, Level 2, 8 Mahuhu Crescent

Light catering and drinks will be provided