Moving Beyond Cars: LA’s Alternative Transportation Celebration

Workshop Overview

This event celebrating alternative transportation was hosted by GOOD Magazine, the LA County Bicycle Coalition, the Coalition for Clean Air and de LaB (design east of La Brea).  Naturally, the attendees of this event were in favor of and enthusiastic about the implementation of public transportation systems and accommodation of modes of transportation alternative to the car, such as bicycles and walking.  Workshop participants tended to speak less about the design of the transportation system itself, and focused more on the characteristics of what the transportation system connects to, such as:  high density development, neighborhoods, parks, the mountains, the LA River, the beach, grocery stores, wine bars, bicycle and walking paths, the zoo, the marina.  The lesson here is that the design of the communities and recreation areas in which we live and work that are connected together by various transportation systems are as important as the design of the transportation infrastructure itself.  This workshop indicated that transportation infrastructure can aspire to be part of and engender the evolution of a living system of neighborhoods, communities, parks, economies, streets and recreation areas.