Description:

Organized by the Active Transportation Integrated Committee

This panel explores how active transportation and placemaking can serve as powerful economic drivers, shaping healthier, more connected communities across Canada. Framed within the conference theme “Transportation for a Strong Canada”, the discussion would aim at contrasting bottom-up, community-led approaches to creating vibrant, people-centered places with top-down, large-scale infrastructure planning. Panelists could include a mix of economists, transport planners, and local advocacy leaders to debate how local perspectives on walkability, cycling, and public space design can complement or even outperform centralized strategies in achieving sustainable mobility, economic vitality, and social resilience.