“Urban Sprawl and Transportation Policy” is the topic of a Weidenbaum Center “St. Louis Series” forum to be held from 8 a.m. until noon May 7 in Room 300, Arts & Sciences Laboratory Sciences Building at Washington University in St. Louis.
Sponsored by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, the event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Melinda Warren at (314) 935-5652; warren@wc.wustl.edu or visit the Weidenbaum Center website at wc.wustl.edu.
The program begins with an address by Anthony “Tony” Downs, a nationally recognized expert on real estate economics, housing and urban policies. A senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution for 17 years, Downs previously served as chairman of the Real Estate Research Corporation, a nationwide consulting firm advising private and public decision-makers on real estate investment and housing policies.
The forum includes two 75-minute panel discussions:
From 9:15 a.m. — 10:30 a.m., the focus is on local and regional policy issues with an impact on transportation and urban sprawl. The panel begins with an address by Jan Brueckner, a professor of economics and transportation policy expert with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Panelists for the policy discussion include John Hoskins, director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, and Randall Walsh of the University of Colorado. Marcus Berliant, professor of economics in Arts & Sciences, will moderate the discussion.
From 10:45 a.m. until noon, the focus shifts to transportation challenges facing the region and nation. The session begins with opening remarks from Kenneth Small, a professor of economics at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in the economics of transportation and environmental issues. Panelists include Dave Snider, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation; Gudmundur Ulfarsson, assistant professor of civil engineering at Washington University; and Luis Porrello, transportation planning section manager for the St. Louis office of HNTB, a prominent national architectural, planning and engineering firm; The session will be moderated by Paul Rothstein, an associate professor of economics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.