Transportation and Sustainability

Is our current transportation system sustainable from environmental, energy, economic, social, and technological perspectives? In this course, with one eye on current events (such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Biden administration's focus on infrastructure), we focus on the sustainability of transportation. We examine the interplay of transportation and the structure of society, including topics such as the economy, the environment, land use, politics, technology, and history. Changes now occurring on the national and global levels, such as those wrought by the pandemic and by the rising movement for social justice, are explored through lectures, readings, and student work. From a sustainability perspective, the nexus of energy consumption, vehicle emissions, climate change, habitat loss or alteration, and air quality are explored to understand the impacts of various forms of transportation and the potential utilization of emerging technologies and new policies and institutional structures to dramatically improve results. Looking beyond current practices, we also explore how more fundamental shifts, such as in consumer habits, are reshaping transportation networks and the infrastructure barriers that we must address. Finally, we examine the role of legal and regulatory actions on transportation/environmental relationships at the state and federal levels, and how future standards could be utilized to advance sustainability.