We historians at UCLA are lucky to have Darrell Hunt as our dean who leads us with the motto Engaging LA, Changing the World. And I was lucky to be able to teach a group of really smart students about the history of transportation: How wheels have changed the world, from the Roman Empire to the missing bike-lanes in Westwood. One of the aims of the course was to establish that transportation is never a logistics problem of moving stuff effectively, but always involves how we live our lives and where we create distances and between whom. Transportation involves the inequitable policies that have governed land use, but it also involves health: That would be the road violence which is embedded in the aggressive design of your next SUV. That would also be the "Car-Enabled Comfort that Provokes Persistent Waves of Disease" which provided such a rich bounty for the Corona virus in this country.
It seemed a good idea to bring these issues to a head locally, on Westwood Blvd, on the Medical Plaza Driveway (soon to be renamed Medical Plaza Bikeway). The final assignment for my students was to bring what we have learned about the complexity of mobility to the attention of the leadership of our medical provider, and to challenge our non-profit academic health center to recognize their responsibility as a stakeholder in local healthy transport planning.
I liked what I saw, and I think the students deserve answers to the letters they have written. Here is some poetry, some artwork, a Rap sheet, and many powerful arguments. Here is the pdf.
A limited edition of the Examination: "Unhealthy Mobility" will be issued and paper copies will be distributed to
Johnese Spisso, President, UCLA Health
Kelsey Martin, Dean, UCLA Medical School
Michael Beck, Administrative Vice Chancellor, UCLA, Bicycle Commuter
Jennifer Poulakidas, Associate Vice Chancellor Government & Community Relations, UCLA
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