OLD UCLA Lewis Center

Janette Sadik-Khan Delivers Star Power and Data-Driven Innovation in UCLA Regents Lecture

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Transportation talks don’t get much more electric than the UCLA Regents lecture delivered by Janette Sadik-Khan on a recent October evening at UCLA. Urban Planning Chair Evelyn Blumenberg and Lewis Center faculty fellow Martin Wachs both used the term “rock star” to describe Khan in their introductory remarks, and one fan following the event on Twitter requested someone get a DNA sample in order to clone her.

Sadik-Khan is now a principal at Bloomberg Associates and doing consulting work for the city of Los Angeles, but she earned such esteem for her accomplishments as New York City’s Department of Transportation Commissioner from 2007-2013. Throughout a lively and engaging talk Sadik-Khan emphasized several important lessons from her time in that position:

 

  • It is important to measure everything- as Mayor Bloomberg used to say: “In God we trust; all others bring data.” The prospect of data can reduce the anxiety surrounding a project. For example, despite misgivings about the conversion of Times Square to a pedestrian-only zone, data clearly showed that motorist and pedestrian injuries decreased after the change and that merchants were prospering.
  • A fast-acting approach is key to getting projects done. We would still be waiting today for projects to be completed if the traditional process had been followed, but by building off pilot programs we needed only six years to implement 1000 new city benches, 400 miles of bike lanes, and 6 new Bus Rapid Transit routes.
  • You need design standards that offer the right vision. The old AASHTO book often says “no” to innovative projects, and you need a manual that will say “yes” to projects that we know will improve our streets and public spaces. To that end, we created our book: the Urban Street Design Guide

 

Here at the Lewis Center, researchers are furthering such aims through rigorous work that is improving streets and public spaces in the Southern California region. Such work includes:

 


In the end, worshiping a rock star like Sadik-Khan is best if it inspires innovative work at home.