Downtown LA Forum – Digital Cities

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About the Forum

We’re bringing together many of today’s thought leaders on technology and the future of mobility, cities, and regions to examine:

  • The latest trends in vehicle automation (e.g.: Google Car) and Transportation Network Companies (e.g.: Uber, Lyft, Sidecar) and the historical and future context for these innovations.
  • How these and other innovations are changing transportation, the built environment, and the responsibilities of those who plan for or manage those domains.
  • What should be government’s role amidst private sector technological innovation?  Can government set standards or regulations without dictating winning or losing technologies or business models?
  • What implications do new technologies, related services, and technology-enabled policies have for travel, air quality, energy conservation, and urban form?
  • How can the public sector leverage big data and new tools to improve operations and planning processes, especially as cities and regions change?

Technologies – and in particular information and communications technologies – are changing the way we live, do business, and travel at breakneck speed.  But land development, transportation infrastructure, and the laws and institutions that govern them evolve gradually – creating challenges for public and private sector managers of land use and transportation systems.  This forum will bring together thought leaders across an array of professions and disciplines to explore these challenges and suggest solutions.

Advances in information and communications technologies have dramatically changed the way we collect and consume data.  Ubiquitous, real-time information allows individuals, firms, and households to flexibly make decisions in response to road conditions, prices, consumer demand, and air quality information.  Logistics firms have dramatically changed their practices as better information has improved efficiency in routing and delivery. The proliferation of new dynamic ride- and car-sharing services has provided many more options for both travelers and for service providers – filling gaps in the transportation system. This enormous sensing and computing power in vehicles and in pockets has great implications for cities, regions, and planning – yet many public agencies and regulatory systems are struggling to keep up with the quick pace of private sector innovation.

The Program

Registration & Light Breakfast (8:00 am)

Welcome (9:00 am)

Brian Taylor, FAICP, Professor of Urban Planning; Director, Lewis Center for Regional and Policy Studies; Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Franklin Gilliam, Jr., Dean, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Juan Matute, AICP, Associate Director, Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies; Associate Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Session 1: Real Time Cities (9:20 am)

Moderator: Brian Taylor

Where’s the bus?
Stephen Tu manages real-time passenger information systems for California’s largest transit agency. How do transit passenger information systems that convey arrival times and the reasons for delays better help Metro deliver safe, clean, reliable, on-time, courteous service. – Stephen Tu, Manager of Operations & Service Delivery, Los Angeles Metro 

[Presentation PDF]

Where’s the spot?
How does technology help cities manage parking? What lessons have early adopter cities learned about smart parking technology and vendor services? – Alex Demisch, Senior Analyst – SFpark, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency [Presentation PDF]

Where’s lunch?
How does technology enable place-making through new business opportunities: the non-coincidental rise of social media and food trucks. – Ginette Wessel, Lecturer, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, San Jose State University [Presentation PDF]

Break (10:45 am)

Session 2: Business on the Move (11:00 am)

Moderator: Juan Matute

Cities and “the internet of everything”
What does “the internet of everything” mean for business, demand for office space, and cities?  – Gordon Feller, Director of Urban Innovations, Cisco Systems, Inc. [Presentation PDF]

The context-aware city
The coming future of context-aware technology. What does it mean for local government service delivery, performance measurement, and constituent interactions?  – Peter Marx, Chief Information Technology Officer, City of Los Angeles

AmazonFresh: changing the nature of urban logistics
Technology is expanding the ways in which our communities create, gather, store and deliver its services. Planes, trains, and automobiles have a new companion — Amazon Prime Air.  – Brandeis Marshall,  Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Technology, Purdue University [Presentation PDF]

Break (12:25 pm)

Lunch (12:30 pm)

Break (1:50 pm)

Session 3: Advancing the Automobile (1:55 pm)

Moderator: Juan Matute

The long road toward vehicle automation
Was Google the first company to work on automated vehicles? Will automated vehicles improve roadway safety? Is vehicle automation the silver bullet to improving traffic flows and reducing congestion?  – Steven Shladover, Research Engineer, California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology, University of California, Berkeley [Presentation PDF]

Beyond the driver’s seat: an insurance revolution?
With advanced, connected vehicles, it’s increasingly possible to reward safer drivers and those who drive less with lower automobile insurance premiums. However, the industry and consumers have been slow to adopt usage-based insurance that uses in-vehicle technology to aid in setting rates. How might state laws and intellectual property claims be stifling innovation in insurance products? What are the environmental and economic benefits of usage-based insurance? –Ryan Morrison, CEO and Founder, True Mileage, Inc. [Presentation PDF]

Break (3:20 pm)

Session 4: A Conversation on Transportation Network Companies (3:35 pm)

Moderator: Todd Gauthier, Communications & Events Manager, UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

In this panel on the, new, fast-growing, dynamic phenomenon of Transportation Network Companies in California, we’ll hear from state regulators and an industry representative about how to put the past year of these services within a greater context of transportation and its regulation in California.

Session 5: Respondent Panel (5:00 pm)

Moderator: Brian Taylor

Panelists reflect on the messages of the day, focusing on two themes: how technological innovation is changing cities (or some aspect of cities, like mobility/accessibility), and what the public sector can do to get the greatest public benefit from rapidly-paced technological innovation.

Closing Reception (6:00-7:30 pm)

 

Speaker Biographies

Event Photos

AICP (CM) Credit

7 hours of CM credit is available for this event.

 

Sponsor

SCAGlogo

The UCLA Lewis Center is grateful to the Southern California Association of Governments for their support. 

 

Location

Japanese American National Museum
100 N. Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012