SEE MORE COVERAGE OF CADA SUMMIT 2015
Ken Greenberg is an urban designer, teacher, writer and former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto
Ken Greenberg says he was surprised when he was invited to speak at the CADA Summit, organized by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.
That’s because the urbanite, and former city of Toronto Director of Urban Planning, has a vision for cities in which vehicles are not the star of the show.
“I’m talking about things that will change your world,” says Greenberg, addressing a jam-packed room full of dealers at the 2015 CADA Summit.
In his book Walking Home, which forms the basis of his presentation at the Summit, Greenberg discusses the new role of the automobile in a world where it no longer has the same place in society as it did after WWII.
While Greenberg acknowledges the automobile was an extraordinary invention, its original suburban and post-WWII vision didn’t take into account fuel emissions and its impact on the environment and the economy.
And with the high number of children who go to school via bus or car — about 80 per cent of children in the U.S. — health problems such as childhood obesity and diabetes have sprung up from a more sedentary lifestyle. The previous generation walked or biked to school, he says.
“A pattern of living and working emerged that clearly is not sustainable with dramatic congestion and impacts on the economy,” says Greenberg.
The future of the vehicle is going to be shaped heavily by millennials who live in an urban environment, says Greenberg. Today’s youth are happy if their cities have high walk scores, meaning they can walk to get their groceries or catch public transit.
“Mobility now has a completely different meaning,” says Greenberg. “It’s about what they have in their pocket; not the wheels,” he adds, citing a study that 26 per cent of the demographic age 16-34 do not have a driver’s license and have no intention of getting one.
The 2015 CADA Summit is organized by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, and is supported by an exclusive sponsorship from TD Auto Finance.
