Although people are still extremely connected to their cars, the way we get from place to place is evolving from a monoculture of automobiles into a culture featuring a mix of much more sophisticated systems of transportation.

That was the view of Susan Zielinski, an expert on transportation solutions, in a public lecture March 31 in Warren Hall auditorium.

Her talk, "The New Mobility: Sustainable Transportation Options," was the second in Cornell's Sustainable Built Environment lecture series. The series, which was developed by Cornell Master's of Regional Planning student Robinne Gray and Campus Sustainability Coordinator Dean Koyanagi, looks at innovative initiatives that promote sustainability within communities.

What, exactly, is the "new mobility"? Zielinski described it as "moving goods, moving people and moving less"-- but, most importantly, "moving minds," that is, shifting to a new way of thinking about transportation. The new-mobility approach does not attempt to eliminate the use of cars but, instead, tries to integrate cars into the mix of transportation options, she explained.

As a staff member at Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility Research and Transformation (SMART), Zielinski is a major force behind new-mobility efforts in North America. SMART is a multidisciplinary collaboration at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor that applies complex systems theory to transportation problems. It is a part of the Center for Advancing Research Solutions for Society, which encourages new ways of thinking through difficult problems within society.

Zielinski showed the 20-minute video "Moving the City: A Tour of the Integration Strategy in Bremen, Germany," which gave a virtual tour of a developing transportation strategy in Bremen that includes promoting bicycle use, walking, a highly advanced tram and rail service, buses and car sharing. Other cities, including Berlin and Toronto, are currently looking into various new-mobility transportation strategies, she said.

Zielinski also noted that new-mobility initiatives have the potential to become a multimillion dollar sector of the economy, according to Moving the Economy, a Toronto organization she previously worked for.

There will be two additional talks in the Sustainable Built Environment series: one April 14, on the role of business in promoting community, creating social equity and maintaining ecological balance, by John Abrams, co-founder and president of South Mountain Co., an employee-owned design and building firm on Martha's Vineyard, at 3:30 p.m. in Warren Hall auditorium, Room B45; and one April 26 at a time and location to be announced, on eco-industrial development by Corey Brinkema, executive director at the Green Institute, which promotes sustainable community development. Jason McLennan, a national leader in the green architecture movement, spoke in mid-March. All talks are free and open to the public. For more information contact Robinne Gray, 255-9987, rlg2@cornell.edu.

Graduate student Sandra Holley is a writer intern at the Cornell News Service.