SMART Transportation

Posted 08/06/2009
A new vision for urban transportation is becoming a reality in some of the world’s largest cities, thanks to the U-M SMART initiative. SMART (Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility Research and Transformation) takes an innovative approach to transportation while championing principles of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. In July, SMART moved its administrative offices to UMTRI.

The relocation of SMART managing director Sue Zielinski to UMTRI brings the institute more directly into a campus-wide collaboration that includes the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Center for Complex Systems, among others.

This multidisciplinary collaboration began during informal discussions at U-M around 2000. Since then, the initiative has evolved to undertake research, demonstration projects, education, and global learning exchange on a range of issues related to the future of transportation in city regions around the world.

“I am extremely pleased that SMART is coming to UMTRI,” said UMTRI Director Peter Sweatman. “From her new administrative home, Zielinski will continue to lead an amazing array of new mobility hub networks being developed in cities around the world.”

New mobility hubs connect a wide range of transport amenities, such as buses, trains, streetcars, clean-fuel taxis, and car-share or bike-share vehicles. This multi-modal regional grid allows users to transfer seamlessly from one mode of transportation to another.

SMART projects and related research are currently underway or in development with dedicated local partners in Cape Town, South Africa; Chennai, Bangalore, and Cochin in India; and selected U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Ann Arbor, and the Detroit region.

For more information, visit the SMART website.