FORA.tv Speaker - Elizabeth Deakin

Elizabeth Deakin is Director of the University of California Transportation Research Center and Professor of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley, where she also is an affiliated faculty member of the Energy and Resources Group and the Master of Urban Design group. She is co-director of the UC Berkeley Global Metropolitan Studies Initiative, which involves nearly 100 faculty members from 12 departments. Deakin's research focuses on transportation and land use policy and the environmental impacts of transportation. She has published over 100 articles, book chapters, and reports on topics ranging from environmental justice to transportation pricing to development exactions and impact fees. She currently is conducting a study benchmarking transit-oriented development and developing TOD guidelines for the Federal Transit Administration. Among her recently completed projects are the development of transit investment policy in for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District Board, a system plan for express bus services for the San Francisco Bay Area, and the development of a plan for revitalization of San Pablo Avenue from Oakland through El Cerrito, CA. Other recent studies investigate the efficacy and acceptability of transportation pricing strategies and the emissions reduction potential of transportation demand management measures. Deakin served as chair of the Congressionally-mandated National Academy of Sciences' Advisory Board on Surface Transportation-Environmental Research, which recommended a new transportation-environmental research program that was recently enacted into law. She has been active in a number of government posts including city and county transportation commissions and state advisory boards. Deakin holds degrees in transportation systems analysis and political science from MIT as well as a law degree from Boston College.