Book Launch | Onward: Mobility in the Next New York

For the first time since the mass production of the automobile began, our streets and sidewalks have become a contested territory. New transportation technologies, paired with the collapse of public investment, have made this a pivotal moment to question the future of mobility in New York.

This year the Urban Design Forum published Onward: Mobility in the Next New York, an inventory of 40 new ideas for our roads, rails, and river crossings. Edited by Daniel McPhee, the book is a directory of our city’s most creative designers, public heroes, pioneering technologists, and grassroots organizers eager to animate our public realm and blaze new trails for isolated communities.

The Institute for Public Knowledge invites you to join for the book’s launch event, featuring contributing authors Shin-pei Tsay, Rebecca Bailin, and Jeffrey Shumaker in conversation with Greg Lindsay and moderated by editor Daniel McPhee.

Rebecca Bailin, Campaign Manager at the Riders Alliance, has close to ten years of experience working for social justice. She has worked as the Student Network Coordinator for the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and as a reproductive rights advocate for Planned Parenthood of Nassau County.

Greg Lindsay is a journalist, urbanist, futurist, and speaker. He is a senior fellow at NewCities and the director of strategy of its offshoot LA CoMotion — an annual urban mobility festival in the Arts District of Los Angeles. He is also a non-resident senior fellow of The Atlantic Council’s Foresight, Strategy, and Risks Initiative, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, a contributing writer for Fast Company and co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next.

Daniel McPhee is Executive Director of the Urban Design Forum, an independent membership organization that convenes civic leaders to debate the defining issues facing New York City and our urbanizing world. As Executive Director, he works with the Board of Directors to present programming on issues like community development, historic preservation, housing, open space, resiliency, and transportation. In recent years, he has led inquiries into the maintenance of public works in New York City, the advent of new mobility technologies, the redevelopment of American public housing, and the mass urbanization of China.

Jeffrey Shumaker is currently the Director for Urban Planning and Design at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC. Prior to his position with KPF, Jeff was the Chief Urban Designer for the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP). At DCP, Jeffrey worked to ensure a high level of design quality on projects across the city and helped shape plans for neighborhoods as diverse as Coney Island in Brooklyn, Hudson Yards in Manhattan and Hunters Point South in Queens. He played a key role in the recent adAPT NYC micro-unit pilot initiative, and previous collaborations with NYCHA.

Shin-pei Tsay is the Executive Director of the Gehl Institute, a non-profit organization that works to improve the public realm. Previously she was the Deputy Executive Director of TransitCenter, a foundation committed to improving urban mobility. She founded and directed the cities and transportation research program and the Leadership in Transportation Solvency project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and served as Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives, Chief Operating Officer of Project for Public Spaces, was a founding member of the NYC office for ZGF Architects, and worked with Fortune 500 companies to develop Internet strategies.