The mission of BUS-II is to understand how bicycling can become a mainstream mode of transportation, and it will include session tracks on the economic and health benefits of bicycling, innovative bicycling plans and planning, bicycling promotion and advocacy, and the design elements needed to create the bicycle city.

 

We are also happy to announce that two keynote speakers have been confirmed. 

•     Congressman Earl Blumenauer, from Oregon’s 3rd District, is the founder and chairman of the Congressional Bike Caucus.  His official congressional website lists bike and pedestrian issues as one of six policy priorities.  Prior to becoming a Congressman, he served as a Portland City Commissioner, where he worked with bicycle advocacy groups to help make Portland one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country. 
•     Dr. Ralph Buehler is an Associate Professor in Urban Affairs & Planning at Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Center. For over a decade he has researched bicycle transportation planning and policy in North America and Western European countries. His research seeks to advance the understanding of determinants of bicycling and to identify and share policy lessons on how to achieve a more environmentally sound, economically efficient, and socially equitable urban transport system. Ralph is co-editor of the book City Cycling (MIT Press, 2012) and author or co-author of over 35 peer-reviewed journal articles in journals such as Transportation, Transport Policy, Transport Reviews, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, and International Planning Studies. Currently Ralph serves as chair of the Committee on Bicycle Transportation for the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

 

You can read a more detailed description of these themes in the Call for Abstracts, which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/busIIvcu.  The abstract submission due date is March 15, 2015, and the abstract acceptance date will be May 1.

 

The symposium will take place immediately after the UCI Road Bicycling World Championships, which will be held in Richmond from Sept. 19-27(http://richmond2015.com/). Visit our symposium Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/BicycleUrbanism.  Questions can be addressed to2015busii@vcu.edu.  Additional information and registration details forthcoming.