Jeff Olson is an architect and planner who has been involved in greenways, open space, active living and alternative transportation projects for more than 20 years. He has had a diverse career with experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. His unique vision and leadership ability are important assets to projects ranging from regional planning to site specific projects and programs. He is an avid bicyclist and skier who has the perspective of a parent with three young children. Jeff has worked extensively in the field of bike and pedestrian planning. Looking back at his career, he was inspired to write a book to discuss the teams that he had been a part of, the things they had accomplished, and what thought process is necessary to create change in this complex world of multiple agendas.
From 1998-2001, Mr. Olson served as Director of Millennium Trails, an award winning initiative to create a national network of trails as part of America’s legacy for the year 2000. The Millennium Trails partnership was supported by the White House Millennium Council, the U.S. Department of Transportation, American Express Company and a “Green Ribbon” panel of national leaders. From 1993-98, he served as the New York State DOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager and supported the development of the 1,000 mile state bike route system, the 350 mile New York City Greenways system, the Erie Canal Trail and the Hudson Valley Greenway. He teaches America’s first university course in bicycle and pedestrian planning, and is Co-Director of the SUNYA Initiative for Healthy Infrastructure, which creates model plans connecting public work with public health.
bicycles
Sharing Bikes Can Lead to A Sustainable World
Alta Bicycle Share manages bike-sharing systems in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, Boston, Toronto, Melbourne, and other cities. In five years our bikes have been ridden more than 35 million miles on more than 25 million rides. That’s more than a billion calories burned, and with zero fatalities. But what seems like a fast-rising trend is really the result of decades of work by many people, communities, and visionaries who believed that the simple bicycle could be an economic, environmental, and quality-of-life panacea for modern society.
Hiking, Biking, and Responsive Transit
From bike lanes to the hyper-loop, how do you build an intelligent urban transit infrastructure that offers efficient mobility? How do we knit together the various modes of transit to form robust, sustainable transportation systems that serve the city and its citizens? Ford's Don Butler, Jeff Olson of Alta Planning + Design, Shiva Shivakumar of Urban Engines, and Streetline's Zia Yusuf tackle look at how tech is transforming the way we get around town in this Techonomy Detroit session moderated by Fast Company's Greg Lindsay.
Conferences
Detroit 14
On September 16th, Techonomy returns to Detroit for our third annual Techonomy Detroit conference. We will continue the series of conversations we began at our first Techonomy Detroit in 2012 on how technology can boost U.S. economic growth, job creation and urban revival.
