City Forum: The Megaregional Process

Description

Megaregion refers to a large agglomeration consisting of two or more networked metropolitan areas and their hinterlands. UT Austin is leading a USDOT-funded consortium of four universities to conduct research, education, and technological transfer activities on megaregional transportation issues. In this talk Dr. Zhang will introduce the consortium and summarize the consortium-sponsored research projects, courses, and workshops. He will then present a five-element framework to characterize the megaregional process through the case of the Texas Triangle. At the end, he will discuss the implications of studying megaregions for strategic transportation infrastructure investments and regional planning and policy making.

Ming Zhang, Ph. D.

Dr. Zhang is Professor of Community and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin and the Director of the University Transportation Center (UTC) Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2) granted by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Dr. Zhang’s research and teaching interests include urban and regional planning (transportation), the built environment-travel behavior relationship, and applications of information and communications technologies. His recent research has focused on megaregional transportation issues, Transit-Oriented Development, and high-speed rail and spatial development in the international setting.