Transport Chicago

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis, Transport Chicago 2020 has been rescheduled to Friday, October 16, 2020 and will be held virtually instead of our usual in-person event. This year's conference will be free to all attendees and will feature CEO Sam Schwartz as our keynote speaker, as well as several moderated panels and workshops in the same format you've come to expect from Transport Chicago.

We hope to "see" you there!

More photos are available in our conference gallery

Transport Chicago is an annual conference dedicated to the mission of improving transportation in the Chicago region and beyond. Originally conceived as a student-led forum, today Transport brings together seasoned experts and professionals of all ages for a one-day fun, engaging and semi-formal conference setting.

Every year, our goal is to ignite the conversation. Transport Chicago provides a platform to exchange ideas and knowledge and to build the relationships that are necessary to solve the complex transportation problems of today – and tomorrow.

STANDING FOR RACIAL & MOBILITY JUSTICE

Over the last few months, the Transport Chicago Steering Committee has been reflecting on the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and countless others before them. Anti-black brutality and violence in our public and private spaces cannot be tolerated. We have been reflecting on how we as citizens, as active members of our community—and, particularly, as transportation professionals— play a part in perpetuating systemic and structural racism. Going forward, we can and must fight together for a more equitable and just city and region. Without racial justice, our streets and transportation systems will never truly be open and safe for all; in the words of Urban Planner Amina Yasin, writing in the wake of the weeks-long protests:

Vision Zero must mean more than zero lives lost to traffic fatalities. It must also mean zero Black and Indigenous lives lost on our streets to police violence. As protesters risk COVID-19 to call for justice and the end of police impunity; elected officials, planners and urbanists must heed the call to defund policing, including the reallocation of Vision Zero funds from policing towards programming across other city departments.

As we continue to listen, process, and understand all of the harm and trauma we and our system have caused Black people and other marginalized communities, we will examine how our conference platform can be used to lift the voices of communities of color and help center more of our work around equity and mobility justice. As a first step in this process, we have compiled a short—and necessarily incomplete—reading and resource list:

Whose Streets? Black Streets by Amina Yasin
‘Safe Streets’ Are Not Safe for Black Lives by Dr. Destiny Thomas
Confronting Power and Privilege by Tamika Butler
Why we must talk about race when we talk about bikes by Tamika Butler
A Call to Courage by Jay Pitter
The Planner's Beginner Guide to the #BlackLivesMatter Movement by Danielle Dirksen
The Untokening’s Mobility Justice resources
Anti-racist and mobility justice resource list from the Transportation Choices Coalition
5 essential books to read on making cities anti-racist
“Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture, & Resistance” by Adonia E. Lugo, PhD.

CONNECT + LEARN + GROW

2020 Sponsors

Become a 2020 sponsor

They are an integral part of making our conference a success. Their support allows us to draw hundreds of decision-makers, planners, engineering professionals, elected officials and many others from the public and private transportation sector to the conference. If you'd like to support the mission of Transport Chicago, consider becoming a sponsor.