Seminar to explore history, future of parking
October 10, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The good and the bad of parking will be explored in the annual Interdisciplinary Engineering Colloquium on Nov. 1 at Purdue University.
Panelists will discuss "Where Did I Leave My Chariot? The Curious History of Parking from Ancient Rome to Tomorrow's Megacities."
The event, free and open to the public, will be from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the Armstrong Hall of Engineering atrium. It is sponsored by the School of Engineering Education with support from the school's Professor Bruce Johnson Graduate Education Fund.
The program will consider parking from both technological and cultural perspectives: how garages are designed - or not - for economy, safety, aesthetics, efficiency and environmental impact; and how the necessity to park a car affects where and how we travel and shop, when we leave the office, even which vehicles we buy.
The panel will examine parking globally and at the local level, trends in parking design, how the automobile and need for parking has changed Purdue's physical environment over the years and how new transportation systems and society's expectations will shape the future.
Panelists are Mary Smith, senior vice president and director of parking consulting for Walker Parking Consultants and a 1974 Purdue graduate in interdisciplinary engineering, and John Collier, Purdue director of campus master planning.
Matthew Ohland, professor of engineering education, will moderate.
More information is available at http://www.purdue.edu/ene/research/seminars
Writer: Judith Barra Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu
Source: Lisa Tally, School of Engineering Education director of communications, 765-494-9391, lisat@purdue.edu
