“This year, we wanted to focus on road safety and rethinking streets,” said Kevin Manaugh, Professor in şĂÉ«TVl’s Department of Geography and şĂÉ«TVl School of Environment, as he opened the second Sustainable Transportation Roundtable hosted by şĂÉ«TV’s Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI) and sponsored by . “Historians of the future will look back at the last 100 years confused about why we designed streets around inefficient, dangerous modes of transportation like cars.”
The event, organized by Manaugh, head of the Office of Sustainable Mobility at SGI, and Owen Waygood, Professor of Transport at Polytechnique Montreal, drew in students, industry leaders, media representatives, and policymakers. It followed the success of the inaugural 2024 roundtable, which focused broadly on transitioning to sustainable, inclusive urban mobility.
“We’ve been sold on the idea that cars are the way that we get around the city,” continued Manaugh. “Why have we ended up this way, and how can we change?”
After opening remarks, SGI Associate Director Caroline LeBlond led an introduction, and the event began in earnest.
Tom Flood: Violence in the media and the streets
The roundtable kicked off with a keynote presentation from longtime advertising professional, Tom Flood, who virtually delivered an impassioned speech that focused primarily on road safety. Flood approaches the questions of street design from a communications standpoint rather than a technical one — and, importantly, as a concerned parent.
Flood argued that media and car ads don’t just reflect our values but reinforce them and offered a wide range of examples, including an advertisement for the , and a , illustrating that the “absurd” messaging that normalizes car use, obscures (or even glorifies) its violence, and shifts blame onto pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
If the streets are built for primarily for cars, he said, then they are unsafe for humans. Traffic violence, Flood argued, “is not accidental; these are results. This is how we have designed the system.”
The antidote is to “flip the script”: first by exposing the traditional narratives for what they are, then by reshaping them. “When these are the only type of road violence messages that people see, that’s all they have to reference,” he stated. “We need to reach people who just haven’t realized yet that they are being propagandized.”
Flood’s work with Rovélo Creative shows how the same marketing strategies can be used in service of sustainable transportation. “Make the messaging simple, emotional, relatable,” he said. “If people realize that safer streets, walkable neighborhoods, and 15-minute cities would also make their lives easier, we’ll see change.” Instead of focusing only on death tolls and preventative measures, he urged shifting attention to metrics that measure the positives of sustainable transportation: “mobility, independence, and joy.”
Panel 1: Re-thinking streets
Moderated by Owen Waygood, the first panel featured Marie-Soleil Cloutier, Professor at the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS); Shabnam Abdollahi, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Polytechnique Montréal; and Zoé Poirier-Stephens, Consultant at Ville de Montréal.
The panel focused on the dominance of cars in urban design and how to reclaim streets as inclusive public spaces. “Streets should be shared by many types of transport,” said Cloutier, while Abdollahi called for reimagining streets as spaces for walking, cycling, and socializing. Poirier-Stephens, however, urged nuance, asking: “How much do we share? And should we share everything?”
Panelists agreed on the importance of designing streets for vulnerable users — children, older adults, and people with disabilities. Poirier-Stephens pointed out, “The city is reactive in our planning. We focus our attention where there is tension.” Instead, she argued, “we should be ranking and mapping vulnerable people and places in the city, and prioritizing investments there.”
Abdollahi highlighted how traditional metrics can hide risk: a low collision rate doesn’t always mean a street is safe, especially if people avoid it altogether. Better use of data and more public education, she said, are key to systemic change. The panel was then opened to questions, with one audience member noting that people are often nervous about change, and even if the result is beneficial, the transition period is challenging. The panelists unanimously agreed that communication is key.
Lightning talks
Thirteen şĂÉ«TVl graduate and undergraduate researchers participated in a series of five-minute “lightning talks” presenting their research and its connection to the theme of “re-thinking streets.” These lightning talks highlighted the breadth of transportation research at şĂÉ«TVl and offered fresh perspectives on everyday issues, from how people navigate snowy sidewalks to how different populations experience fear on public transit.
Panel 2: Overcoming barriers to public transportation implementation
Moderated by Manaugh, the second panel turned to challenges and opportunities in public transportation. Speakers included Zahra Zarabi, Postdoctoral Fellow at Polytechnique Montréal, Genevieve Boisjoly, Associate Professor at Montreal Polytechnique, Chris Harding a consultant at ARTM, and Laurence Lebel, the Systems Engineering Director at AtkinsRéalis.
Boisjoly pointed to “lack of integration and coordinated planning. We focus on tech, but stations are hard to access.” Harding agreed, stating, “the greatest barrier to public transit use is density. There needs to be more public transportation, and transportation infrastructure spending should be aligned with what helps the city.”
Public funding was another key theme. Boisjoly suggested that this is a communications issue in that the public are unaware of all public transportation benefits. Lebel agreed, “there is economic value – a lot of jobs get created. That needs to be communicated.”
The panel called for better transit education. Lebel advocated for “systems thinking” to be taught in urban planning programs. Harding agreed, “students should ask why questions are asked – not just answer them. And think about what these answers mean.”
Though political turnover can slow progress, panelists stressed the urgency of action. Lebel stated: “Climate change is a constant, and because of it we need to make changes.”
Takeaways
The roundtable made one thing clear: we’re on the cusp of a necessary paradigm shift. As Flood said, it’s time to “flip the script”. That shift may involve communications strategies like those of , or tools like that help the public grasp the benefits of sustainable transportation. It also requires more nuanced engagement from planners—especially a commitment to including voices often left out.
Education systems must teach this kind of systems thinking, and may be starting to: as Lebel noted, Ontario Tech and Polytechnique MontrĂ©al have launched Canada’s firstĚý in railway studies. Ongoing dialogue between users, students, industry leaders, and policymakers is essential – and no doubt will continue at the third Sustainable Transportation Roundtable to be held in 2026.
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