Infrastructural Solutions to Regional Transportation Problems

Join us for a special talk by Dr Michael Glass, Director of the Urban Studies Program and Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, on infrastructural solutions to regional transportation problems.

Infrastructure is at the forefront of American policy debates as a 'solution' to problems of regional equity and inclusive economic development. However, the present policy context for infrastructure planning in the US is confounded by a mosaic of decision-making authorities that hamper the development of cohesive approaches to sustainable and inclusive development. This situation underscores the need to identify how regional infrastructural futures are envisaged and planned for, and how long-term planning can come into conflict with short-term regulatory requirements. Through a case study of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (a Metropolitan Planning Organization charged with transportation infrastructure planning), Michael’s talk questions how infrastructural futures are understood and enacted by the region's central planning stakeholders, and how they are understood, engaged with, and experienced by residents. Understanding the conflicting perspectives on short- and long-range transportation planning by experts and end users can ultimately assist with decision-making in situations of resource scarcity. This US study is framed around lessons that can be adopted by local and combined authorities in the UK context.

Panel:

Richard Laing, Professor of Urban Collaboration, Northumbria University

Heather Jones, Head of Enhanced Partnerships, North East Combined Authority

Alister Scott, Professor of Environmental Geography and Planning, Northumbria University

About the speakers

Dr Michael Glass: Dr. Michael Glass is a leading global scholar who works at the intersection of geography, sociology, and regional studies. His primary research is on city-region governance and infrastructure; he has research expertise in Southeast Asia, North America, Australasia, and Europe. He is the co-editor of Urban Violence, Resilience and Security: Governance Responses in the Global South (Edward Elgar, 2022), Performativity, Politics, and the Production of Social Space (Routledge, 2014), and Infrastructural Times (Bristol University Press, 2025). He is author of Priced Out: Stuyvesant Town and the Loss of Middle-Class Neighborhoods (NYU Press, 2016) and Improving Inclusive Innovation Outcomes (Routledge, forthcoming). His most recent research examines the ways that infrastructure shapes regions and influences regional equity: you can read more about his Network on Infrastructural Regionalism (NOIR) here. He has published over 25 articles in leading international journals and is on the editorial boards of Journal of Urban Affairs and Regional Studies, Regional Science. He is the Regional Studies Association's Territorial Ambassador to the United States. Winner of the 2015 Bellet Award for Teaching Excellence, Dr. Glass is the Director of the Urban Studies Program and Assistant Professor of Sociology.

Professor Richard Liang: Professor Richard Liang has particular expertise in the areas of collaboration (between parties, groups and individuals) and participation (of stakeholders and the wide community) in research. This has often drawn on his knowledge of emerging digital technologies, where the associated research methods are driven by a desire to identify and make use of innovative ways to communicate with target groups. This expertise has been developed across over two decades of work funded by EU framework programmes, Interreg and various UK-based research commissions. His research concentrates on the subject of visualisation and its use within public evaluation of open space, built heritage and urban design. Richard's skills in relation to visual environmental valuation have developed through my leading significant externally funded research (grant value £3.5Million), and that research has resulted in over 100 publications.

Heather Jones: Heather leads on the delivery of the North Easts Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) and Enhanced Partnership as part of Transport North East, the regions transport strategy unit. Previously, she worked at an infrastructure project manager specialising in rail and structures projects following her early career being a structural engineer working predominantly in asset management.

Professor Alister Scott: Alister's research addresses messy problems concerning policy and decision making across built and natural environments. He has published over 40 peer review papers and secured grants in excess of £2 million. Crucially he has developed a research model that is policy-led and involves policy and practice communities embedded as members of research teams he has led. Recent projects include the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme Managing environmental change at the rural urban fringe and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment follow on programme looking at new tools to improve policy and decision making. An ESRC project has just concluded looking at developing a game board resource kit to improve the way public engagement can take place.His current work includes a NERC grant on green infrastructure working with various planning authorities on a natural capital planning tool that values ecosystem services in a range of development scenarios and a Research Council UK grant working with a large interdisciplinary team on Birmingham as a pilot as part of the Urban Living programme.

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