The premier conference in North America for walking, bicycling, and placemaking professionals from the public and private sectors.

Held every two years, Walk/Bike/Places is a unique conference experience that combines experiential learning from walking and biking the streets of the host city, and learning from its most vibrant places, with nearly 100 expert-led breakout sessions and locally-led workshops. The conference is produced by Project for Public Spaces. 2020’s event will take place in Downtown Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center and Big Car is a partner!

The 2020 convening of the Walk/Bike/Places conference will focus on implementation. We seek — with your help — to build a program that will move government from the local to the federal level to build a transportation system which preserves the health and safety of all users, promotes social connections, and reduces the environmental impact of our travel. We invite proposals from the public, private, non-profit/NGO, and academic sectors. We invite ideas large and small. We invite new voices. And once we have our program chosen we will invite 1,500 planners, designers, advocates, and public health professionals to Walk/Bike/Places 2020 to entertain, to inspire, and to challenge ourselves to simply do better. Our time is now.

Please complete your proposal by January 3, 2020 @ 5pm EST.

START YOUR PROPOSAL HERE

FORMATS

We are offering three formats from which to choose from this year: Breakout Presenter, Peer Coach, and Poster Presenter. However a huge change this year is that we are only soliciting proposals for single presenters. Each format is unique so please review the characteristics and expectations of each and then choose the one that’s best for your content.

Breakout Presenter‍

The breakout is a conference staple and it constitutes the majority of Walk/Bike/Places programming. We expect it will be the most competitive format thus this format requires more of its applicants. Applicants must answer evaluative questions and define learning outcomes for the audience.

In a departure from past conferences the breakout program, tracks, and individual sessions will be assembled by Project for Public Spaces and a series of teams who will oversee each track. As a Breakout Presenter you may become part of a facilitated discussion, you may serve on a panel, you may be asked to deliver a presentation, or depending on your expertise, you may even be asked to lead a field exercise.

Note: Once again, we are only soliciting proposals for single presenters; no teams or pre-formed panels will be accepted.

Peer Coach

Each of us has something to offer our peers. Your knowledge could help our attendees navigate a politicized project, find a design solution for a tricky intersection, access funding for a project, or provide some needed perspective. What we offer depends on who applies, so what’s your Expertise?

Peer Coaches will lead a small group discussion about their topic. There will be no need to prepare a presentation, just come ready with your knowledge, some scratch paper, and business cards. We will provide the eager learners. You can expect to devote about an hour of your time at the conference to being a Peer Coach.‍

Poster Presenter

Some topics are best presented on paper and explained in person. For those reasons this format is a favorite for presenters of technical information, those who desire a more intimate connection with their audience, despisers of PowerPoint, and/or students seeking feedback on research projects.

Successful applicants will be assigned an 8’ x 4’ freestanding display area, a table of same/similar dimension, and be provided a minimum of an hour of display time. Additional details will be conveyed in the presenter welcome kit.

CONFERENCE TRACKS

Our focus on implementation is reflected in the conference tracks: they are simple and practical. A list of keywords, phrases and topics follows each track name to suggest appropriate Content.

1. Infrastructure – The streets, sidewalks, multi-use trails, and information that moves us. Woonerfs, Shared Spaces, Traffic Calming, Bike Parking, Multi Use Trails, Sidewalks, Streets, Cycle Tracks, Bike Lanes, Advisory Bike Lanes, Rapid Implementation.
2. Planning – Setting the vision, goals, objectives and process for moving us towards a more just and sustainable society. Zoning, Land Use, Form-Based Code, Data, Modeling, Outreach, Public Engagement, Project Evaluation, Economic Development.
3. Advocacy – Simply put: getting what we want. Funding, Referendums, Legislation, Public Policy.
4. Excellence – Building the organizations and building the skills of those who will fiercely defend the public interest. Running for Office, Registering a Non-Profit, Ethics, Professional Responsibility, Strategic Planning, Campaigns, Budgeting, Fundraising.
5. Health – Creating environments where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can lead healthy, happy and productive lives. Active Living, Injury Prevention, Environmental Justice, Education, Mental Well-Being, Social Capital, Friendships, Physical Health, Violence Prevention, Nutrition.
6. Transit – The management and operation of vehicles and infrastructure for the most efficient movement of people. Micro mobility, Ride Hailing Apps, Bike Share, Transit Oriented Development, Multimodal Hubs, Congestion Pricing, Demand Management, BRT, First/Last Mile.
7. Place – The streets, corners, buildings, neighborhoods and locations that are special to us, that anchor a community. Placemaking, Tactical Urbanism, Parklets, Public Markets, Downtowns.

We recognize that not every topic is easily fit into a track; for example, Vision Zero, Safe Routes to School, Social Media, Autonomous Vehicles, and Equity straddle multiple tracks. If your topic is not easily categorized, then choose the track that is the closest fit.

RULES FOR APPLICATION

For us to assemble a program which advances the cause of Walking, Biking and Placemaking, we ask that you follow these rules when submitting your application to present:

1. You may submit up to three proposals — regardless of format.
2. You may not submit nor will we accept proposals that are obviously commercial or self-promotional. If you wish to advertise then we suggest purchasing exhibit space or sponsoring the event.
3. You propose, you present. We will not accept proxies or substitutions.
4. Your content must be available to attendees. Studies, reports, and articles that are behind paywalls must be made available to Walk/Bike/Places attendees.
5. We want to be a welcoming community where discussion is spirited, humorous, fun, and respectful of differences. We have a responsibility to our community to support diversity and we will make program choices to support that objective.

All presenters are expected to register. We have priced registration to meet nearly every budget, and rates will be announced towards the end of the year. Submission of a proposal is not an obligation to attend Walk/Bike/Places 2020 (but we really hope you come!).

REVIEW PROCESS

Proposals received will be scored by our Program Review Committee. The Committee is composed of your peers in planning, advocacy, health, engineering and placemaking, and drawn from the public, private and non-profit sectors. Each proposal will be evaluated and scored by the criteria indicated above. Presenters will be chosen and tracks assembled to create a program that “gets it built!”.‍

If you have any questions about your proposal, or the application and review process, please reach out to us at: email hidden; JavaScript is required