Index
16 August 2011
Mees vs Nelson: Rumble in the Urban Transport Jungle
Dr Paul Mees will take on Associate Professor Robert Nelson in a free public debate.
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It's the showdown Melbourne's public transport users have been waiting for … RMIT University's Dr Paul Mees will take on Monash University's Associate Professor Robert Nelson in a knockdown debate on Wednesday, 17 August.
The pair will thrash out the hot topic of Transport for Suburbia at RMIT's landmark "Green Brain" in a free public debate presented by the Planning Institute of Australia and RMIT.
In the RMIT corner: Dr Mees, Senior Lecturer in transport planning in the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning; in the Monash corner: Associate Professor Nelson, critic and long-time opponent of Dr Mees' ideas around urban sprawl and why Melbourne's public transport is failing to cope.
Dr Mees said sustainable transport was one of the greatest policy challenges facing the nation.
"We can't meet this challenge unless we know what's causing the problems and what solutions will work," he said.
"If we really need to double or triple the density of our cities to make a difference, then we're in big trouble, because this will take at least 50 years.
"The problems of car-dependent cities are urgent and have to be solved now: supplies of cheap oil will be gone in 10 or 20 years – not 50 – and we have just agreed to cut our carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, only 39 years away."
Who will land the knockout debating blow? Who'll rise up to the challenge of his rival? Who will reign supreme?
Find out at Transport for Suburbia, 5.30pm-6.30pm, Wednesday, 17 August at RMIT Storey Hall, Level 7 Conference Rooms, 336-348 Swanston Street, Melbourne
