According to Mia Birk, President of Alta Planning + Design, "In very few North American universities do students in planning, engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, education and health care learn much, if anything, about bicycling and walking.

It’s no wonder that transportation department staff don’t know how to plan, design and operate transportation systems with pedestrians and cyclists in mind. It’s no wonder that health care providers don’t encourage bicycling as part of basic preventive medicine and school officials don’t consider bicycle safety education as core curriculum. It’s no wonder that architects don’t understand bicycle parking needs and options, and landscape architects still design incomplete streets with pedestrians and cyclists as marginalized users."

Portland State University’s Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), co-founded by Birk, incorporates 30 courses to give students and professionals the proper tools to incorporating biking and walking into transportation choices.

We need this kind of program here in Phoenix!