The Looking Glass Academy
Creating a new vision for mobility in your community
Are you seeking ways for your organization or community to better view the built environment through the lens of walking and bicycling?
Do you want to build capacity to effectively engage designers, planners and engineers to improve conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists?
The Looking Glass Academy merges popular techniques for evaluating active transportation needs from both the community development and design fields to build capacity among advocates and others to be change agents in their community. The Academy promotes a balance of the popular “feel good” walkability checklists and more “technical” road safety audits to allow participants to view the built environment through a different lens.
Why is the Academy a fit for your community?
- The Academy builds a sustainable local program to conduct walking and bicycling assessments, not just arouse interest.
- The Academy provides contextual training and analysis of a community to transcend positive messaging.
- The Academy’s instructors lead participants through various modules that not only rally advocates but also prepare them on how to converse with designers to change a community’s look and feel.
Highlights of the Looking Glass Academy
Talking to local Academy organizers to gain an understanding of your community and its conditions.
We identify places that are ideal for walking and bicycling and a location where it is a challenge to achieve.
We then assess local policies and design parameters to contextualize the training and prepare for the actual training session.
A half-day walkabout with Academy organizers occurs the day before the training to further refine the training approach and identify opportunities for success.
Participants become fully immersed in the world of walking and bicycling through a series of training modules aimed at educating while expanding aptitude to replicate the modules with other community members, designers and public agencies.
Several variations on the Looking Glass Academy can be developed to fit your community and budget.
Looking Glass Academy Training Modules
1. Walking (& Bicycling): Where we thrive and what we avoid.
2. People: The technical specifications of the human being.
3. The tools of effective mobility and safety.
4. Limitations and possibilities of city planning and policy. 5. Expectations and intent of organizating your own event.
6. Practical event planning: Tricks of the trade/lessons learned.
7. How to conduct a preliminary field assessment.
8. Participation techniques and strategies.
9. Conducting your own Walkability Event.
10. Inspiring change and reporting conclusions.
Optional additional modules are available for bicycling, public transportation and law enforcement.
The Looking Glass Academy comprises of two full days of training for participants, but begin with the instructors