How recognising unconscious bias will help you deliver equitable outcomes

Dr Alexa Delbosc

Senior Lecturer | Monash University

Dr. Alexa Delbosc is a Senior Lecturer at the Monash Institute of Transport Studies in the Department of Civil Engineering.  She draws from her Master's in social psychology from Harvard University and PhD in Transport from Monash University to study the intersection between the transport system, travel behaviour and societal quality of life.  She teaches Traffic Engineering and Management at Monash University with an emphasis on managing the system for the needs of all road users.  Along with Professor Bill Young, she compiled the latest edition of the seminal text "Traffic Engineering and Management", which draws from the expertise of transport professionals around Australia.

Does ancestry matter in transport planning, or are we all Australian here?

 

As a profession we are increasingly recognising the diverse transport needs of communities, including different age groups, incomes and physical abilities.  Yet compared to many countries, where race or ethnicity plays an active role in dialogues about inclusivity, in Australia we rarely move beyond asking about Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander heritage.  Perhaps as a nation we believe these questions are intrusive, uncomfortable or not important because 'we're all Australian here'.  Yet Australia has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world: so what are we missing when we pretend that ancestry doesn't matter?  How do transport needs and expectations differ across communities with different ancestries?  And can we as a profession provide better outcomes when we understand and acknowledge these differences?

Erin Thomas

Lead Consultant, Integrated Transport & Mobility | Aurecon

 

Erin Thomas is a Traffic Engineer with more than 16 years experience in delivering integrated transport planning projects in Australia and is passionate about inclusive transport teams creating inclusive communities.

Erin is a Lead Consultant within the Integrated Transport & Mobility team at Aurecon in Queensland and holds a Masters in Transport Modelling, and a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Transport Engineering and Planning) (Hons).
So far in her career, Erin has attained the qualifications of AITPM Fellow, Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland (RPEQ), Chartered Engineer (CPEng), National Engineers Register (NER), and Traffic Management Designer (TMD) in Queensland.

Her project experience includes delivering from pre-feasibility stage to construction, public transport infrastructure, traffic management, cycle and pedestrian transport planning, event planning, operational planning, planning studies, business cases, and transport models.

Inclusive transport is a passion for Erin. The longer she is involved in the transport industry, the more her eyes are opened to the need to plan, design, and construct transport systems that are inclusive for all. There is a big difference between designing an element to be compliant with standards, and a holistic solution that meets the needs of people living in our communities.

Erin is passionate about improving diversity and inclusion within our industry, and aims to inspire those around her to challenge the status quo and to enable our community to have gender equity within this lifetime.

On the Basis of Equity

 

Inclusive transport design can be defined as designing transport services and infrastructure for the needs of the widest possible audience. From an integrated transport and mobility perspective this means designing projects to improve transport access and equity on all modes, and for all users. In a practical sense, this means enabling all community members, be it an adult pushing a pram, a child on a scooter, a person with a mobility disability, a person from an non-English speaking background, a tourist with a suit case to travel in a way convenient to them on our transport network. 

Throughout the project life-cycle and our decision processes, we focus on designing for safety, and designing to meet standards. As an industry we have the opportunity to shift our focus to be inclusive of accessibility, gender, cultural, safety, social economic, to create human centred design for social equity. 
It is often easy to say this is the limit of project scope, or that's not my job when working on multi-disciplinary projects. However, we need to shift how we demonstrate value to our clients through inclusive project objectives, and drive change for community led outcomes. 

One strategy that can be adopted to improve inclusive design outcomes is to focus on inclusive transport like we do safety by undertaking inclusive user assessments. This enables the team to go beyond the regulatory requirements. Including an inclusive transport perspective throughout the design can help to frame the project with a people focus.

Another strategy in designing inclusive transport, is to have inclusive project teams which truly represent the end user, the community. Creating an inclusive culture where we are encouraged to include life experience as well as their technical experience, means diversity of thought, which leads to more inclusive outcomes.

Nicole Badstuber

Associate Director - Transport Planning | AECOM ANZ NAC

 

Nicole is a transport planner and policy advisor, currently leading in the transport advisory practice as an Associate Director in Transport Planning at consultancy AECOM. Nicole is dedicated to making cities more inclusive, accessible and socially just. Currently, Nicole works on walking and cycling projects in Sydney and Canberra. In this role, Nicole has a particular focus on designing inclusive and safe active travel infrastructure. 

Nicole leads AECOM's Safe Places research, which is taking a practitioner lens to addressing women's safety in public spaces and on the transport system, especially at night. Prior to moving to Australia, Nicole worked in academic  transport research and policy advice and was based at universities in London and Cambridge in the UK. This work included research projects on policy and governance of across the breadth of transport modes including legacy public transport and active travel as well as new, smart and shared mobility solutions. Nicole was a regular invited expert to the London Assembly Transport and Budget Performance Committee and has presented her work on bus services to UK Government's House of Commons Transport Committee. Her most recent independent commission was for the UK Government's Department of Education on the role of transport policy in the past decade in supporting social mobility and access to opportunities. 

Nicole is dedicated to supporting her team and their career development as well as building a nurturing environment to flourish. 

Designing safe spaces for all

 

One in four women in Australia does not walk alone in her local neighbourhood after dark because of safety vs only 4% of men. Women are less likely to wait for or use public transport after dark because of safety. Six in ten women in London did not feel safe waiting for trains and walking to the bus stop - compared to between a quarter and a third of men. In response, women 
Our experiences of navigating and using public spaces is gendered. Perceptions and safety after dark starkly underlines how public spaces are not designed for women. 
The gender lens supports designing better places for all by highlighting the shortcomings of current design. Designing for a generic user, the average, or the "typical" user, fails to address the biases built into our environments. Considering the needs of specific groups addresses the biases of legacy design. Designing for women in particular is designing spaces that better meet the needs of half of the population and for public transport, the majority of users.  
What makes places safe or unsafe? This presentation seeks to spark a conversation on safe places for all by sharing findings from a new AECOM survey that captures where, what and why places are safe or unsafe. The survey is the first step to distilling concrete design changes that can be implemented by practitioners to create safe places for all.