ITRE / News / News Archives / News Release 4-12-07

TFF Speaker Discusses Urban Form and Growth in Wake County and the Triangle Region

April 12, 2007

Raleigh, NC - Wake County’s population is expected to grow from 800,000 to 1.6 million people over the next 25 years. The county’s urban form, among other factors, will dictate whether the quality of life will improve or deteriorate, according to Smedes York, chairman of the York Companies.

The Transportation Founders Fund (TFF) hosted its Spring Seminar and Banquet this week featuring York as the keynote speaker. His seminar topic was, “Urban Form and Transportation in the Research Triangle Region.”

The TFF is a unique opportunity for transportation students and professionals in North Carolina to interact with top-level transportation executives and academics while supporting the transportation program at North Carolina State University. It is an outreach activity of the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) and the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (CCEE) at NC State University. This year, more than 65 attendees came to support TFF at its annual banquet, held April 10 at the Capital City Club in downtown Raleigh.

“The leadership of Dr. Nagui Rouphail of ITRE and Dr. George List of CCEE has provided new horizons for NC State’s national and international recognition in transportation research and education,” said Louis Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering at NC State, welcomed the TFF banquet attendees. North Carolina Department of Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett introduced Smedes York.

In his presentation, York discussed the history of mixed-use development from the 1950s to the present. In the 1950s, mixed-use development was an unacceptable strategy for growth. However, in the 1980s and ‘90s, planners began questioning this pattern. Today, mixed-use development is occurring in ways that foster mobility and quality of life.

York believes that the Triangle region should assume growth as a given and plan accordingly. To advance smart growth, he encourages development that fosters interactivity and community gathering spaces combined with the use of green building and environmental technology. York also emphasized that in transportation planning, roads, transit and land use should be equally considered, and revenue sources should be recognized as key to proper transportation services management. Though cities and towns need to thrive independently, they should also come together, York said, to collaborate on select initiatives important to the region, such as transportation and schools.

York pointed out that NC State’s Centennial Campus is a good example of effective mixed-use development. On Centennial, all the businesses are within close proximity of each other, allowing for cooperation and exchange of ideas.

A Raleigh, North Carolina native, York is chairman of the board of The York Companies: York Properties, York Simpson Underwood and McDonald-York Construction. He also serves on the board of SCANA, a major public corporation. After graduation from Broughton High School in Raleigh, he received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from NC State University and a master’s in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

York served as mayor of the City of Raleigh for two terms, from 1979-1983. He has spent his professional career in real estate and construction. He has served in a leadership capacity in many organizations, including past chairman of the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, the Urban Land Institute, and the Trustees at NC State University. Current positions include the board of directors of the Research Triangle Park Foundation, vice chair of Triangle Tomorrow, the Triangle United Way, and the YMCA of the Triangle. He currently serves as president of the YMCA.

“The TFF Banquet was a great opportunity for transportation professionals and students to listen to an industry leader discuss a topic that is currently very much in the news in North Carolina,” said Daniel Findley, an N.C. State student and past recipient of the TFF scholarship. “It helps prepare us for our professional careers by exposing some of the future needs and issues in our field.”

The Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE), administered by North Carolina State University, is a non-profit organization that conducts research, education, and technical assistance projects on a wide variety of surface transportation issues with the goals of solving problems and creating new products, better services and smarter workers. ITRE is located on NCSU’s Centennial Campus. For more information about ITRE, TFF and related programs, please visit our Web site at www.itre.ncsu.edu

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