Countdown to #MpactPhilly

The 2024 Mpact Transit + Community Conference is just under 5 months away. The details are starting to take shape!

Join us October 20-23 in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley for the annual gathering of transit, mobility, land use and development leaders, practitioners and advocates. The conference is the place to tackle challenges, share new tools and define the approach to – the ever-evolving practice of –  building stronger, more equitable and resilient places to live around transit. The conference is the place to recharge, retool and power up for the year ahead.

Registration opens July 8. Scroll for a preview.

Get ready to register for the conference and your spots on Mobile Workshops, for which spaces are limited.

60+ Sessions

The Mpact National Steering Committee (NSC) met in May to start hammering out sessions, drawing on the proposals received from across the country. Here’s a look at NSC workgroups and the topics they’re working on. Details may shift at the final planning meeting in late June. The full session lineup will be available in late summer.

• The funding workgroup digs into multiple angles on getting the money and making the most of it, including such topics as reauthorizing the infrastructure bill, financing zero emissions, innovative funding sources for transit, ways to leverage capital (value capture & more) and community participation in budgeting and revitalization.
• The mobility and access group tackles first-last mile, BRT trade-offs, transit-priority, micro-transit in different settings, station and street design, bus networks, commuter and regional rail, urban and rural trails,  gondolas and electric vehicles.
• Building complete communities workgroup includes strategies for equitable transit-oriented development (ETOD), corridor level transit-oriented development (TOD), affordable housing, joint development, case studies of urban design, what’s happening in smaller legacy cities and (because we’re in Philly) revitalizing historic hubs.
• Action is the key word for the workgroup focused on building a knowledge and action base, with sessions taking shape on how to be a change agent, addressing transit workforce gender gaps, state mandates and pre-emption, and understanding – and acting on – changing rider sentiment. This is just a sample.
• The workgroup focused on quality of life delves into an array of factors, from safety and security to climate and resiliency, from activating trails and parks to placemaking in transit environments, from rethinking bus stops to universal design of stations, from environmental justice engagement to reactivating downtowns.

The NSC curates sessions with these values in mind: impact and results (presenting real-world, practical applications to problems); inclusivity (of diverse perspectives); collaboration & partnership (across sectors and with advocacy and community perspectives); innovation (the latest tools and approaches); and quality (diving deep into topics and providing actionable information).

Philadelphia & the Delaware Valley – crazy rich with transit and TOD

As we’ve outlined already, the region’s development patterns from the nineteenth-century helped define the term TOD – transit-oriented development. Philadelphia and the region offer a treasure trove of modes, with multiple kinds of transit (provided by SEPTA, PATCO, NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak), a lot of bicycling infrastructure and walkable neighborhoods everywhere.

“It’s such a different context, how Philadelphia is trying to do a lot of things in a totally built-up environment. I’m excited to see that!”— Mpact National Steering Committee member

28 Mobile Workshops

The Local Host team and collaborators across the region are primed to take you deep into a whole range of topics and projects, in Philadelphia, suburban Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Experience the multiple modes in the region as you learn from local stakeholders about: transit-oriented development in multiple settings; riverfront redevelopment and trail networks; regional rail; bikeways, complete streets and road diets; Philadelphia neighborhoods, commercial corridors and grand public spaces; natural areas and community gardens; reimaging Roosevelt Boulevard and the Navy Yard – and more!

28 Mobile Workshops by the Numbers

• 19 in Philadelphia
• 6 in Southeastern, PA
• 3 in Southern New Jersey
• 21 featuring transit
• 3 walking only
• 5 on bicycles

Mobile Workshops require separate fees. Space is limited, so each conference registrant can select a max of 2 Mobile Workshops, first-come, first-served.

5 Pre-conference events – arts, culture, history

Philadelphia is of course famous as the birthplace of the USA — the 250^th celebration is coming in 2026! But did you also know the depth of African American history in the region? Did you know that Philadelphia is a majority minority city, with a rich diversity of cultures you can taste, restaurant by restaurant? Did you know that transit is a great way to visit breweries? The 2024 pre-conference events will satisfy your curiosity on all these fronts. As with Mobile Workshops, full details, including times and fees will be available when registration opens July 8.

Get ready for #MpactPhilly

We’re back on the east coast for the first time since the 2018 Rail~Volution conference in Pittsburgh. We’re going to be informed and inspired by all the ways that Philadelphia and the region are reinvesting in their systems and their communities. We’re going to get a transfusion of energy and new tools to bring home and a network to call on during the year ahead.

Make plans now to be a part of it! Philly, we’re on our way to you!