MTC Asset Newsletter Winter 2007
Studying Transportation in Rome
ISU transportation students visit Ostia, ancient Rome’s gateway to the Mediterranean.
Nighttime traffic congestion in Rome.
Intelligent transportation systems for Rome’s transit facilities.
Every other summer, Iowa State University students are given a unique opportunity to study transportation in Italy through the College of Design’s Rome Program. In 2006, students from community and regional planning and civil engineering were able to take several classes, including a course in transportation planning, a studio in urban wayfinding system design, and independent study of the Rome traffic limitation/road pricing (ZTL) program. This year, all transportation offerings were taught by David Plazak.
The Rome transportation program, sponsored by community and regional planning, gives students a number of opportunities that cannot be found elsewhere:
- Studying the complex relationship between transportation and land use in a very dense, congested, and historic urban environment.
- Interacting with transportation staff from the City of Rome Mobility Agency (ATAC). ATAC coordinates a number of efforts, ranging from intelligent transportation systems, to traffic limitation/road pricing, to the development of Rome’s new Metro Line C.
- Visiting the offices of a Roman architecture firm that is designing a new high-speed railroad station for Rome, as well as a number of new metro stations.
- Learning about Rome from Iowa State faculty but also from guest lecturers, such as map historian Allan Ceen from Penn State University and archeologist Joanne Spurza from Hunter College of The City University of New York.
- Experiencing a variety of public and private transportation modes first hand while living in a very different environment than Ames, Iowa.
- Visiting other interesting regions of Rome, including Tuscany and the Chianti region. (Yes, this often involved tasting wine, cheese, and olive oil.)
Most of the students involved in the program in summer 2006 took the opportunity this trip provided to visit other European countries, ranging from the United Kingdom to Turkey.
To learn more about the Iowa State University College of Design Rome Program, visit
www.design.iastate.edu/ROME/.
