// About

David Pritchard is a transportation planner, currently employed at Metrolinx (the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority). His background is in both civil engineering and computer science, combining strong mathematical and modelling skills, keen observation of the political process, and several years of broad reading and research in land use and transportation planning. This website reflects his personal opinions on transportation and land use issues, and does not reflect the opinions of his employer in any way.

Résumé

For the curious, an older résumé is also available focused on an earlier career in computer graphics.

Research and Professional Interests

  • Land use/transportation interaction. How does the arrangement of buildings and land uses in a city affect transportation choices, both in the short term (“How should I go there?”) and in the long term (“Where should I move my business to?”). What effect does transportation infrastructure and travel behaviour have on land development?
  • Climate change. How can transportation and urban land use policy be employed to prevent dangerous climate change?
  • Agent-based modelling. Does agent-based microsimulation provide more behaviourally robust predictions of travel behaviour than traditional aggregate modelling methods?
  • Transit investment decision-making. What are the costs and benefits of a transit project, and how do different projects compare against each other?
  • Transit service performance. How can transit agencies take advantage of information systems to improve the quality of transit service, and inform planning decisions?
  • Bicycle infrastructure design. What design methods offer the greatest safety benefits to cyclists, and provide the greatest potential for attracting new trips by bicycle? What can North American cities learn from the design approaches used in other parts of the world?
  • Internet Transportation Information Systems. How can emerging technologies like web-based mapping and open data standards be used to deliver information about different transportation modes?

Personal website

This website is devoted to professional interests; a separate website is devoted to personal interests. Please visit davidpritchard.org/personal for more information.