ITS, College of Engineering Hosts Riyadh Mayor

May 17, 2018

Leadership from UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies and the College of Engineering were excited to host Eng. Tariq Alfaris Mayor, City of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and President, Arriyadh Development Authority on Wednesday, May 16, 2018.

“The relation between Berkeley and the Arriyadh development authority goes back over three decade, and we are always looking forward to renewing and strengthening it,” says Professor of the Graduate School Adib Kanafani.

Kanafani, ITS Director Alexandre Bayen, Professor Emeritus of Urban and Regional Planning Robert Cervero, Director of the University of California Transportation Center (UCTC) Karen T. Frick, Director of Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Thomas Kirchstetter, Project Leader, California PATH Program Xiao-Yun Lu, Director Smart Cities and Sustainable Mobility Jane Macfarlane, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alexei Pozdnoukhov, Assistant Dean, International & Corporate Partnerships, College of Engineering Anthony St. George, Professor of City and Regional Planning Paul Waddell and ITS Acting Director Joan Walker met with Alfaris to discuss the vision for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Riyadh in terms of transportation and smart cities and an overview of ITS Berkeley activities of relevance for Vision 2030, Arriyadh Development Agency and Saudi Arabia.

“It was such a pleasure to host Mr. Alfaris and discuss how our organizations can continue to build partnerships,” says Bayen. “Our discussions were very enriching, and we’re all genuinely very excited to see that the themes we discussed, each respectively at the core areas of our expertise, are of great relevance and importance to Riyadh and the Kingdom

The group also held an open discussion on innovation centers and academia.