National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) is an association of 91 major North American cities and transit agencies formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights, and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues.
National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Mission
NACTO’s mission is to build cities as places for people, with safe, sustainable, accessible, and equitable transportation choices that support a strong economy and vibrant quality of life.
- Building the Movement: Communicating a bold vision for 21st century urban mobility and building strong leadership capacity among city transportation officials.
- Advancing a Unified City Voice: Empowering a coalition of cities to lead the way on transportation policy at the local, state, and national levels.
- Accelerating Change: Raising the state of the practice for street design that prioritises people walking, biking, and taking transit.
Our Values
For NACTO, our mission is our true North – what we are working collectively to achieve. Our values guide how our staff work, externally with our members and partners and internally within our organisation.
Foster Community: An engaged, vibrant community is NACTO’s bedrock. Our role is to inspire and champion our members and partners, and amplify the movement for better streets and city transportation. We celebrate the successes and elevate the voices of city staff, we create space for mutual learning and growth, and we coach and challenge our members to achieve higher ideals. We actively foster a sense of community among staff, members, and partners based on a foundation of respect, accountability, and collaboration. We approach relationships with empathy, seeking to understand each other’s contexts, complexities, and challenges, and taking time to build trust and alignment. We believe that diversity strengthens our community and our work and we proactively invite, welcome, and create paths for people of all backgrounds to participate in our peer networks and events. Our focus on community draws people to NACTO and creates a supportive springboard for each of us to make transportation better.
Center Justice: The ability to move safely, easily, and comfortably through streets and public spaces is a cornerstone of freedom. In centering justice, NACTO works to undo the long history of racism and gender-, class-, and ability-based discrimination that shape the physical world we live in today. Our work is grounded in the history, legacy, scale, and importance of our field, with acknowledgement that both the legacy and impact vary across different cultures. In our publications, programming, and events, we strive to offer approaches to planning, design, analysis, and policy that correct structural injustices and advance equitable outcomes. We focus on people, especially those who have been marginalised by the past and present failings of our industry, as we pursue mobility policy and outcomes that serve all.
Strive for Impact: We aim to raise the state of the practice in city transportation and consistently strive to do our best work. We use evidence to guide our practice and our decision-making; we ask questions and challenge conventional wisdom and standard assumptions. We rely on data, both quantitative and qualitative, observational and experiential; we iterate, charrette, and collaborate to strengthen our analysis. We work to ensure that the information we use is accurate, complete, and reflective of the complex communities and cities we serve. We are purposeful, pursuing our mission with focus and diligence to maximise our impact and achieve powerful results.
Lead with Imagination: We are motivated by the potential for transformative change through urban design and transportation policy. This belief emerges from the conviction that transforming streets is not only possible but necessary to address climate change and structural inequalities. We’re imaginative in our approach, knowing that achieving meaningful change requires different ways of thinking. We do not rest on past successes or ideas; we are always looking to iterate and improve. We approach the status quo with inquisitiveness and creativity, and we are motivated to confront deeply entrenched norms in the spirit of achieving our mission. This radical optimism, and belief in our collective ability to shape change, fuels our work and drives all that NACTO does.
