Urban Mobility «Optimism from my Millenials» Alvin ARTHUR - MOBILITY M1 130305
APPLIED RESEARCH
5 Reasons to be optimistic about Sustainable Urban Mobility, World Ressources Institute • The many reasons millenials are shuning cars, The Washington Post • Why Millenials are Ditching cars and Redefining Ownership, NPR • La Ville Interface, Sandrine Herbert • The Volvo Group • Concept Development
http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/11/five-reasons-be-optimistic-about-sustainable-urban-mobility
5 Reasons to Be Optimistic About Sustainable Urban Mobility According to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects, cities will add over 2.5 billion people in the next 40 years, with 90 percent of this growth coming from cities in emerging economies. China and India alone are expected to add 276 million and 218 million urban residents by 2030. While there is no question that future generations will live primarily in cities, whether they will do so in a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable way remains to be seen. With rapid urban growth come a number of challenges for city leaders, many of them related to increasing motorization and urban sprawl. Too often, cities are trending in the wrong direction. Urban air pollution, for example, contributes to over one million premature
deaths each year and costs 5 percent of GDP in developing countries. Roughly 3400 people die in traffic crashes every day, the majority of these pedestrians and cyclists in less developed countries. In the United States, commuters spend 4.8 billion hours in traffic each year, translating to USD 101 billion in lost economic productivity. At a global level, cities continue to be major contributors to climate change, and account for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
While these numbers paint a bleak picture of the urban future, they don’t tell the whole story. Around the world, cities are taking ambitious action to improve quality of life through connected, sustainable urban mobility. While the challenge is great, shifts in behavior, technology, and politics show that there is hope that future generations will inherit more sustainable cities. Here are five reasons to be optimistic about the future of our cities.
Private vehicle travel peaks in the developed world Despite years of growth in car ownership and vehicle travel, it appears as though some have begun to choose another path. A study of eight industrialized countries found that vehicle travel rose steadily from the 1970s to 2003, but has since leveled out. Another study found that vehicle miles traveled among younger generations in the United States decreased by 23 percent between 2001 and 2009. On top of rising fuel prices, increasing traffic congestion, and an increase in the relative affordability and convenience of public transport, a major cultural shift stands behind this trend. Across Europe and the United States in particular, younger generations have opted into the sharing economy and moved to more walkable urban communities. It even appears that most of the millennial generation would sooner say goodbye to their
car than their smartphone, and many in the United States no longer pursue drivers’ licenses. In fact, just 69.5 percent of American 19 year-olds has drivers’ licenses in 2010, down from 87 percent in 1983. This shift has also contributed to increased use of sustainable transport, most notably cycling and walking, which could catalyze reinvestment in public transport and a reduction in automobile subsidies.
The economic case for sustainable cities is strong It has become increasingly clear that pursuing connected, compact urban development makes both financial and environmental sense. The Better Growth, Better Climate report found that cities could save USD 3 trillion in infrastructure investments over the next 15 years by pursuing low-carbon growth. This path yields both local and global benefits. For example, research from EMBARQ – the producer of TheCityFix – on the socioeconomic impacts of bus rapid transit (BRT) systems found that air quality improvements
resulting from Mexico City’s Metrobús Line 3 are poised to reduce respiratory illnesses and save the city an estimated USD 4.5 million in health costs. At the global level, 11 BRT projects in Mexico, Colombia, China, India, and South Africa are forecast to reduce emissions by 31.4 million tons of CO2 equivalent over 20 years. That amount equals the annual greenhouse gas emissions from more than 6.5 million cars.
Cities take the lead While global ambition to tackle climate change is picking up, local actions have had the most impact in recent years. At September’s U.N. Climate Summit, city leaders were at the forefront of efforts to catalyze action on climate change, unlock finance for low-carbon development, and scale up sustainable transport solutions. Furthermore, the new Compact of Mayors initiative builds on cities’ existing climate commitments, providing a platform for transparent measurement and reporting on emissions reductions. Analysis shows that 228 cities, home to 436 million people, have already voluntarily committed to saving 13 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Sustainable mobility solutions are scaling up The magnitude of the challenges today’s cities face demands solutions at scale. In 2002, just 45 cities had BRT systems. Compare that to 186 cities (and counting) today. BRT is just one example of the recent growth in sustainable transport solutions worldwide. Car-sharing, bike-sharing, pedestrianization, and congestion pricing are all on the rise as cities look to combat traffic congestion and improve quality of life.
New technology unlocks new possibilities While many of these solutions have been around for decades, advances in technology have accelerated their integration and implementation. Many transport-specific technologies have helped to improve quality of service while reducing costs. Technology transfer between the developed and developing worlds has also played an important role. For example, GPS and mobile applications have improved passenger experiences on India’s autorickshaws. Technology has also revolutionized the way citizens engage city leaders, leading to a new era of political participation and inclusion. These technology advances can help cities in emerging economies leapfrog past car-dependent development and opt for a more sustainable path early on.
Enabling a sustainable mobility future While these five trends are already taking hold of many of our cities, there is work to be done to mainstream sustainable urban mobility solutions. City leaders can tap into the three key enablers of political will, finance, and data and technology to build momentum towards cities that are built for people, not cars.
Scaling up sustainable urban mobility solutions worldwide, coupled with the necessary steps to make them locally suitable, can deliver more inclusive and prosperous cities. Developing attractive, localized solutions is perhaps the most challenging piece of the puzzle, but also the greatest opportunity for collaboration among local policymakers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and action-oriented organizations to create lasting change. With the future of the world’s population in cities, now is the time to make that change happen.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/14/the-many-reasons-millennials-are-shunning-cars/
The many reasons millennials are shunning cars There’s a lot of evidence that millennials don’t drive as much — or care as much for cars in general — as previous generations their own age did. They’re less likely to get driver’s licenses. They tend to take fewer car trips, and when they do, those trips are shorter. They’re also more likely than older generations to get around by alternative means: by foot, by bike, or by transit. There’s still a lot of dispute, however, over exactly what these trends mean. Are millennial driving habits a byproduct of the weak economy? (If you have no job to go to, chances are you drive less.) Or do they signal
deep and permanent shifts in the American relationship to automobiles? If the latter is true, these nascent millennial indicators could have major implications not just for car dealers and gas stations, but for how the U.S. invests in transportation. We probably won’t know the answer with certainty for at least several years. But researchers at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Frontier Group, who have been tracking these trends, argue that the case is growing stronger for a major and lasting change in how today’s youngest would-be drivers — and those to follow them — use
cars. In a new report (an update to an earlier survey two years ago), they argue that this also means it’s time to rethink how we subsidize, encourage and invest in car use.
U.S. PIRG, using data from the Urban Land Institute
As for the millennials themselves, Tony Dutzik, Jeff Inglis and Phineas Baxandall write, «they have the most to gain or lose from the transportation investment decisions we make
today, as they will be affected by those investments for decades to come.» Their report defines millennials as born between 19832000, the youngest of which are just on the verge of their first driver’s licenses (should they choose to get them). The case for durable changes in their behavior — beyond the recession — is three-fold.
The economic argument It’s true that the recession has probably dampened car use, not just for millennials but for everyone. But there are also some relevant, long-term socioeonomic shifts underway that will likely continue to affect car use even after the economy fully recovers. As student loan debts rise, alongside
the cost of housing in many big cities, budgets for car payments will be squeezed. This is particularly true in cities like Washington, D.C., where the high cost of housing is partly subsidized by the low cost of transportation for young professionals who rely on transit and bikes instead of cars. Americans are also forming their own households, getting married and having children later — all trends that predate the recession and that postpone life stages associated with the peak driving years. Of course, this means that as millennials age, as they move into their own homes and have their own children, they’ll likely start to drive more.
U.S. PIRG
But these long-term demographic shifts also suggest that future twenty-somethings may continue to drive less than baby boomers, for example, did at that age. Add to this research that shows that millennials are driving less than previous generations did at this stage of life, even when accounting for the state of the economy or for household income. And one more economic argument: Americans just reaching driving age today «have no living memory of consistently cheap gasoline,» the PIRG and Frontier Group authors write. And they’re not likely to see it again in the near future, regardless of what the economy does:
The technology argument Many of the economic arguments address whether millennials can afford to drive, which is a different question from asking whether they want to. This second strand of technological arguments suggests that maybe they simply chose not to, precisely because they now have more and better alternatives. One popular argument is that young people no longer have to get in a car to visit friends because they can meet up online. These results from a Zipcar survey suggest, not surprisingly, that millennial and 34-44-year-olds are a lot more likely to say they do this:
U.S. PIRG, Zipcar
This isn’t the most compelling technological argument, though. More importantly, technology has made it possible to travel by car without owning (or driving) one, by fueling the advent of car-sharing schemes like Zipcar and car2go, or taxi-like «rideshare» platforms like Uber and Lyft. Most of the data on driving patterns doesn’t capture these newer activities very well. So it’s possible that part of the millennial decline in miles traveled or trips taken by car fails to account for the growth of trips taken in cars that belong to someone else.
But technology has also enhanced other alternatives to the car. It’s made bikeshare systems possible and transit more appealing (through real-time arrival apps). Smartphones and WiFi have also increased the relative costs of driving. You can now read your email on the train, starting your workday during your commute. But you can’t (or at least you shouldn’t) do that from behind the wheel of a car. There’s every reason to think the influence of this technology on transportation will only grow, regardless of what happens next with the economy.
The cultural argument -tor the environment into their driving decisions (although not as an overriding factor).The housing preferences of millennials — which are equally up for debate — are also closely tied to their transportation patterns. If, in fact, they chose cities over suburbs, apartment living over detached homes, and «walkable» places over drivable ones, those preferences would translate into less car use as well.
U.S. PIRG, Pew Research Center
This last theory posits that the underlying cultural preferences of millennials are changing, too, in ways that make them less dependent on cars than their parents. They’d rather spend their money on experiences than things. Of the things they do own, they value smartphones and laptops over cars. They keep telling survey-takers that they view cars as mere transportation, not status symbols. And there’s some evidence that millennials fac-
Whatever millennials do right now, it’s highly likely that they’ll drive more as they age into their 30s and 40s. The question is whether they’ll continue to drive less than their parents did at each stage of life — and whether future generations will replicate their patterns.
http://www.npr.org/2013/08/21/209579037/why-millennials-are-ditching-cars-and-redefining-ownership
Why Millennials Are Ditching Cars And Redefining Ownership You might think there’s one place in America you absolutely need a car: Los Angeles. You’d be wrong. «I have been in L.A. without a car for two years now,» says Alyssa Rosenthal, a makeup artist. Rosenthal’s job means lugging a professional makeup kit — think of a small toolbox filled with enough supplies to make a supermodel or a zombie (or a zombie supermodel). Point being: It’s heavy, and it’s her responsibility to get it to the movie set. «It’s not easy. It’s definitely a big challenge, but I make it happen,» Rosenthal says. «Public transit really is blowing up in L.A. right now. The trains go a lot of places, and it makes it sometimes easier to get to locations with traffic and everything in L.A.» That «blowing up» Rosenthal refers to is new transit options like the Metro Expo Line, which opened last year. It’s already surpassing rider projections.
Here’s a stranger fact: At 28, Rosenthal is part of a trend of millennials who are giving up, putting off or just not buying cars. This has left car companies scratching their heads. To teens today, cars aren’t important in the same way they were in American Graffiti, the 1973 film directed by George Lucas. MILLENNIALS AND THE CHANGING CAR CULTURE The Changing Story Of Teens And Cars «As we’ve talked to consumers in this age group about how they feel about owning the car, the car companies kind of think about this as, ‘Well, that’s sort of a silly question because of course everybody wants to own a car,’ « says Jill Hennessy, clinical professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She studied the attitudes of millennials toward the car-buying process. The short answer: They’re a lot different from baby boomers and Gen Xers. «When we’ve talked to millennials,
they actually answer that question quite thoughtfully,» Hennessy says. «While they do still want to own a car — not as much as they want to own a smartphone, by the way, that’s the physical possession they’re most attached to — they are thinking about, ‘Do I need a car or not?’ in a way that I think five years ago or 10 years ago we wouldn’t have seen to the same extent.» It’s not just cars that millennials question owning. Nearly any possession you can think of stopped being an «of course» and became a «hmmmm» for millennials. Hennessy says they’re wondering whether «it’s not so great to own everything anyway.» She says the economy has been a big part of that shift. Millennials have witnessed the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. They’ve watched their parents struggle with financial insecurity no matter their education level. For someone born before Ronald Reagan was in office, this sounds like a nightmare. But Hennessy says that millennials are so gosh-darn optimistic that they put a positive spin on it. «They’re much more likely to find value in experiences than they are to find value in things,» she says. This is a paradigm shift — mark your ‘90s retro bingo card — that extends beyond cars to things like housing. What’s helping drive this trend? It’s all those smartphone apps — with their emphasis on soci-
-al networks and on sharing experiences. Take Zach Brown, 27, an L.A. artist and actor who doesn’t own a car. «I don’t feel like I actually buy things for myself. Like, people will go out and buy clothes or buy music or electronics or things like that. Most of my spare time is spent just hanging out with friends, and you don’t necessarily have to purchase anything in order to do that,» Brown says. «Art supplies and food — that’s the majority of where my excess money that I don’t spend on a car goes to.» Brown is friends with Rosenthal, who finds herself spending her spare cash less on things and more on experiences. «I love going to the movies and I like going to concerts a lot,» she says, «and I like listening to music. I use Spotify and I listen to Pandora and things like that, but as far as purchasing those things I don’t typically do it.» That’s why we see all kinds of companies — from movie studios pumping out films in IMAX to Apple adding iTunes Radio to their phones — putting an emphasis on the experiences they can provide as the shift from an industrial to a service economy enters a mature stage. For these two millennials, food is a big line item. «It is a culture that I really do enjoy — going out to eat,» Rosenthal says. «Getting a good drink and being in that atmosphere; it’s a lot of fun.» The simple pleasures and the bare necessities. Perhaps millennials are on to something.
La Ville Interface:
L’apport des TIC dans l’espace urbain et le rôle du design Sandrine Herbert - ENSCI Les Ateliers - 2007
The City Interface:
(Thesis)
The Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) input in the urban space and the role of design
«Living» architecture, that passing dwellers can, in a way, control. Requestion the citizen intervention (who becomes active) on a collective display. Those projects create new situations, they bring unusual behaviours, interactions systems, techonlogy hacking, creative processes, that cannot be prethought by the urban planners. A city more readable and practicle. Different natures of links between the «virtual numerical world» and the «real tangible world»
The user is active, participative. Play on the possible social interactions. Urban communications are mostly using simple and invisible links. The mobile phone transforms the public space, especially in the mobility and transport organization. We’ve been from an organization scheme with several based stations, such as radio relay (triangulation), to a grid scheme, wher each personal connected device becomes part of the network.
«Being curious of the other way»
It is more about the behaviour than the technology !
«The city history is punctuated by the history of transports technics and goods, infos & people storage»
Communication Networks go with transportation evolution. And vicy versa.
Where does the goods, infos & people flow ?
ICTs and urban territory are interdependant . They contribues to each other’s development.
Transport infrastructures and communication networks are tightly linked with the urban growth and development. The possibilities of communication and movement punctuate the economical development of the city, the urban space use and the citizens relationships [...] The internet ! The information is not a priority anymore, but a flow possibly fed and caught from any point of the grid.
Semantic Bridge Citizens lifestyles changed, becoming more flexible, personnalized and over all individualized. «Being free together» The public space is a shared collective space. So it tends to individualization. Shared communities. Layer-City
Nowadays, each of us can control his/her timespace : autonomous, «hypermobile» and personnalized. The physical public space seems today to define itself in the link between the citizen and mobility. «Being simultaneously station and relay [...]» the citizen is able to interact with the surrounding physical space (chip, sensors, interactive devices, Wi-fi, etc - the cellphone and the user are «real world remote control» The ICTs are increasing the fear of loosing identity, and control on market development in the urban space. Appropriation of the urban space. Mobility hubs are invaded by shop zones. iSee project: travel in NYC by avoiding security cameras. Deconnect is now an option. Rethink city plan Spontaneous creativity Urban mobility: Physical = move Social = acces Virtual = surf on the web Info-mobility (route making mediums) Info-motion (control emotions created by information Info-tainment (get info in a playful way)
«Smart» Bus Stop Plan a route, access to the cultural and political news, to public places, to neighborhood services and activites. Experiment is necessary Serendipity : «Happy randomness», «find what you’re not looking for» Education: Gaming to learn how to plan a city Poetry is too often forgotten in nowadays urban numerical projects Continous service : before, while, after. collaborative maps: Writing, talking, photo, sound, video, data sharing
VOLVO GROUP
In 1927 the first series-manufactured Volvo car, the Volvo ÖV4, rolled off the production line on the island of Hisingen, Göteborg. Since then, Volvo has developed from a small local industry to one of the world’s largest manufacturers of heavy trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and industrial engines.
Vision
Core values
The Volvo Group’s vision is to become the world leader in sustainable transport solutions by:
Quality
• creating value for customers in selected segments • pioneering products and services for the transport and infrastructure industries • driving quality, safety and environmental care • working with energy, passion and respect for the individual.
Safety Environmental care
Wanted Position in 2020
• We are among the most profitable in our industry
• We are our customers’ closest business partners
• We have captured profitable growth opportunities
• We are proven innovators of energy-efficient transport solutions
• We are a global team of high performing people
A.A.MOLES METHOD
After selecting and highlighting important infos, I reduced the concepts and idead to simple words and used the grid inspired by A.A. Moles to find the concept I would work on.
FOOD
WALKING
CYCLING
I N T E R -
URBAN MOBILITY
TRANSPORT
-ACTIVITY
« GREEN TRANSPORT »
NEW BEHAVIOURS
TANGIBLE SPACE
R E T H I NK T H E C I T Y P LAN
HUBS & MARKET
CAR
F L EX I BL E U R BA N IS M
COLLABORATIVE MAPS
EDUCATION
SERENDIPITY
INFO-TAINMENT CONTINUOUS SERVICE
INFO-MOBILITY INFO-MOTION
E - S PA C E
COMMUNICATION
POETRY
SHARING
TRANSPORT
COMMU
Cyling Car Walking Food Hubs & Market Replan the city ÂŤGreener transportÂť Personal devices
Collaborative Education InfoInfomaps tainment motion
cycling - education:
give workshops and bikes to primary schools Treasure Hunting party in live
cycling - sharing:
bike sharing between people bikepooling
Collaborative maps - food:
4square physical map ? cheapest/good recipe = app to know where to buy your ingredients per zone
Collaborative maps - replan the city:
Propose people to give ideas on certain spot of the city = consult citizen
UNICATION InfoFlexibility Sharing Poetry Serendipity mobility
Continuous service
Continuous service - food :
Network of food waste in the city - restaurants, supermarket, markets, etc‌ - Involve citizens - Redistribute the eart to the city, produce energy (biomass), make natural colorants, etc...
Poetry - walking - Collaborative map:
tell a story while walking and share it on a support. I download and am localized so the story can start on the right spot. I load my way so the app adjust the travel. I am in a journey with a citizen telling me his story of the city.
Info-tainment - Hubs & Market: Social Bus stop - Let’s citizen talk
Sharing - Personal devices:
Big scale network of exchanging items - Borrow world