Bogdan Birau
infrastructures and mobility
acknowledgements I want to thank my dissertation tutor, Dr. Shaun Murray for showing me guidance through out the year.
infrastructures and mobility Bogdan Birau University of Greenwich
Can our infrastructures adapt to alternative ways of transportation?
Except where stated other wise, this dissertation is based entirely on the author’s own work
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contents 6
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Abstract
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Chapter 1
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Introduction
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Transportation History in Britain
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Chapter 2
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Dense Infrastructure Model
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Emirates Airline Gondola & Green Chain Walk
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Materials
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Can pedestrians coexsist with alternative movement devices?
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GIS and 3d Mapping
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Chapter 3
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Smart cities
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Solaroad
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Alternative transport concept
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Longboarding
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Conclusion
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References and Reading List & Photo Sources List
word count:
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Road infrastructure in Baku city, Azerbaijan
Abstract
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keywords: Infrastructure; Mobility; Alternative Transport; GIS; Smart Cities;
In my dissertation I want to make an approach on the way infrastructures developed over time and how we can improve their design, taking in account the geo-political conditions of our present time. Using the improvements in technology and computing, nowadays we can find new ways of easy and efficient transport, as well as the use of materials which fill out the space of our cities in a more reasonable way. The research and debate on how the infrastructures developed and how we should use design ideas to improve them for the future, has to be done from the smallest scale to the biggest. The street experience is the first interaction with
the city’s infrastructure and it has to be rich in identity and culture. We have quite a variation and diversity when it comes to multiple cultures in a city but sometimes they are not stimulated by the design of spaces. The urban infrastructure plays an important role for the city and it defines how people travel from one place to another, how they use urban spaces and how they interact with the environment. Means of transport have developed with the rise of technology (cars have improved as well as trains and airplanes), but the concepts of travelling haven’t changed at all.
Through this essay, I am looking into researching concepts of developing infrastructures of our city, but I will refer mostly to London as an example. I want to investigate through critical thinking the idea of alternative transport and how it can be implemented in urban environment, and analyze existing projects of such examples. More and more we see people who choose different way of transport and they represent a culture, a movement which has to have its place in our future cities. The city has to offer a reaction towards the inhabitants’ needs. There is a continuously growing culture of
travelling by bicycle or on different types of boards, both classical and electric. They represent an idea which in time may gain more and more popularity and determine how we might shape our streets and means of transport. From the simple pleasure of walking, to the adrenalinerush of longboarding, the infrastructure of the city has to be more open to this range of people, and offer a network of roads, paths and alleys which are car free.
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�Perhaps I will log on to your birthday party twenty years from now to discover that your arguments have prevailed that everywhere governments are esteeming the local above the national and global; that walking and cycling have been granted priority over every other way of transport. But, as I write, the tide appears to be running strongly in the opposite direction. I hope you will be able to convince me it isn’t so.� (Graham, 2004, 155) 8
Future Infrastructure Vision by Howeler & Yoon Architecture
This is a paragraph from ‘A Letter from the Future’. British geographer John Adams writes a letter from the future in The Cybercities Reader. Adams pretends to write from the year 2021 to the famous British transport and environmental campaigner Mayer Hillman. In so doing, he retrospectively challenges the assumptions about technology, mobility, cities and society that, he argues, prevailed in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
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Moon City Productions Ltd Meduza Arts
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chapter 1
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In this chapter I am looking at the history of urbanization and the key moments that made urbanization possible. Furthermore, I am summarizing the history of transportation in Britain.
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10000BC
5000BC
Introduction
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2000BC
History of Urbanization Timeline
In present time, more than half of all people of the world live in an urban area. By mid-century this will increase to 70%, but as recently as 100 years ago, only 2 out of 10 people lived in the city, and before that it was even less. How did we reach such a high degree of urbanization and what does it mean for our future? In the earlier days of human history, humans were huntergatherers, often moving from one place to another in search of food, but about 10000 years ago our ancestors began to learn the secrets of selective breeding and early agriculture techniques. For the first time people could raise food, rather than search for it and this led to the development of semi-permanent villages for the first time in history. Why semipermanent? At first, villages still had to relocate every few years as the soil became depleted.
It was only with the advent of techniques like irrigation and soil tilling about 5000 years ago, that people could rely on a steady and long-term supply of food, making permanent settlements possible, and thanks to the food surpluses that these techniques produced, it was no longer necessary for everyone to farm; this allowed the development of other specialized trades, and by extension, cities. With cities producing surplus food as well as tools, crafts and other goods, there was now the possibility of commerce, interaction over longer distances. As the trade flourished, so did the technologies that facilitate it, like carts, ships, roads and ports (Kite, 2013).
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1000BC
500AD
These developments require even more labor to build and maintain, so more people were drawn from the countryside to the cities, where more jobs and opportunities became available. For instance, some cities from 2000BC had population densities nearly twice as high than Shanghai or Calcutta. One reason for this was that transportation was not widely available, so everything had to be within walking distance, including the few sources of clean water that existed at
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the time, and the land area of the city was further restricted by the need for walls to defend against attacks. The Roman Empire was able to develop an infrastructure that would overcome these limitations, but other than that, modern cities as we know them didn’t really get their start until the industrial revolution; during that time, new technology deployed at a mass scale and allowed cities to expand and integrate further, establishing police, fire and sanitation departments, as well as
2015
1800
History of Urbanization Timeline
road networks and later, the distribution of electricity. (Kite, 2013) Nowadays the most active factor which stands for any type of urban development or expansion is actually a dual factor, economic and politic combined. Everywhere around the planet we can see how the big cities transform into economical factories and how the architecture of our buildings is affected by this. Between a building and its occupier there is a strong connection, and one
is influenced by the other. Therefore we can consider that design has a great impact on our city on many levels and in all of its form. We must look for a more balanced society, in which the design and planning of the spaces we occupy every day and the ones we use for transit across the city improve the quality of life for its inhabitants. (Crysler, 2012, 66)
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Timeline of transport innovations in Britain in the nineteenth century
Transportation history in Britain
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In the nineteenth century the technology of speed broke through the limits of walking and the horse into a period of progressively accelerating transport network technology – the stage coach and the horse-drawn tram, the railway and the electric train, and the bicycle. Thus in Britain by 1820 it was often quicker to travel by stage coach than on horseback. By 1830 movement between the major towns were some four or five times faster than in 1750. This increase in the speed of the stage was paralleled by an increase of both frequencies of operation and in the number of destinations. The subsequent growth of the railway network
made for even more dramatic leaps in speed, frequency and access. It is no surprise that ‘the annihilation of space by time’ was a favorite meditation for the Victorian writer. The effects were all the more arresting because they came to be experienced by so many people. By 1870, 336,5million journeys were made by the rail, the vast bulk of them by third-class passengers. In the growing cities a parallel process of democratization was taking place measured out by the advent of the horse-drawn tram, the underground and, latterly, electric tramways. But perhaps the most dramatic change in travel was the invention of the bicycle. By 1855 there
timeline of events:
were already 400,000 cyclists in Britain and the 1890’s saw the peak of this simple machine’s popularity. The bicycle, which started as a piece of fun for young swells, foreshadowed the automobile in providing immediate, democratic access to speed. The nineteenth century also saw the beginnings of new networks of communication which began to displace face to face communication, especially a rapid and efficient mail service and, latterly, the telegraph and mass circulation newspapers. The exact social and cultural effects of this ‘great acceleration’ have certainly been disputed. But, amongst the changes
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Samuel Morse invented the telegraph.
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Rowland Hill invented the postage stamp.
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Kirkpatrick Macmillan invented a bicycle.
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the Great Britain steamship (using screw propellers)
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Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.
1885
Karl Benz invented the motor car.
attendant on a world of traffic flowing through multiple networks, at least four might be counted as being significant. The first of these was a change in the consciousness of time and space. For example, so far as time consciousness was concerned, it seems clear that the population began to pay more attention to smaller distinctions in time. Thus, in the last decade of the nineteenth century, watches became more popular. Again, it seems clear that a sense of an enlarged, simultaneous presence became more common, especially as a result of the telegraph. This was not just a temporal but also a spatial sense (Graham, 2004, 40).
Graham demonstrates us how the society in which we live and make our daily routines, is shaped by the technologies that were developed in the nineteenth century, such as stage-coaches, trains, bicycles or the telegraph. The telegraph made possible fast connections for the first time in history on long distances. These technologies allowed cities everywhere to develop new infrastructures that would support the new ways of travelling, both humans and information.
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chapter 2
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In the begining of the second chapter I am describing a dense infrastructure model looking at examples from London. Furthermore, I am looking into GIS and 3d mapping technology as well as materials that are used in infrastructures.
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Dense Infrastructure Model
efficient way of transport. Maybe it is an opportunity to realize that the times where humans were looking to an automatized era where all people use private cars and everything is accessible on a concrete road, are long gone and that we need to The city presents a characteristic understand a better way to interact with of constant change and growth, which the environment. The city was planned so makes the existing infrastructure more and more strangulated by the heavy traffic that big heavy concrete roads and squares created a network which defined the and the uprising levels of pollution. The infrastructure. It has been very carefully new methods of movement, that people designed so that it offers the capacity are experimenting and exploring the demanded by the economic sector of our space with, need to be closely studied and approached when we plan projects of society. It means that the infrastructure of the city is responding only to the use of urban development. In London riding a bicycle is very dangerous, but at the same automobiles and public transport, rather time the community is growing (younger than satisfying the variety of transport means such as bicycles, boards, rollers and generations tend to choose bicycles for other alternative devices. (Hall, 2002) traveling in the city) and this shows that people are determined for a more
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View over London City
definitions: Dense Infrastructure Model: Complex and high density of networks of streets, railways, tube lines, passages and so on within an urban area
London is a very good example of a dense infrastructure model, having many layers of networks of transport. London has a network of streets which forms the urban tissue, these streets usually being narrow, with small sidewalks, which are both generally crowded. Then there is a network of highways that pierces the metropolis from all directions and forms an inner circle which defines the City of London. There is a dense network of train tracks that serve travel within the city and between cities, which is efficient and fast.
They also connect the airports with the city and all major landmarks surrounding it. Beside trains, London has a rich history with the development of the tube system. It first started in 1863, and back then the locomotives used were running on steam. By 1890 they implemented electric engines for the trains, and the network expanded configuring the circle line. London tube network is specific through its long tunnels that take you deep underground (in some stations) that gives the impression of a whole different city below the ground. (Jencks, 2006)
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Aerial view over London Bridge Station
top: Aerial view of Cannon Street Bridge down: Commuters on London Bridge
Emirates Airline Gondola & Green Chain Walk
London is one of the few cities that have a gondola, a concept adapted from mountain resorts to an urban area and dedicated for transport. The Emirates Airline is a gondola system which creates a fast connection between Greenwich peninsula and Silver Town and it offers a great view over London and its landmarks. Among other benefits there is a smaller impact on the environment when developing such transport systems due do the fact that it only uses energy which can be produced from alternative sources, such as solar power, wind and water turbines. Emirates Airline Gondola represents a precedent and it may lead to future projects that may have a similar approach on how to rethink infrastructures and connectivity within a city. In several articles from known publications such as “The Telegraph” or “The Guardian”, the project is criticized because it didn’t have the success which was estimated (O’Ceallaight, 2012). Numbers ran low from the first month to the second and so on but it may have to do with the way the gondola was presented and commercialized. It’s being used more by tourist then locals and this points the problem by itself. Projects need to be addressed to the necessities of local communities otherwise they are the prescription for inefficiency. London benefits from a bicycle network throughout the entire city which makes smart connections with the Green Chain Walk. This layer of infrastructure is a more interesting one because it shows a different approach to designing transport networks. It takes you from one point of the city to another on a path through the natural environment. 26
You exit the city for a moment and you enter a big park where there is little intervention with heavy materials and digitalized technology. Despite appearances, is not just a simple path crossing a park, but a network of paths and intersections and rest points, and they all form a green chain that makes smart connections (especially in South London) between urban areas. They also show a contrast or a blend between urban and rural or natural environments (forests, lakes, rivers, hills). This green network would change our perception of the city if they would exist at a larger scale. We would no longer use the gray and heavy streets that the city has to offer but a green environment, thus our experience would be more pleasant and healthy. Going to work or with any other business in the city will become a pleasant journey. (Benedict, 2006) Hamburg is a good example, being the second largest city in Germany. The city has 40% coverage made up of green areas (gardens, parks, squares, sport facilities) and the authorities are looking into making a network of pedestrian and cycle routes that would connect all these green areas. Their goal is to eliminate car use in 20 years from now. According to city spokeswoman Angelika Fritsch, this project will make possible traveling anywhere in the city only by bike through a green infrastructure. She states the following: “ Other cities, including London, have green rings, but the green network will be unique in covering an area from the outskirts to the city center. In 15-20 years you’ll be able to explore the city exclusively on bike and foot.” (Quirk, 2014)
The proposal for the Sky Cycle project developed by Norman Foster’s office shows the necessity of a car free network of roads in the city. His project employs the existing rail-road network, so that the bicycle lanes would be built over the tracks and raised on pylons. The lanes would be as much as 15 meters long and make 20 connections within the city, forming a 220km car-free infrastructure. (Wainwright, 2014) I think that London needs such a project (bicycle dedicated infrastructure) because it would make a first step into offering a safe way to travel for bikers. London would get the same status as other major European cities, being bikefriendly. Nevertheless the cost and labor for such projects would be significant, but in time it will represent the first steps for alternative infrastructures.
definitions: Green network: network of paths and alleys within natural environment such as parks and lanscapes. Bike-friendly: networks that offers a dedicated lane for bikers within the city’s infrastructure. Alternative infrastructures: network of alternative transport systems compatible with new technologies and mobility devices.
top: London Emirates Airlines Gondola bottom: Hertfordshire Green Chain Walk
Fast track in Switzerland, Les Diablerets, Glacier 3000
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Plan for Hamburg to eliminate cars
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Sky Cycle Proposal for London by Norman Foster
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Materials: Can our infrastructure performe through its materials?
The materials that are used for building urban infrastructures are limited to the use of concrete, steel, timber, glass and plastic. Performing materials mean that each material used has a purpose and a function through its different characteristics and conditions. We now know that one material can no longer be applied in different circumstances, because each situation requires different characteristics and a different approach. Some space require a heavy material where other require light materials and every situation needs a specific approach. The infrastructure of the city is defined by many layers of detail and information. It is not just the roads and the railways that create the network which we call urban environment; it is a much more complex system of signs, symbols, connections, rules and functions. Basically, if we were to look at how people live their lives within the city, we can conclude that a person can have three states of being. The first one is when he/ she is at home, at the office, or inside any other building. The second one is when he/she is a pedestrian, which is the case when you are walking; and the third one is when you are participating at the traffic being in a car or using an alternative mode of transport. Two of these phases are linked with the infrastructure of the city. The interesting part is that for each state of being the city offers a different system of notation, signs, and rules to follow. Our city is filled with signs on the ground, hanging in the air, on the side of the road, on buildings or structures, and literally all
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over the city. They are however specifically designed for different phases; for instance there are signs on the ground which are used to guide buses to drive separately from the rest of the traffic, or address both cars and buses; other signs are used for all kinds of traffic or just for one of them, including pedestrians. The signs can be visual, auditory or sensory, therefore they engage the user on different levels, which creates a complex relation. (Furuto, 2013) All these layers of signs and rules give a specific complexity to the infrastructure, thus making it harder to use is. When you are in traffic you need to be focused all the time in order to avoid accidents. The infrastructure requires full attention and dedication from the user because it has too many signs and rules to follow. Light and color play an important role so that the materials used perform in varying ways, from concrete, steel and glass to wood, plastic materials or fabrics. Each material has different properties and gives a different vibration to the user’s experience. In present day we have the use of much more materials than we did 50 years ago, and we can make light structures and articulate light and color. There is a need for using light in a complementary way with the use of different materials. I think that street lights are used the same way they were implemented more than 100 years ago and the only difference is that technology evolved. The way we use light on the infrastructure needs to be more complex and individually studied and implemented. (Marshall, 2009)
definitions: Alternative transport: any other kind of transport besides conventional ones such as cars, trains, coaches. User: people that take part to the traffic driving a car or riding a bike or other vehicles.
Cracks in road pavement
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Biker in London traffic beeing at risk
Can pedestrians and drivers coexist with alternative movement devices?
It is reasonable to argue that people who choose an alternative way of transport rather than opting for an automobile, can represent a risk factor in traffic and are subject to accidents in the city. Although, if the infrastructure of London would react or respond to the bicycle community’s request (bikers are in pursuit for better network in terms of safety and efficiency), it would give anyone the opportunity to use a different way of transport. It would decrease car traffic and inspire people to explore the space and the city in a more interactive way. The use of a car limits the human capacity 34
of experiencing and enjoying space, having in mind the fact that interaction with space is established through an engine which takes you from one point to another without too much effort. It obstructs you from having a more close relation with the ground, the materials and the surroundings, whereas a bicycle, a skateboard or in some cases just the body, offer a more direct relation and more level of detail to apprehend and respond to. It gives you the chance of improving your performance. Pedestrians and drivers can coexist with alternative movement devices, as long as they are implemented in the
infrastructure and as long as they have a dedicated network. This is the reason for which so many bicycle accidents occur, because the infrastructure is not responding to the needs of bikers. The lanes are too narrow and they blend with car and bus lanes too much, therefore a biker has to ride too close to the heavy car traffic. Also, bikers can be dangerous to pedestrians in the same way cars are for them. These problems share the same root, which is the way bike lanes are implemented within the city at the present moment. (Furuto, 2013)
Plans for upgrade London’s bicycle network. Whitechapell Market
Diagram of GIS Model
GIS and 3D Mapping
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GIS or geographic information system is a supercomputer which captures, stores, checks and displays data in relation to the planet’s surface position. GIS uses any kind of information that has location, which can be indicated in different ways, like latitude and longitude, ZIP codes or address. Numerous types of data can be juxtaposed and contrasted using GIS. The system may cover information about population, education level, income, or information about the land, such as vegetation, different types of soil, water and so on. It can also cover information about the sites of factories, farms, schools, or storm drains, roads, and electric power lines.
The state of the Earth’s surface, subsurface and atmosphere is recorded by satellite and then goes into a GIS. It has many applications in a variety of domains such as engineering, construction, planning, transport, communication etc. GIS allows for specialists to analyze data on a computer and render digital information about an existing site. It is intensely used in planning or for extending an infrastructure or the urban tissue. Aside from that, it allows architects and engineers to work on both small scale, as well as big scale, and with precise accuracy.
3D Mapping Landscape using GIS
definitions: GIS (Geographic Information System): supercomputer that analyze information and displays it for interpretation. Urban tissue: Urban arrangement within a city. Digital application: refers to all applications in digital form using computers, phones, tablets and so on.
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The Channel Tunnel Command Center Pannel
Diagram showing how data is gathered
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Diagram showing how 3d mapping sensors are mounted on a car
3-d mapping is achieved with the use of digital sensors mounted on an object and by recording information surrounding the object, so that a computer gathering the data recorded can establish the space qualities and place the object in that space. This can also be applied in different ways to traffic, for instance. There can be cameras with sensors that record the traffic of a junction or a high way in real time, and they can coordinate it by interpreting the data and therefore increase the efficiency of transport. Combined with live digital applications, this can be particularly advantageous for bus networks and the tube system.
At different times of the day, there is a different flux of traffic, and when you have more buses then there is a need for on the road, the system can reevaluate supply in order to relieve and facilitate traffic, or trains can be controlled by a central computer in terms of speed, flux and capacity. 3-d mapping is also used for cars; sensors create a space analysis surrounding the car, and thus allow for the car to park by itself and participate to traffic just as well, even without the interference of the user.
These systems help to improve the quality of transport and its efficiency and they may be the starting ground for a smart futuristic infrastructure that is more responsive to the community’s needs. The technology is available but its implementation within the city is usually slow.
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chapter 3
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In the last chapter of my dissertation I am looking at the concept of Smart cities and what are it’s implications in infrastructures. I am exemplifying alternative transport devices as well as urban sports that have an impact on our cities.
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Smart Cities
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Smart city means that various technologies are implemented and at full usage in all departments and sectors that exist in a city, such as energy production, transport and infrastructure, water and waste, healthcare, smart governance, smart buildings and so on. These technologies improve the existing systems within a city and help us to have a better connectivity in all sectors. In order to understand the phenomenon of smart cities we have to take a tour into the world of computer technology and the beginning of digital applications. In a city people find more and more use for mobile apps for almost anything when it comes to
transport, shopping, communicating, planning, entertainment, and so on. The devices which we use (phones, tablets, gadgets) are an extension to our means of interaction with space and they enhance our experiences as well. We can record our moves and gather data about ourselves and the results of our journeys. This data gets linked to your account which can then be accessed through different devices. Also, the data is linked to a central platform or cloud, which then makes competition between users possible. (Singh, 2014)
Model for a Smart City
With these new technologies we can now create new layers of input for our cities, such as smart traffic lights adjusted individually so that they respond to traffic in real time, or systems that record the position of a subway cart or a bus live, and can therefore boost the efficiency of public transport; or augmented reality which gives us additional information, which we otherwise couldn’t access. All these new technologies have many applications in the construction of buildings and in city planning. Fire alarms, security systems, weather condition sensors, surveillance cameras, they all create a big network to which we as users are all connected. All of this information can be used to improve and create a smart city based on our needs, or it can be used as a tool for control overs masses.
With the advent of electric engines, designers are looking for new concepts for individual transport in an urban network. There are many examples of electric engines, from cars to bikes, longboards, drones etc.
definitions: Smart city: a city that makes use of digital technologies to enhance performance and wellbeing and to reduce costs and resource consumption.
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Smart City requirements Diagram
It is crucial to understand that the traditional way of personal transportation is the root of our problems when it comes to the infrastructure of our cities. Cars are no longer efficient, ergonomic, economic, or even enjoyable. They are given too much importance and are too damaging to our society. Buildings require big parking lots for automobiles, and street planning is determined mainly by the flux of cars. Cars have a huge impact
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on the human scale in dense urban areas. Imagine a street with sidewalks and a main road. When there are no cars at all on that street, for example during sporting or cultural events, the experience of the street has no more boundaries and it invites you to break the traditional way of moving around the city and to explore new ways of perception. Nevertheless, cars play an important role for the economy and for our life styles. Automobiles
provide supplies of any form to a city and they give us the ability to travel long disWtances without too much of an effort. Without cars the mobility within infrastructures would drastically decrease, but there is an urgent necessity to improve the use of cars and burn less fuel so that the impact to the environment is less damaging. (Jencks, 2006)
Smart City Key Elements Diagram
Basically, if we were to have an infrastructure that serves the economic requirements, it is true that we need wide streets for people to drive their cars so that they can represent a small cog in a big economic system, but if we design an infrastructure while keeping the human scale and the necessities of local communities in mind, we might find ourselves in front of a radically new way of thinking about transportation. The
city’s infrastructure needs to be flexible, and not just in the interest of automobiles and pedestrians, but also for bicycles, boards, roller skates and so on. The local culture regarding alternative transport needs to be engaged and supported by authorities and to therefore create a network that will serve their needs so that bikers, boarders and so on can travel safely and efficiently. This would give the possibility to these alternative transport cultures to develop and grow.
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Solaroad path for bicycles in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Solaroad
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Solaroad during construction
Solar roads as a concept are quite new, but this year the Amsterdam Authorities managed to fund a small project of a solar bike path. It is an experiment to test the idea before implementing it on car roads. The first section of the path will be 70m long and it is estimated that it will provide the electricity needed to power three houses for an entire year. Although the solar panels used for the road are 30% less efficient than rooftop panels, the surface of all roads in a country is much bigger than the roof top surfaces. The major problem is how to design the solar road panels so that their top surface repels as much of the dirt as possible, while they withstand heavy weights without damage, but also look smooth and transparent. The solar cells are encased between two sheets of tempered safety glass and mounted in a concrete housing. The concept already has a couple of antecedents.
In the U.S., an Indiegogo campaign for the Idaho-based Solar Roadways project raised $2.2 million earlier this year to pursue a more elaborate vision. It would integrate features such as LED lights and heating elements into structurally engineered road panels. A city in South Korea has been testing its OLEV (Online Electric Vehicle) system, which uses a specially assigned segment of the road for recharging electric-powered buses and enabling them to carry less weight in batteries. Solar roads are a concept that may give us an idea on how to adapt or transform our infrastructure so that they are more efficient and beneficial for the communities. (Chappell, 2014)
The concept of Solaroad has an extremely important potential because if it would be implemented on a big scale it would generate sufficient power to have a sustainable infrastructure with no need for other power sources. It can also change the way we use signs and rules in traffic, considering the fact that these can be digital rather than physical. It would give flexibility with changing functions and rules for a segment of the infrastructure.
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Bicimetro design concept by Richard Moreta Castillo; tunnel segment
Richard Moreta Castillo is a designer from the Dominican Republic. He has nominated a fresh idea for cyclists stuck in traffic or having trouble with cars and other urban elements such as signs, sidewalks, commercial spaces and piazzas. He proposes a 10 kilometer bike lane overhead that would let bike riders travel safely and efficiently. His concept is composed of two glass and steel tubes held up by a series of futuristic supports. The tunnel offers protection to the user from the rest of the urban congestion. (Silvers, 2013)
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These projects serve as infrastructure segments that are designed specific for alternative transport devices. They represent a precedent in terms of alternative infrastructures and this may bring new projects on the design table and finally, within our cities.
Bicimetro design concept by Richard Moreta Castillo; access segment
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Alternative transport concept by Bimal Rajappan
Alternative transport concept
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The Cyclo-Cable from Trondheim, Norway
Scandinavia is one of the places on Earth where quality and human needs are one of the main goals when it comes to planning. This is the case with a small city in Norway Trondheim, where a bicycle lift has been installed on a steep hill so that people can use it to go up the hill just like in a ski resort. The concept of the Cyclo-Cable is very much the same as a ski lift, only that, being pulled from the top, you get a foot stop on ground level which you use for getting on and off it. It pulls up with about five mph using a cable system that is under the pavement. The experience of using such a transport is unique mainly because it is more personal and addresses the transport of individual users at a time. Rather than getting on and off a tram or a bus, you make use of an extension of the urban infrastructure and it gives you a bohemian experience. It is much more elegant and encourages users towards a healthy lifestyle. (Mcgauley, 2014)
The Cyclo-Cable can stand as an experiment and as a precedent for such type of a project. It may lead to new ways of transport and concepts of transiting the city. For different cities, different approaches may apply. For instance South London is characterized by having many hills and therefore many differences in height. A concept such as the CycloCable would be appropriate in a city with a big water imprint on the land, where there can be cables on water that pull people on water boards, so they can practice for example wake boarding. Such experiments have been already made by local communities on lakes or rivers and they are quite successful, being used all the time. This shows that nowadays people explore the body movement more and more, and discover its capacities on land, water or in the air.
Wing suits for instance, are specially designed suits which are used for flying at high speeds. This activity is derived from base jumping, but it can involve interaction with the urban environment, since many athletes choose tall buildings to jump from or perform slaloms between buildings. I think this is a very exciting moment in history because people explore their bodies more and more as they push their limits in what they are doing.
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Volkswagen Electric Bike Concept
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Suzuki Electric Car Concept
Volvo Longboard Concept
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Longboarding
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Longboarding is a sport which derived from surfing in the late 60’s. It developed as a sport with a variety of disciplines from dancing and carving to speed and sliding. While in the first decades of the surf culture rise, skateboarding has been the main attraction to young people, in the last ten to fifteen years, longboarding has shown that it can grow in popularity among young kids, but also people with ages between 25 to 40 or even older. In some countries the longboard phenomenon grew so much and so fast that there is an entire community of people ranged from 15-40 who use the streets of the city in an alternative way and it is not a joke. A typical longboarder can gain speeds up to 70 mph doing downhill. It shows how man pushes forward to experience and interact with space on a different level. When inside a car, your interaction is limited due to the fact that you control your movement by pressing a pedal and spinning a wheel, whereas in sports such as biking, boarding, skating, parkour or free-running, you are the machine and you are in more direct contact with everything that surrounds you. You need to be in good physical shape, but also have a stable mindset and a strong psyche. It opens up the way to explore and improve body movement, and develop abilities for performance. These radical new ways of exploring body movement in space are a sign that the conventional way of transport is in decline and that in the near future there will be a demand for new systems of networks and infrastructures that would be in the service of a broader range of transport devices, and this would enhance the experience of users. Altogether, in the last decades we have seen a burst of desire for pushing limits when it comes to body movement through a variety of sports and initiatives. Most of them happened as guerrilla projects because they are illegal due to the fact that there are no designated spaces for these purposes. This shows that we have a multicultural characteristic as a society, and the traditional infrastructure barely represents two of the existing modes of transport (cars and pedestrians). Therefore I think that we as architects need to make an approach on infrastructure design and bring new criteria to the equation. We need to investigate and determine the demands of the inhabitants of a city and supply them with design responses that would enhance the experience of the user within the infrastructure.
Pach of longboarders on mountain road
Definitions:
Solaroad: special road made out of solar panels. Bicimetro: special designed tube system for bike use. Segway style: device that has developed from the Segway but with different features. Cyclo-cable: cable system that bikers use for going uphill. Wing suit: special designed suit for flying. Longboard: board bigger than a skateboard used for cruising in the city or travelling long distances.
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Longboarder dancing down town in Seattle USA
David Tabbaci & Nick Ronzani doing downhill in USA
Bogdan Birau doing a slide at Prospect Cottage, Dungeness
Longboarder and roller doing downhill in the french Alpes
conclusion
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Our present condition in big cities is increasingly pushing designers and engineers to rethink the urban tissue, city infrastructure and the way we travel. The rising levels of pollution, the traffic jams, the growing number of accidents, they all show that there is a need for change, and that sooner or later it will come. Therefore, architects are nowadays becoming more and more interested in the development of infrastructures, and it is essential that architecture embraces the elements of our cities’ networks and make them part of the city’s design. Streets, bridges, sidewalks, railroads and stations, they all form a network within the city and they need to be designed through specific decisions depending on individual cases. We no longer can make use of the same design for an entire city, therefore I think that architects should be involved when expanding or developing networks in an infrastructure. All elements that compound the city’s infrastructure need to have as much as possible a flexible design (design specific for a variation of mobility devices) in order to create opportunity and interaction for the communities. In a city it is important to have good mobility, because otherwise there will be accidents, traffic jams, delays and so on as a result. This affect people’s experience when using the infrastructure and it gives the city a characteristic of inaccessibility. In order to avoid future disruptions within transport and infrastructure we must embrace new and more efficient ways of movement and make studies and analysis on how they can be implemented in our existing networks. Experimenting and making small scale projects allows us to understand better how to move around and this will make possible future research into the subject. Like many things in history, some ideas prospered and have been implemented and merged into global usage, while other ideas had only little time to enjoy attention. I think that many of the present alternative concepts of transport represent a ground base for exploring movement. Not all of them will probably exist in the future, but they will grow into something else and people will make use of what is more efficient and beneficial for them. Therefore it is important not to hinder or make illegal some of these ways of movement because this will lead only to more accidents and less efficiency in traffic (skateboards, longboards, bicycles in some areas, rollers). The infrastructures need to offer the opportunity of using alternative transport so that our cities become more mobile and have better connectivity within. We must look forward into creating car free city centers and communities that would sustain themselves using smart city concepts. By smart city concepts I mean smart mobility and infrastructure, smart technology, smart energy, smart building, smart citizen and smart governance. It is not simple or with ease to have everything at once but with step by step there is much to be accomplished. Man has proven along the history that only by pushing forward his limits of understanding the laws of nature made possible for the great improvements that took place (industrial revolution, technological break-through, digital era). Mobility finds itself at the beginning of a new chapter in history and the way people move around in and between cities will change radically, therefore we must design infrastructures that will be compatible with the new devices. The future city will have to deal with challenges such as high density population or mobility and connectivity, and these needs to be solved by making smart design decisions that involve new alternative ways of transportation.
Artwork by Claes Tingvall showing urban problems
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references & reading list https://www.ted.com Charles Jencks, Karl Kropf, Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture (London: Art Media Press, 2006) C. Greig Crysler, Stephen Cairns, Hilde Heynen, The Sage Handbook of Architecture Theory (London: Sage Publications Ltd, 2012) Peter Hall, Urban and Regional Planning (Oxon: Routledge, 2002) Stephen Marshall, Cities Design & Evolution (Oxon: Routledge, 2009) Utopia Forever - Visions of Architecture and Urbanism Mark A. Benedict, Edward T. McMahon, Green Infrastructure (Washington: Island Press, 2006) Brian Hayes, Infrastructure: A guide to the Industrial Landscape (W.W. Norton Incorporated, 2014)
http://www.futuristspeaker. com/2013/05/colorados-opportunityto-take-the-lead-in-the-alternativetransportation-marketplace/ http://www.supercompressor.com/ gear/norway-has-invented-thetrampe-cyclocable-bike-escalator http://www.archdaily.com/416763/ urban-current-s-competition-entry-lcc-taller-301-openfabric/ https://www.agtinternational.com/ areas-of-business-2/connected-city/ http://www.theguardian.com/ artanddesign/architecture-designblog/2014/jan/02/norman-fosterskycycle-elevated-bike-routes-london http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwoway/2014/11/10/363023227/solarbike-path-opens-this-week-in-thenetherlands)*** www.forbes.com
Sebastian Loew, Urban Design Practice (London: Riba Publishing, 2012)
http://inhabitat.com/bicimetroeco-bahn-lets-cyclists-soar-abovecongested-city-traffic/
James Parkin, Deepak Sharma, Infrastructure Planning (London: Thomas Telford Publishing, 1999)
http://www.archdaily.com/464394/ hamburg-s-plan-to-eliminate-cars-in20-years/
Iain Borden, Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and Body (Bloomsbury Academic, 2001)
Adam Curtis, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, BBC documentary, 2011
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image source list Image list in order of apparence:
http://toplowridersites.com/london-eye/ http://www.luphen.org.uk/walks/ hertfordshire_chain/02-cuffley.htm
http://www.flyingkitemedia.com/galleries/ Innovation_and_Job_News/2011/03_29_11_ MobilityFuture_INJ.jpg http://driverlayer.com/img/infrastructure/20/ http://www.bustler.net/images/news2/audi_ urban_future_award_2012_02.jpg http://gencept.com/most-sensational-3dlandscapes-architecture
https://www.pinterest.com/ pin/203858320603720350/ http://architizer.com/blog/hamburgsustainable-green-network/ http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1544124/ thumbs/o-SKYCYCLE-LONDON-BIKEHIGHWAY-facebook.jpg
content/gallery/research/lidar-radarfusion.png http://spatial.ucsb.edu/wp-content/ uploads/SpatialLocalSoundMap5.pdf http://www.lowcarbonfutures.org/climatesmart-cities https://www.pinterest.com/tylerquarles/ montreal-expo-67-graphics/ https://deepresource.wordpress. com/2014/10/20/solaroad-finallylaunched/
http://www.numerex.com/files/casestudy/ m2munited-092008.pdf http://inhabitat.com/bicimetro-eco-bahnlets-cyclists-soar-above-congested-cityhttps://www.ted.com http://conversation.which.co.uk/author/ which-hannah/page/2/ traffic/bicimetro-eco-bahn-elevated-bikehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/staticarchive/ path-3/ af0279e907590e2f9f9e39c6eb4f067b0b87695e. http://twowheelsgood-fourwheelsbad. png blogspot.co.uk/ http://wonderfulengineering.com/segwayinspired-personal-transporter-designedhttp://aecbytes.com/newsletter/2014/issue_71. https://www.pinterest.com/jacylynann/gis/ by-student/ html http://education.nationalgeographic.com/ http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/6200 media/photos/000/322/32282.jpg http://www.travelekspert.com/2014/04/ worlds-most-bike-friendly-cities.html http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread. Infrastructure/Infrastructure/The-Channelphp?t=1133687&page=2 Tunnel/The%20Channel%20Tunnel%20 http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Suzuki/ pic5.jpg suzuki_pixy_concept-manu-08-03.jpg http://www.brunchnews.com/slashgear/ gadgets/video-smartthings-working-withhttp://shivkumardas.files.wordpress. http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2013/05/ gear-s-voicecom/2013/07/gis-map.jpg colorados-opportunity-to-take-the-leadin-theprompts-1999924 http://autonomos.inf.fu-berlin.de/wpalternative-transportation-marketplace/
Can our infrastructures adapt to alternative ways of transportation?