Innovation Right Now: A 21st Century Guide

Innovation Right Now A 21st Century Guide Edited by Lonnie Spark

2

Introduction

by Hugo Lindgren

4

Who Made That?

by Various Authors

16

Smart Cities

by Michael Durham

22

Driving Sideways

by Allison Arieff

33

Expanding the Definitions of Design

by Alice Rawsthorn

2

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Incipit Insipientia

Introduction Written by Hugo Lindgren

If you were trying to name the greatest invention in human history, it would be hard to beat the stone chopping tool and the hand ax. They are the second and third entries in the excellent book A History of the World in 100 Objects, based on the British Museum project of the same name. Considered out of context, they are unimpressive things, crude chunks of rock shaped into marginally useful objects. But in the short, brutish lives of our ancestors, these tools were of inestimable value. They marked the crucial turning point when we realized the ability to produce things and began to see the world as malleable to our needs. There is even evidence that making and using these tools helped us learn to talk. And here’s something else: The hand ax was a dominant technology of mankind for more than a million years.

It’s funny to think about that today, when an original iPod from 2001 looks as dumb and balky as, well, a prehistoric hand ax. Nobody has to plan obsolescence 01

If everyone is an expert, how can we in fact consider anyone an expert?

Democratization is commensurate with homogenization.

anymore; it just happens. Innovation is the constant of our lives. Everybody is an expert on how it’s done.⁰¹ New products, services and concepts are pitched at us daily. This book is devoted to innovation and its assorted mysteries. Where do good ideas come from? How do they catch on?

Among the big questions raised by our exploration is whether our innovation-saturated culture is as magnificent as we like to think. How many of these new things actually improve our lives, as opposed to distracting us from more productive activities? Two years ago, the economist Tyler Cowen published The

Incipit Insipientia

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3

Nobody has to plan obsolescence anymore; it just happens.

Innovation is the constant of our lives. Everybody is an expert on how it’s done. New products, services and concepts are pitched at us daily.

Great Stagnation, in which he argued that we are in an

to perfect it. As a technology and a signifier of our times,

innovation rut, that the last 50 years or so have lacked

it is unenlightening. But the manner in which it was con-

the kind of transformational change that characterized

ceived is not. Two friends named Lisa Reisler and Susan

the 100 years before that. Nothing in our own time

Bloomstone were struck by the popularity of butt-lift sur-

approaches the significance of electricity or the internal-

gery and thought there had to be a safer, cheaper way for

combustion engine. A time traveler from 1970 would look

women to achieve the same effect. So Reisler glued the

at our world and be mostly unamazed. We congratulate

padding from her bra into a pair of underpants, found a

ourselves for spectacular achievements like putting a

manufacturer in Asia to produce a version of it that met

man on the moon, but what has society really gained

her specifications and then introduced it to the world on

from that? Teflon and Tang, Cowen says.

a cable-television show. They have since sold almost two

Meanwhile, the great hope of our age — the Internet —

million Booty Pops.

has yet to boost our standard of living significantly. It has,

This democratization of the marketplace happens to

however, boosted our capacity for distraction, procrasti-

coincide with the development of Big Data. These days,

nation, extended inquiries into trivia, locating the ideal

companies are learning as much as they can about their

restaurant for every possible occasion and pornography.

customers so they can turn around and sell us exactly

Now, for some, those things equal a higher standard of

what we want. It creates a herd mentality, as everybody

living. But we are still waiting, Cowen says, for the great

aims for the big, fat middle. Nick Denton, the owner of

leap forward.

Gawker Media, was talking about digital media, but he

Cowen’s point is that under the hood of our hallowed

could have been talking about nearly any industry, when

free market is a bazaar of nutty, half-cocked ideas that

he lamented recently to Wired that “the idea of harness-

do not advance the greater cause of humanity one tiny

ing the intelligence of the readership has been lost in the

bit. But there’s another interpretation, too, which is: The

quest for Facebook likes.”

sheer volume and range of these inventions demonstrate a rapidly growing population of problem solvers with the tools to turn their ideas into tangible things.

Let me use an example that Cowen has not cited in his “great stagnation” series, though it would certainly qualify: Booty Pop, padded underwear that makes a person’s backside look bigger and shapelier, an idea so simple it’s incredible that it took until 2008 for someone

Who Made

That?

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Who Made That?

The answer to that question is a series of stories. We learn how few of the things we most value sprang from corporate labs or marketing departments. Mostly they came from people trying to solve a problem of their own, like the New Jersey cotton buyer with the injury-prone wife (the Band-Aid). The ground for this type of practical problem solving⁰² is more fertile than ever, says the technology theorist Clay Shirky who believes technology frees up our time and gives us the tools to use it more creatively and collaboratively.⁰³

Ant Farm by Paul Lukas

find an efficient way to protect her

conundrum sank the first experi-

frequent injuries. He took a strip of

mental urban bike-sharing program,

Milton Levine was at a picnic one day

gauze, laid it down on the sticky side

a kind of utopian art prank under-

in 1956 when the sight of some ants

of some surgical tape and over both

taken in Amsterdam in 1965 by Luud

inspired him with this thought: He

laid a strip of crinoline so the whole

Schimmelpennink and the anarchist

enjoyed watching ants on his uncle’s

could be rolled up and not stick to

group Provo, which scattered “White

farm as a child; other children would

itself. Thereafter, whenever his wife

Bikes” around the streets for anyone

no doubt enjoy watching them, too.

cut herself, she could cut off a ready-

to freely enjoy. Despite an inauspi-

Within a few months, Levine, a toy

made bandage, instead of having to

cious debut — the White Bikes were

salesman who specialized in mail-

resort to the standard remedy of 1920:

mostly stolen or trashed — the con-

order novelties like toy soldiers and

a strip of rag or gauze held in place

cept spread across Europe over the

shrunken heads, and his brother-in-

with string. At the time, Dickson

next 30 years, accompanied by inno-

law, Joe Cossman, had a product.

was working for Johnson & Johnson,

vations to ensure the return of the

Each ant “farm” kit included plastic

which was already marketing sutures,

bikes:

deposits,

annual

member-

housing, white sand for the ants to

bandages and hygiene products. He

ships, tamper-resistant cycles, smart

tunnel in and a coupon for consum-

presented his innovation to high-

cards,

ers to redeem by mail for a vial of live

er-ups, who immediately recognized

largest program in the U.S. now

ants. After clearing some early hur-

its utility. When Band-Aids did not

belongs to New York City, where

dles — finding a glue that wouldn’t

sell well in their first year or two, the

CitiBike started in May, with 6,000

kill the ants — the kit soon became

company started distributing them

bikes stored at computer-controlled

the first popular ant farm, a hit with

free of charge to a demographic that

docking stations and available for

teachers and children. By 2002, more

had an even greater need than house-

short-term rentals, paid for by debit

than 20 million had been sold.

wives — Boy Scouts.

or credit cards.

Band-Aid by Susan Dominus

Bike Share by Adam Sternbergh

Bottle Service by Willy Staley

Josephine Dickson, a New Jersey

The central obstacle to new bike-shar-

Two promoters at the Tunnel in

housewife prone to nicking herself

ing programs has never been getting

Chelsea, Mark Baker and Jeffrey Jah,

mobile-phone

access.

The

in the kitchen, inspired her husband,

people to use the bikes — it’s get-

changed the downtown club scene in

Earle, a 28-year-old cotton buyer, to

ting people to bring them back. This

New York in the early ‘90s by selling

Who Made That?

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1920s oil field on fire

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Busy 2000s advertising agency

02

The pinnacle of pragmatism:

03

More creative applications for technology to try at home: nuclear war, weaponized sound, mass surveillance, bad digital photography

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Who Made That?

Who Made That?

←

BACK: US aerial reconnaissance photo of the Nagasaki drop location before the

1945 atomic bombing

←

FRONT: One of the first saved digital photos, taken in 1976. 100x100px.

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A year later, armed with the prototype for what he called a “filmless camera,” Sasson took a portrait of Joy. “Needs work,” Joy said when the black-and-white, 100-by-100-pixel image of her came up on the screen.

whole bottles of liquor at V.I.P. tables;

8.5 pounds, Sasson took a portrait of

of Berkeley at the time. “We needed

they imported the notion from a club

Joy. The camera’s C.C.D. used a grid

to have a place to go and let the dogs

in Paris where Baker says bottles of

of capacitors to measure the incom-

run.” What started as an experimen-

Polish military vodka were passed off

ing photons of light and convert them

tal dog park in 1979 became officially incorporated in 1986.

as brand-name booze. In other words,

into electrical signals. That technol-

the price gouging has long been part

ogy wasn’t Sasson’s invention. But

of the idea, even before the 1,000 per-

he found a way to encode and per-

cent markups, the 20 percent gratu-

manently store the C.C.D. data and

ities and the multi-thousand-dollar

to use software to convert that data

In the spring of 1964, a 25-year-old

minimums to reserve tables. In its

into a recognizable image that could

fashion illustrator in London named

early days in New York, though, bot-

be displayed on a Sony Trinitron tele-

Barbara Hulanicki designed a pink

tle service “was an amenity, not a

vision. “Needs work,” Joy said when

gingham dress inspired by one in

moneymaker,” Jah says. A bottle was

the black-and-white, 100 by 100-pixel

which Brigitte Bardot had been pho-

priced for the number of cocktails it

image of her came up on the screen.

tographed. A friend of Hulanicki’s, an

could pour.

But Sasson was ecstatic.

editor at The Mirror who wanted to do

Fast Fashion by Susan Dominus

a feature about inexpensive fashion,

Digital Camera by James Viahos

Dog Park by Jessica Gross

told her she would include the design as long as it cost no more than 25 shil-

Steve Sasson was the new guy at a

When the City of Berkeley demol-

lings. Hulanicki agreed, and within

Kodak research lab when his boss

ished a swath of houses in the late

24 hours of publication she received

asked him to investigate a novel type

1970s to build the Bay Area Rapid

close to 4,000 orders. That success

of sensor called a charge-coupled

Transit system underground, resi-

paved the way for Biba, a store that

device (C.C.D.). It was 1974, and the

dents began to gather in the space

Hulanicki and her husband opened

conversation lasted barely 20 seconds.

that had been cleared. Many of them

in Kensington in the fall of that year.

“This project would’ve been the least

were neighbors, who also brought

Biba pioneered the model of cheap,

important one going on at that time,”

their dogs, and before long a woman

youthful designs, with a quick turn-

Sasson says. A year later, armed with

named Doris Richards encouraged

around time and a steady supply of

the prototype for what he called

the group to turn the space into a dog

fresh inventory. “We had daily deliv-

a “filmless camera,” which was the

park. “There were ‘No Dogs’ signs

eries, like bagels,” Hulanicki, now an

size of a small toaster and weighed

all over the place,” Gail Green says

interior designer, says. Twiggy, a reg-

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Who Made That?

US aerial reconnaissance photo taken

after the American atomic bomb struck Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945.

ular customer, helped make the mod

came to me. It’s not what we see in

Smith says, “he would’ve made music

designs a defining look of the era.

ourselves but what we don’t see. It’s

like Hendrix. He was that advanced.”

not what’s in front of us, but what’s

Christian presaged the soloing guitar

Glass Ceiling by Robb Mandelbaum

above us.”

wizard in another more unfortunate

Eventually it would come to define

Guitar Solo by David Marchese

sis, when he was 25.

During the electric guitar’s toddler

Liquid Paper by Jessica Gross

way: He died young, from tuberculohow a generation of women viewed their working lives, but when Marilyn Loden used the expression extem-

days in the early 1930s, its players

poraneously at a Women’s Action

were largely tasked with carrying the

In the 1950s, Bette Nesmith Graham

Alliance conference in May 1978, she

rhythm while brass and reed instru-

was a single mother working as a sec-

says it fell on deaf ears. Loden was a

ments soloed in the spotlight. The

retary in Dallas during the day and

manager in New York Telephone’s

Smithsonian credits Eddie Durham

making commercial artwork for local

human-resources department, where

with the first amplified guitar solo

merchants at night. Her two worlds

she had seen reams of company data

on record — he spins some wry lines

intersected when manual typewrit-

showing that gender bias had sty-

on the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra’s

ers, whose inked typescript could be

mied the careers of women there. “I

1935

the

rubbed out with coarse erasers, gave

used to say that there are so many

Bottle.” But it took Charlie Christian

swing

number

“Hittin’

way to electrics, whose carbon rib-

capable women here, and they’re hit-

to advance the form toward its per-

bons made correcting mistakes much

ting their heads on the ceiling,” she

petual brash adolescence.

more laborious.

recalls today. Then, when she hap-

Born in Bonham, Texas, in 1916,

Graham started mixing tempera

pened to be on that panel listening to

Christian came to fame in Benny

paint at home so it would match

relatively powerful women repeat the

Goodman’s

solos

the color of her white bond paper

conventional wisdom of the day, she

first appeared on records in 1939.

and taking it to the office in nail pol-

says, she grew frustrated and sharp-

Christian’s

band,

and

spiraling

his

choruses

on

ish bottles to correct her typing mis-

ened her language. “Because we were

“Stompin’ at the Savoy,” for exam-

takes. Her co-workers wanted to

talking about self-image and what

ple, crackle with the confidence of

use it, too. So she began whipping

you see in the mirror” — the panel’s

a musician unwilling to strum away

up what she called Mistake Out in a

title was “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall”

behind a trumpeter. “If you dropped

KitchenAid mixer at home. Her son,

— “the whole glass metaphor kind of

Charlie Christian into the ‘60s,” G.E.

Michael Nesmith, who later became

Who Made That?

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Who Made That?

04

Teen Charged With DUI In Crash That Killed Two After Prom In Calumet City ⁰¹

01

Source: CBS Chicago

Who Made That?

←

BACK: Fatal car wreck involving a teen driving drunk after prom night

←

FRONT: A typical high school prom night

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BELOW: Good ole PB&J

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Rock-Climbing Wall by Paul Tullis The first man-made climbing structure was designed by a Seattle Boy Scout leader and mountaineer, Clark Schurman, and completed by the W.P.A. in 1939. The first indoor wall designed to simulate holds encountered in rock climbing was at the University of Leeds in England. A lecturer in the school’s physical-education department, Don Robinson, noticed in 1964 that area rock climbthe guitarist for the Monkees, filled

ers

Prom by Dashka Slater

the nail-polish bottles using ketchup

sustained

a

disproportionate

number of injuries in the spring.

and mustard dispensers. By the late

Although senior proms were held

Robinson attributed this to their

‘50s, Graham had hired experts to

at U.S. colleges in the late 1800s, it

habit of “spending most of the win-

make her mix faster-drying, renamed

wasn’t until after the turn of the

ter indoors, drinking beer.” A climber

it Liquid Paper and started selling it

century that the practice trickled into

himself, he says, “I thought if I could

more widely. Gillette bought Liquid

high schools, gradually morphing

make an artificial climbing structure,

Paper in 1979 for $47.5 million, the

from an ordinary banquet or tea

they’d climb on it in the winter and

year before Graham died.

dance into a gilded evening that

stay in shape.”

mimicked

PB&J by Maya Lau

the

lavish

coming-out

parties of heiresses that dominated

Wave by Susan Dominus

the society page. Even the word “Try making little sandwiches … of

sounded elegant, an abbreviation

Throughout the ‘70s, “Krazy” George

three very thin layers of bread and

of “promenade,” the stately march

Henderson, a rabid fan of San Jose

two of filling, one of peanut paste,

guests once made at the start of

State’s football team, regularly took

whatever brand you prefer, and cur-

formal parties, particularly debutante

it upon himself to rouse the students

rant or crab-apple jelly,” Julia Davis

balls. The prom flourished in the

at home games. At his bidding, the

Chandler wrote in November 1901.

‘30s, went into hibernation during

first of three adjacent sections would

“The combination is delicious, and,

World War II and then re-emerged

stand, shout, “San!” then quickly

so far as I know, original.” This is the

— bulked-up on postwar affluence

sit down. The next two would fol-

earliest reference to peanut butter

and teenage culture — as the pricey

low with “Jose!” and “State!” When

and jelly, and it appeared before the

all-night affair we know today. As a

Henderson became a professional

ingredients were widely available

New York Times article explained in

cheerleader and was hired by the

— you might have had to grind your

1960, “High-school prom night ... is

Colorado Rockies hockey team at the

own peanuts. It was a while before

the night a boy becomes a man of the

end of the decade, he taught four sec-

the sandwich became a hit among

world and never stops spending.”⁰⁴

tions of fans to cheer, “Go!” in quick

children. That happened after pea-

Back then, parents fussed that prom-

succession. He says one evening,

nut butter became available in jars in

night costs could reach $75. This year,

spontaneously, a fifth section fol-

supermarkets and was marketed to

the average prom-going teenager

lowed, and was succeeded by another

children in the 1930s.

racked up $1,139 in expenses.

and another, until the cheer made

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Who Made That?

Perry wasn’t the first to use a zip line. Its use dates back more than a century at least, as a means of crude transport across mountains and canyons.

its way all around the stadium. The

tray themselves as scientists because

nized the economic potential of zip

world saw Henderson’s wave on Oct.

of the emergence of the germ theory

lines, opening the Rain Forest Aerial

15, 1981, at a playoff game between

of disease. So they traded their for-

Tram in 1994. Others followed, first

the Oakland A’s and the New York

mal wear for the tan smocks that were

in Central America, then in the U.S.,

Yankees. Henderson directed par-

long worn by chemists. Then came

and within a decade zip lines became

ticipating sections to boo those who

white coats — which signified purity —

a big business. There are more than

didn’t join in, until everyone caught

as sterilization came into vogue.

600 large-scale zip-line tour opera-

on and the wave rolled its way around the packed stadium, the first one

tions in the U.S. and Canada, Michael

Zip Line by Keith O’Brien

caught on camera.

White Lab Coat

by Maggie Koerth-Baker

R. Smith, the managing partner of ArborTrek Canopy Adventures, says.

In the early 1970s, Donald Perry was

By the end of the year, he estimates, it

a graduate student studying the rain

will be a $770 million industry.

forests of Central America. To get closer to the treetops, he first climbed

Thomas Eakins’s 1875 painting of an

a rope, ascending inchworm-like;

operating theater, “The Gross Clinic,”

once in the canopy, about 15 stories

depicts a doctor and his assistants

up, he then devised an intricate sys-

dressed in stiff, black Victorian jack-

tem of ropes and, later, steel cables

ets, the same clothes you would

that he slowly moved around on.

expect them to wear on the streets

“There was a whole continent of life

of Philadelphia. Fourteen years later,

up there, waiting to be investigated,”

Eakins painted another surgery in

Perry says. “That was tremendously

“The Agnew Clinic,” and this time the doctor wears the type of white smock

thrilling.”

Perry wasn’t the first to use a zip

we now associate with science and

line. Its use dates back more than a

sterility. In the interval, medicine was

century at least, as a means of crude

becoming something that happened

transport across mountains and can-

in laboratories, not just in doctor’s

yons. But his lines were different in

offices; by the late 19th century, doc-

that they attracted the press and then,

tors felt increased pressure to por-

later, tourists. Perry himself recog-

→

FACING PAGE: Donald Perry, pioneer biologist who made ziplines popular through their use in his scientific research

↑

ABOVE: A tourist witnessing nature from afar with a safe, secure zipline after paying their entrance fee

Who Made That?

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Smart Cities Michael Durham

18

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Smart Cities Michael Durham

Smart Cities Michael Durham

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19

Having a bright idea is one thing, translating it into reality another. So how do world-changing advances come about?

development billed as “the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste city”, designed by London-based Fosters and Partners. In China, a new city at Guangming will be so “smart” it hurts. Cities old and new now vie for Smart cities have always existed in people's heads. Since Plato’s

the accolade of the world's smartest.

James

Woudhuysen,

professor

Republic, people have dreamed of

of Forecasting and Innovation at De

the perfect community, where cit-

Montfort

izens live in harmony, life is good,

points out that huge urban leaps have

technology is harnessed and every-

often occurred when technologies

thing works. Today, big ideas about

coincide, as in the industrial revolu-

improving city life continue to pour

tion, creating unpredictable social

forth from futurologists, academ-

change. “It also helps to have a sense

ics and think tanks. But what really

of forward movement in society –

transforms a bright idea into a world-

that anything is possible. But with so

class innovation?

many people fearing climate change,

Plugging in to new technology

University

in

Leicester,

that isn't the zeitgeist today.”

at first appears a sure-fire route to

Self-styled freelance futurologist

success. City planning today seems

Robin Mannings, a telecommuni-

like the stuff of science fiction. The

cations expert, agrees. “Successful

microchip and the internet, accord-

innovation is hard to predict. Thirty

ing to this doctrine, are the keys to

years

making cities more livable, integrated

dreamed of the smartphone, the iPod

and even “intelligent”. Long ago, city

or the internet, which have changed

fathers may have yearned for the

our lives. The big things just happen.

chariots to run on time, but today

What matters is not technology, but

they dream of robot fridges, electric

big ideas. With climate change round

carpools and skyscraper urban farms.

the corner, I'm putting my money on

In some of the unlikeliest loca-

ago

nobody

would

have

floating cities. Why not?”

tions, whole new cities are planned

For

Louis

Zacharilla,

based on the latest in carbon-neu-

US-based

tral thinking and digital technology.

Forum think tank, a key factor in

In Abu Dhabi, the Masdar City proj-

turning a blue-sky thought into a

ect is a six square kilometer walled

real, on-the-ground innovation is

Intelligent

of

the

Community

20

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Smart Cities Michael Durham

Every true innovation has its time, but it has to be understood and supported by everybody. If it’s something my mother couldn’t grasp, it will never become a world-class innovation. it will never become a world-class innovation. It has to be like a light bulb – the first time you switch it on, everybody says ‘This is great!’”

Progress brought us the deckchair, the Swiss army knife and the fold-up bicycle. So, the next collapsible spacesaving technology for citizens of the future⁰⁵ should be a folding

05

It should be noted that there is a need for space-saving technologies because of urban expansion, and said technologies will be expensive and available only to the well-off, effectively cementing the lower socioeconomic strata into its place permanently.

its appeal as a “universal experi-

motor car. It is already here. But are

ence”. “One of our ideas is food,” says

we ready for it? Academics at (MIT)

Zacharilla. “Everybody is interested

certainly

in food, and everybody needs it.

in the smart cities group at the

With problems of food security, food

renowned Boston campus have spent

will be sourced locally and we think

10 years perfecting an automobile so

urban planners will be building sky-

small you could fit three into a regular

scraper farms instead of empty office

city parking space. The CityCar is a

blocks, as more people will be work-

tiny electric vehicle about four feet

ing from home.”

in length, like a bubble car. But it gets

think

so.

Futurologists

Food is also central to the ideas

even smaller. To park, you pull the

of London architect CJ Lim, who is

passenger compartment forward over

among the shortlisted designers for

the front wheels, and tuck the back

Guangmin's new smart city. Lim, pro-

underneath. The whole car collapses

fessor of architecture and cultural

into a tall, narrow package not much

design at the University of London,

bigger than a wardrobe. Hey presto –

is passionate about putting the tra-

a folding car.

ditional back into smart. “Our city

There is more to this origami

won't necessarily have all the lat-

on wheels than a Smart car with a

est technology,” he says, “but it will

few well-placed creases, says proj-

have a human face, with culture, tra-

ect leader Ryan Chin. With no cen-

dition, jobs and food security. We are

tral engine but four in-wheel electric

planning a city with rooftop gardens,

motors, it can turn on a dime, and

vegetable plots and parks with fruit

park sideways. It could be deployed

trees. It may have been done before,

as a car share scheme in city cen-

in world war two, but it is a big idea

ters. “Five years ago, car manufactur-

for the future.”

ers would have laughed,” says Chin.

"Every true innovation has its

“Now we are talking with a company

time, but it has to be understood

in Spain and hope to start mass pro-

and supported by everybody. If it's

duction in three years. The urban

something my mother couldn't grasp,

vehicle is here. Timing is everything.”

Smart Cities Michael Durham

→

A space-saving micro apartment in NYC

↓

Abandoned NYC apartment set for demolotion

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Who Made That?

Author

Driving Sideways Allison Arieff

Who Made That?

Author

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Driving Sideways Allison Arieff

Our collective visions of the future seem almost always to draw from a limited visual tool kit.

↓

Simulation of a self-driving car’s field of data capture and computer vision

→

1970s failed utopian cybernetics project by the Chilean government under rule of Salvador Allende, called Project Cybersyn.⁰⁶

Who Made That?

Author

06

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25

A utopian cybernetics-driven support system meant to save Chile’s failing economic system. The first known example of a large-scale futurist data center and analysis lab, and also the first of many that have failed.

The driverless car, like other utopian

cendancy of the autonomous vehicle

pursuits, seems always to be just out

within three generations.

of reach. It’s captured the imagina-

But all the geeky enthusiasm

tion of many for at least a century: in

overlooks serious, um, roadblocks

1918, the Oakland Tribune reported

with regard to urban design and so-

that “the new car will be all glass-en-

cial equity. And, if you’ll forgive the

closed and controlled entirely by a

hyperbole, the American dream —

set of push buttons. It will have no

which is, after all, deeply grounded

clutch, gears or transmission, will sit

in the car, the social signifier that is

low, have small clearance and punc-

the three-car garage and, even, the

tureless tires.” It’s striking that 1918’s

red Corvette that is the midlife cri-

Motor Car of the Future doesn’t look

sis. There are some very good things

— or operate — all that different in

autonomous vehicles might possibly

concept from the 2013 one (or, for

provide — yet the obstacles to their

that matter, from the 1957 one, which

integration seem insurmountable. If

was projected to run on electricity).

we’ve struggled so much to get a few

Our collective visions of the future

hybrid cars on the road, how could

seem almost always to draw from a

we ever begin to get even near replac-

limited visual tool kit.

ing our existing auto-dependent sys-

The driverless car doesn’t look

tem?

any more futuristic today, but what

But back to the possible upsides.

is radically different now is that the

First, a potentially safer way to get

means to make that car drive autono-

around. Cars are dangerous mostly

mously have been figured out. For ex-

because of the people who drive

ample, Google’s driverless cars — the

them. Remove the driver, say auton-

ones you hear the most about — have

omous advocates, and you’ll remove

completed over 300,000 autono-

the danger. Further, self-driving ve-

mous-driving

accident-free.

hicles provide mobility for those who

Many experts, from architects to au-

lack it — the disabled, seniors, even

tomobile executives, predict the as-

children — and for those who perhaps

miles

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Driving Sideways Allison Arieff

07

Indeed. The car has been solved. Why not look to the root of the car problem and solve that first? Look to city planning.

to B. Imagine if Google (which runs

customized solutions for getting to

more than 100 shuttle buses through-

work. I wish more start-ups would

out the Bay Area each day to get its

devote similar zeal to non-car-fo-

own employees to work) had put

cused pursuits. And that these in-

comparative brainpower around ac-

novations were not app-dependent,

cessible public transit instead of to

and by extension, accessible to those

individuals driving alone — or rather

without smartphones.

being driven, while alone — in cars.

Do Driverless Cars Enhance Density But Why Are We Still Focusing On

— or Encourage Suburban Sprawl?

Tech-optimists

the Car?⁰⁷

see

driverless

Self-driving cars seemed futur-

cars as a boon to urban densifica-

ist a century ago; today, it seems

tion, but cars — with or without driv-

shouldn’t have access to it otherwise

out of touch to focus on cars at all.

ers — aren’t what make a city vital or

(i.e., drunken drivers).

Americans are buying fewer cars,

interesting. Self-driving cars aren’t

Second, freeways are crowded and

driving less and getting fewer licenses

effective in getting cars faster on sur-

don’t work particularly well. No mat-

as each year goes by. Rates of car

face streets, they make traffic flow

ter the intervention by experts (more

ownership are decreasing. Bikeshare,

better on freeways. No one is going to

lanes, wider lanes, car pool lanes),

rideshare and carshare programs are

support inefficient freeways but en-

gridlock ultimately asserts itself.

gaining in popularity and acceptance,

deavoring to make car travel so effort-

as are transit-oriented communities.

less feels like a gracious invitation to

Autonomous vehicles increase the efficiency of freeways by anywhere

So, why continue to design and

endless suburban sprawl. If you can

from 100 to 300 percent, mostly by

plan for a potential future car-based

read your iPad or play a video game

having them behave more like a net-

society? Transit innovation is pos-

while commuting, time spent in the

worked rail system. “Freeways will

sible, and is indeed inspirational,

car becomes leisure time, something

be given over to cars that drive them-

in many non-North-American cities.

desirable. Long commutes are no lon-

selves,” says Tierney. Further, with

The TransMilenio bus rapid transit

ger a disincentive.

the rise of the use of social apps, more

system in Bogotá, Colombia, for ex-

rides will be shared. So, theoretically,

ample, comes to each bus stop every

Should Your Car Work Like a

less road space will be able to carry

10 seconds and carries close to 40,000

Timeshare Condo?

more people, allowing land to be re-

passengers per hour, 1.6 million per

Driverless cars can erase the need

claimed for public use.

day. In the United States, it feels like

for car ownership — if not the need

all that innovation is connected to

for cars. So how would that work?

the automobile with app-enabled

The most prevalent model being dis-

carsharing,

even

cussed right now is the subscription

First and foremost, an embrace of

the renting out of one’s driveway for

model. Instead of buying a single car

the driverless car takes as a given that

extra revenue. While this sort of in-

you’d sign up for a full range of a car

cars are the future. Instead of explor-

vention is a welcome addition and

manufacturer’s offering. If you were

ing more effective transit solutions

helps reduce the problem of one per-

planning on taking the family to the

that could carry more people from

son driving alone in one car, it has the

mountains for the weekend, an S.U.V.

one destination to the next, the driv-

potential to lessen our belief in pub-

would pull up to your door on com-

erless car, by definition, keeps the car

lic transit as a public good as greater

mand. Just need to grab a few gro-

as the No. 1 choice for getting from A

numbers of people turn to these

ceries? A SmartCar could swing by at

What About the Bus? All of the above assumes a lot.

ridesharing

and

Who Made That?

Author

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Driving Sideways Allison Arieff

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29

your convenience. This flexibility is enabled by smartphones, of course, but what you gain in convenience you may sacrifice in privacy.

What About Social Equity?

Public transit is a public good.

Autonomous vehicles — not so much.

If you could afford a BMW before, you’ll be able to afford a subscription to BMW’s suite of offerings in this scenario. You can select a car to fit your task and even your mood. But if you couldn’t afford a car before, you probably won’t be able to afford a self-driving one either. The issue of equity — particularly for those who are most often passengers today — is glaringly absent from discussions of driverless cars.

How Would the Transition Happen, Anyway?

Exactly. The greater efficiency and safety presumed to come with driverless cars assumes the absence of cars with drivers. If human behavior is the wild card, how do you keep those pesky humans out of the way?

In 1973, in “The Ideology of the Motor Car,” the French philosopher André Gorz wrote that “The more widespread fast vehicles are within a society, the more time — beyond a certain point — people will spend and lose on travel. It’s a mathematical fact.” Why? Ultimately people can’t get around conveniently because they are far away from everything. And it is this observation that for me epitomizes the problem of the driverless car — it’s the worst kind of solutionism. By becoming so enamored with how technology might transform the car, we’ve neglected to adequately explore how getting rid of cars might transform how and where we live.

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Who Made That?

Author

Expanding the Definit

Alice Rawsthorn

g tions of Design

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Expanding the Definitions of Design Alice Rawsthorn

Every so often a word comes into intellectual fashion.⁰⁸ Among them is the use of “expanded” to describe the evolution of a cultural discipline into unorthodox forms, as in “expanded cinema,” “expanded architecture,” “expanded poetry” and last, but by no means least, “expanded design."

Like any other fashion, the intellec-

because there are so many interpreta-

tual variety often fades, but expanded

tions of it. The design historian John

design may well be an exception. The

Heskett summed up the confusion in

idea that the design process can be

this nonsensical, but grammatically

usefully applied outside its conven-

accurate sentence: “Design is to de-

tional context has triggered an explo-

sign a design to produce a design.”

sion of activity that ranges from using

Even so, design has had one con-

design as a medium of intellectual in-

stant role throughout history as an

quiry to devising ingenious solutions

agent of change that helps us to in-

to acute social problems like home-

terpret changes of any type — scien-

lessness and unemployment.

tific, technological, political, cultural

Yet some people claim that de-

or whatever — to our advantage.

sign has expanded too far. However

What we now call design fulfilled this

liberally the concept of expanded

function long before the word was

cinema is interpreted, it will always

invented: starting with prehistoric

involve the screening of some form

scavengers molding lumps of clay

of film, whereas design, or so they

into drinking vessels.

argue, can be interpreted so loosely

Yet since the Industrial Revolution,

that it can be applied to almost any

design has typically been seen as a

situation in which someone sets out

formal process applied by specially

to change something. Does this make

trained professionals, usually to pro-

design seem so vague that it risks

duce something tangible, like an ob-

becoming meaningless?

ject or image. Not that this was — or

Let’s start by explaining what I

is — an inaccurate description, but

mean by design, which is not an easy

design has also continued to be prac-

task, as its meaning has changed

ticed intuitively just as it was in pre-

dramatically over the centuries, and

historic times.

often been muddled and trivialized

Some of my favorite episodes of

along the way. Even when used cor-

design history are early examples of

rectly, the word can seem confusing

expanded design, which were con-

Expanding the Definitions of Design Alice Rawsthorn

08

”

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35

Every so often, over-intellectualized or misguided design criticism comes into intellectual fashion.

ceived and executed instinctively,

Such beliefs are increasingly pop-

and not necessarily by professional

ular. One reason is that young design-

designers. Take Nicholas Owen, an

ers, like their peers in other fields,

ingenious

16th-cen-

have wanted to address their political

tury England who saved the lives of

and humanitarian concerns in their

dozens of fellow Roman Catholics

work, and have sought new ways of

by

carpenter

building

in

disguised

doing so. Traditionally, a designer’s

“Priest’s Holes” inside the walls of

cunningly

role in tackling social issues was to

houses where they could hide, safe

communicate what social scientists

from religious persecution. Or take

and economists had decided to do.

the London Poverty Maps published

The new genre of social designers

by Charles Booth during the late

are contributing to the decisions by

1800s in which the socioeconomic

applying the design process of re-

status of each street was signified

search, analysis, visualization and

by a particular color, an inspired

communication to, say, improving

design decision that made maps in-

the quality of social services, often

stantly legible, and gave them greater

working in collaboration with other

political impact.

specialists to do so.

Nor has expanded design been

Similarly, commercial designers

neglected by design theorists, even

have had to adapt to the demands of

if they did not use that term. In his

a post-industrial economy, when their

1947 book “Vision in Motion,” the

clients expect them to fulfill their tra-

Hungarian designer Laszlo Moholy-

ditional role as agents of change by

Nagy wrote an essay titled “Designing

modifying people’s behavior, as well

is not a profession but an attitude” in

as by developing products in the tra-

which he argued that design should

ditional way. Variously called “service

“be transformed from the notion of

design,” “system design” and “design

a specialist function into a gener-

thinking,” this practice is another

ally valid attitude of resourcefulness

form of expanded design, albeit with

and inventiveness.”

commercial objectives.

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Who Made That?

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Expanding the Definitions of Design Alice Rawsthorn

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37

The problem, or so the critics of expanded design claim, is that the proliferation of new approaches has made design seem even fuzzier and less coherent. They have a point. If the concept of expanded design is taken to its natural conclusion, just about any form of planned change can be described as having been designed, and design will not only become fuzzier still, but indistinguishable from common sense.⁰⁹ Does this matter? I’d argue not, at least not if identifying something as a design project will improve the outcome. An example is cooking a meal. Pretentious though it sounds, you could claim to have designed it, if you had improvised, though not if you had followed a recipe, but would a “designed” meal be healthier and more enjoyable? Possibly, if you had invested more time and energy in its design: by planning its preparation carefully, selecting the best materials, and presenting it enticingly. You might also have given more thought to the environmental consequences.

Put like that, it is hard to think of an activity, which wouldn’t benefit from being designed: from planning a journey to wrapping a present to caring for an elderly relative.

09

This is a vast overgeneraliztion. All I hear is the static from a TV.