Urban Mobility
Norman Foster Foundation Public Debate Supported by BYD
Urban Mobility | Introduction
Since the end of the nineteenth century, and for most of the twentieth, monorails have captured the imagination and consistently featured in science fiction visions of the urban future. Aside from their Space Age imagery they are relatively inexpensive and quick to install when compared with the cost, time and disruption of making underground tunnels for subway systems. Surprisingly, there are relatively few examples in operation and those that do exist are conceived in isolation from other urban needs. However, new technologies could change the reality and perception of monorail systems, especially if the supporting structures can accommodate other urban benefits such as elevated decks for cyclists and pedestrians, landscape and city farming. New generations of monorails could improve urban mobility by augmenting existing subway, rail and road networks. Because of their compact footprint and tight turning circle, they can be easily threaded through densely built-up areas. In the case of newly planned communities they open up an exciting range of opportunities in which the infrastructure of movement and the architecture of buildings can physically merge together. The Urban Mobility workshop will explore these and other possibilities in the context of three city typologies - the highrise, high-density city or city core, the medium-rise, highdensity city and the low-rise, low-density sprawling metropolis. Respectively the three examples chosen for study are Mexico City, London and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Norman Foster President Norman Foster Foundation
Founded in 1995 as a pioneer in battery technology, BYD’s mission is to change the world by creating a complete, clean-energy ecosystem that reduces the world’s reliance on petroleum. BYD’s innovative products are leaders in multiple sectors, including battery-electric automobiles, buses, medium- and heavy-duty trucks and forklifts; the SkyRail monorail system; solar power generation and energy storage systems; and consumer electronics. BYD is the only electric bus manufacturer with a unionized workforce (SMART Local 105) and a Community Benefits Agreement establishing training and apprenticeship programs for workers with traditionally high barriers to employment, and mandating diversity in hiring. At the heart of BYD’s technology is its batteries. One of the largest rechargeable battery manufacturers in the world, BYD develops batteries for a broad range of applications— from cell phones and laptops to large-scale, grid-connected energy storage systems. BYD’s non-toxic Iron-Phosphate battery chemistry makes it the safest choice available on the market today.
The Urban Mobility Public Debate at the Norman Foster Foundation is supported by BYD.
Public Debate
Speakers
Norman Foster, President, Norman Foster Foundation
Tim Stonor, Managing Director of Space Syntax, London, United Kingdom
Laura Ballesteros, Deputy Senator and Former Undersecretary of Planning at the Ministry of Mobility for the Goverment of Mexico City, Mexico City, Mexico
Alfredo Brillembourg, Founder of Urban Think Tank, Caracas, Venezuela/ETH, Zurich, Switzerland
Tilly Chang, Executive Director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Francisco, California, United States of America
Carlo Ratti, Advisor to the European Commission and Director of Senseable City Lab at MIT, Boston, Massachussets, United States
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Schedule Tuesday 18th September 2018
12:30 p.m. Urban Mobility Public Debate Lecture Hall, FundaciĂłn Francisco Giner de los Rios Introduction by Norman Foster Presentation by Tim Stonor Keynotes by Alfredo Brillembourg, Tilly Chang and Carlo Ratti Debate between Alfredo Brillembourg, Tilly Chang and Carlo Ratti, moderated by Tim Stonor Questions-and-Answers session
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Participants
Laura Ballesteros Laura Ballesteros is a Political Scientist specialised in mobility, sustainable transportation and human rights. Master in Strategic Management and Direction of Innovation from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Carlos III in Madrid, Spain. As a local congresswoman in Mexico City, she drafted and passed the Mobility Law which recognized mobility as a right and established pedestrians’ priority over other road users. During her time as Undersecretary of Planning at the Ministry of Mobility for the Government of Mexico City, she implemented the Mobility Law and worked on the New Transit Regulation with civil society, incorporating measures for road safety and integrated transportation services.
Š Dan Schwartz u-tt archive
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Alfredo Brillembourg Alfredo Brillembourg received his Bachelor of Art and Architecture in 1984 and his Master of Science in Architectural Design in 1986 from Columbia University. In 1992, he received a second architecture degree from the Central University of Venezuela and began his independent practice in architecture. In 1993 he co-founded UrbanThink Tank (U-TT) in Caracas, Venezuela. Since 2007, Brillembourg has been a guest professor at the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, Columbia University. Together with Hubert Klumpner, he received the 2010 Ralph Erskine Award, the 2011 Gold Holcim Award for Latin America and the 2012 Silver Holcim Global Award for their innovation in social and ecological urban design.
Tilly Chang Tilly Chang serves as Executive Director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority spearheads strategic planning and allocates funding for transportation projects in San Francisco. The Transportation Authority collaborates with Muni, BART, Caltrain, other government agencies and the public to improve transportation options in San Francisco. Ms. Chang has 20 years of experience, including 10 years with the Transportation Authority as its Deputy for Planning. Ms. Chang held prior posts with the World Bank, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and in the private sector. She holds degrees in Transportation and Economics from MIT and University of California, Berkeley.
© GA/Yukio Futagawa
Norman Foster After graduating from Manchester University School of Architecture and City Planning in 1961 Norman Foster won a Henry Fellowship to Yale University, where he was a fellow of Jonathan Edwards College and gained a Master’s Degree in Architecture. In 1967 he established Foster Associates, which has since evolved as Foster + Partners, where he continues as Executive Chairman. He became the 21st Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate in 1999 and was awarded the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture in Tokyo in 2002. In 2009, he became the 29th laureate of the prestigious Prince of Asturias award for the Arts and was awarded the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1997 he was appointed by the Queen of the United Kingdom to the Order of Merit and in 1999 was honoured with a peerage, taking the title Lord Foster of Thames Bank.
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© Lars Kruger
Carlo Ratti Professor Carlo Ratti is an architect and engineer by training as well as educator, activist and inventor. He is a founding partner of the international design office CRA Carlo Ratti Associati, established in Torino, Italy. Ratti has co-authored over 500 publications and holds several patents. His work has been exhibited worldwide at venues such as the Venice Biennale, the Design Museum in Barcelona, the Science Museum in London, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Two of his projects have been included in TIME Magazine in the list of the ‘Best Inventions of the Year’, and he was named one of the “50 most influential designers in America” by Fast Company, amongst other achievements.
Tim Stonor Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner who has devoted his career to the analysis and design of human behaviour patterns—the ways in which people move, interact and transact in buildings and urban places. He is an internationally recognised expert in the design of spatial layouts and, in particular, the role of space in the generation of social, economic and environmental value. Tim is the Managing Director of Space Syntax, a company created at the Bartlett, University College London (UCL), in 1989 to develop and apply predictive design technologies. He is a Director of the Academy of Urbanism, a Visiting Professor at the Bartlett, UCL, a Harvard Loeb Fellow and Deputy Chair of the United Kingdom Design Council.
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Credits
Supported by:
Collaborating Institutions Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Madrid, Spain Academie Libanese des Beaux-Arts, Beirut, Lebanon Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt Confluence Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture, Lyon, France Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States Polytechnic School of Madrid, Madrid, Spain School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan University of California, Berkeley, California, United States University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Except where otherwise noted, text and photographs © Norman Foster Foundation Norman Foster Foundation Monte Esquinza 48 28010 Madrid Spain T +34 91 219 15 47 www.normanfosterfoundation.org info@normanfosterfoundation.org
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