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zeppelins in the futur e
h t t p :// w w w . s u p e r s u s t a i n a b l e . o r g
Zeppelins or airships a nd soon air balloon cr a nes a r e engaged today in differ ent cou ntries for div erse missions: police uses airships for m onitoring tr affic flows, cities wor king with energy pl a n ning use equipm ent for observing energy lea ks which is ca r ried by airships, a nd m obile adv ertising is a nother ex a m ple. A next step ca n be using air balloon cr a nes in city r enewals. It is co m plicated to use con v entional cr a nes in na r row str eets a nd get access to buildings in the middle of huge building co m plexes. Air balloon cr a nes ca n also be used for short dista nce tr a nsportation assig n m ents. W e ca n also think a bout wh at will h a ppen when further ca rgo volu m es sh all be tr a nsported through m or e a nd m or e ov erloaded infr astructur e syste ms. Ther e is alr eady a volu m e del ay proble m because of ca pacity limitations in the networ k which is v ery costly to h a ndle within our existing syste ms. Wh at a r e the new circu msta nces th at h av e led to the pr esent Zeppelin r evival?
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zeppelins in the futur e
h t t p :// w w w . s u p e r s u s t a i n a b l e . o r g
To ch a nge pr ej udiced opinions a m ong decision m a kers is one big ch allenge. W e see possibilities in a nticipating a nd steering tr affic flows. W e h av e in v ested in a l a rge scale infr astructur e tr a nsport syste m a nd w e h av e to use it effectiv ely. Ev ery distur ba nce is v ery costly a nd non-efficient cities will in the long ru n lose econo mic pow er. Airships ca n be a pa rt of the process of m a king cities m or e effectiv e, pa rtly as a co m ponent in a tr affic control syste m pa rtly as a tr a nsport m ea n for ov erco m e tr affic br ea kdow ns. Because of proble ms within this crucial sector w e think th at pl a n ners, politicia ns, in v estors a nd so on will ev entually see this as a potential tool, but w e h av e to sta rt with the easiest solutions to gain confidence towa rds this technology. Insta nt City, by A rchigr a m
U ntil now, the m ost w ellknow n ur ba n proj ect in a rchitectur e history in volving zeppelins was the visiona ry proj ect Insta nt City, by A rchigr a m, in UK. In wikipedia w e ca n r ead: Insta nt City is a m obile technological ev ent th at drifts into u nderdev eloped, dr a b tow ns via air (balloons) with provisional structur es (perfor ma nce spaces) in tow. The effect is a deliber ate ov erstim ul ation to produce m ass cultur e, with a n e m br ace of adv ertising a esthetics. The whole endeavor is intended to ev entually m ov e on leaving behind adva nced technology hook-ups. This proj ect is fro m the 60´s, a nd so m e proj ects highly influenced by A rchigr a m h av e seen light in r ecent tim es, like the Ku nsth aus Gr az in Austria. When do you think w e will see zeppelins flying ov er the cities as a co m m on thing? Wh at aspects of the visiona ry proj ects in volving zeppelings will w e h av e to assu m e u nr ealistic?
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zeppelins in the futur e
h t t p :// w w w . s u p e r s u s t a i n a b l e . o r g
First w e h av e to ta ke into consider ation the situation of all tr a nsport syste ms in big cities, wher e l ack of ca pacity will beco m e ev en worse in the futur e a nd distur ba nce will beco m e a per m a nent ele m ent. This is one im porta nt aspect a nd a v ery r ealistic one. Police m onitoring activities fro m the air, th at w e h av e alr eady m entioned befor e, is alr eady the case in Trinidad Tobago, Russia a nd USA in a sm all scale. Big scr eens a bov e cities a r e nowadays wor king in China a nd Ja pa n a nd if things go w ell m aybe w e will see a proj ect in Sw eden in this business. U nr ealistic views... As I said, big scr eens a r e alr eady floating ov er certain cities. But if w e wa nt to a nalyse the futur e r ealistic pictur e of Zeppelins in the city, w e could see the case of m egacities like M exico City, Sao Paulo a nd simil a r ones, wher e m or e a nd m or e tim e h as to be used for tr a nsportation. Watching zeppelings floating ov er these cities is not possible today a nd, if w e wa nted to get a r ealistic a pproach on this, w e m ust say th at to bring zeppelins into our daily city l a ndsca pe w e should m a ke a m or e serious co m mitm ent on a global scale. This would allow to use the m for public tr a nsportation in certain cases. W e m ust r e m e m ber th at the Zeppelin Co m pa ny built two types of gia nts Hindenburg a nd Gr af Zeppelin in 1930s. They could h a ndle a rou nd 80 people with cr ew a nd passengers for long-h aul jour neys a nd if they continued to dev elop this kind of airships w e a r e sur e they could h a ndle 200 passengers for co m m uter tr affic. But, to r esta rt this kind of business today is a nother question. Nowadays, this airship industry is only enco m passing a couple of hu ndr eds of people co m pa r ed to ea rlier tim es when a rou nd 30.000 people w er e wor king in this industry. Could you giv e us a gener al ov erview of the pr er equisites th at a city th at aspir es to h av e a tr a nsport syste m based on zeppelins need?
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zeppelins in the futur e
h t t p :// w w w . s u p e r s u s t a i n a b l e . o r g
Fro m a technical point of view, w e m ainly h av e to ta ke into consider ation th at w e use a n airship th at ca n m ov e in the thr ee dim ensions of space a nd th at h as a consider a ble volu m e. By using zeppelins, w e could use roofs a nd water a r eas as new pa r king facilities in our cities, for insta nce. But first of all, to im ple m ent a tr a nsport syste m which includes zeppelins w e need a n ov er all str ategy, specific for ev ery situation, which considers th at all tr a nsport m ea ns h av e their co m pa r ativ e adva ntages. Our pr esent tr a nsport syste ms h av e proble ms with ca pacity a nd a r e sensitiv e for distur ba nces. To co m e a rou nd this w e m aybe should look the way a rou nd when w e construct, a nd bring a nd coordinate im prov e m ents within other a r eas of desig n. For ex a m ple w e m ay in v estigate how w e desig n a nd build new houses a nd buildings a nd explor e new ways to follow the state m ent m or e m ust be done with less m aterial proposed by Buck minster Fuller. W e ca n im agine a building syste m wher e fr a m es co m e fro m long dista nces a nd bulk m aterial co m es fro m the building a r ea. In the futur e it will m aybe not be possible to act like w e h av e been doing in the l ast century, a nd this is not a n easy question. A nother ov er all str ategy th at w e h av e to consider is th at w e m ust minimize the need for differ ent types of tr a nsportation. Tr a nsport de m a nd a nd tr a nsport supply a r e a co m plex topic th at w e a r e dev eloping with our wor k. One of our scoops in our new r esea rch study is the tr a nsport de m a nd a nd supply for building wind pow er in Sw eden. New constructions a nd desig ns open up for other possibilities to tr a nsportation with airships, a nd new airship desig ns giv e a nd will giv e new possibilities for the wind pow er industry. Wh at cou ntries / ter ritories will lead the im ple m entation of zeppelins into their syste ms of tr a nsportation in the nea r futur e in your opinion?
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zeppelins in the futur e
h t t p :// w w w . s u p e r s u s t a i n a b l e . o r g
R e m ote a r eas with natur al r esources, m ega cities a nd a r eas affected by clim ate ch a nge. M aybe UN a nd ther e aid oper ations ca n be a tur na rou nd force. W e noticed wh at h a ppened in H aiti, a nd now in Chile, a nd w e ca n say th at airships would be one solution a m ong others in situations like this.
Is ther e a ny other thing th at you would like to say to our audience, r ega rding zeppelins linked to city pl a nning?
The extent of pr efa brication ca n incr ease if w e ca n convince the pow er in the world to put extr a r esources into lighter-th a n-air solutions. Co m binations of building ele m ents/constructions co ming fro m long dista nce with airships with m ethods/m aterials which only need short tr a nsportation ca n be a n alter nativ e. This could be a pr er equisite for education of a rchitects in the futur e when clim ate ch a nge a nd energy shortage could be our new r eality.