The changes that cities are undergoing are profound and transcend smart traffic lights or electric cars.
Technology is a lever for change, a tool to build new scenarios and transform cities. It happens, however, that sometimes we focus more on the physical dimension (apparatus, machines) than on the ethereal dimension (processes, ways of thinking) of evolution.
An example. In this post we talk about how urban mobility is changing. We mentioned technological advances in vehicles, but also initiatives (such as emission-free zones). We have left out much more profound changes, related to the way of conceiving mobility.
One of them is the jeopardizing of one of the key concepts of consumer society: the utility of property. Is it worth it for an urbanite to buy a car (petrol or electric, it doesn’t matter) being able to access small vehicles at an affordable cost that will presumably decrease? The success of on-demand car and motorcycle fleets is leading major car manufacturers to launch their own on-demand projects. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) seems to be here to stay.
Another consequence of the emergence of new technologies in mobility is a longer-term debate. Many experts argue that the combination of autonomous vehicles and MaaS can result in a reduction in the need for dedicated traffic land in the long term. Cars that drive themselves will have no incentive to be parked, so when they manage to be a majority (until then it will be necessary to plan how they coexist with traditional ones), it is likely that they will free up space on the streets, parking lots, etc. Bearing in mind that a city like Madrid dedicates around 80% of its space to road traffic, you have to prepare yourself to know what to do with the land that is free.
The culture of immediacy, new modes of construction and urban design, the renewed role of people in decision-making processes hand in hand with digital governance… The changes that cities are undergoing are profound and transcend smart traffic lights or electric cars. In the Disruptive Cities report , you can read a more detailed analysis of these transformations.
