Bicycle Sharing
A system of bicycles and golf carts shared by groups or the city. One person leaves a bicycle, for instance, then another comes and swipes a smart card to then go where they need. Also, subsidized housing must be integrated with "regular" housing, without any indication of who is who, to disassociate stigma and stereotypes about people who need help.
Cherie Parks, Los Angeles
Dial-A-Ride
Right now we have the technology for vehicles to guide themselves, without the need for a driver. GM has developed a vehicle that makes driving optional, with intelligence built into the vehicle and communication with surrounding vehicles. This could be an interim stage in development of a longer term alternative, roads with guidance systems able to interact with vehicles of the future to feed back information on traffic throughout the network and work out the best way to get to the destination with minimum delays, based on the number of travelers and their destinations.
There could be transport backbones like present rail or bus systems, with smaller vehicles that people could call up to take them to the nearest backbone, with the system working out the best way to get to the destination. There would be no need to own a vehicle. Fleets of vehicles could be spread around the network by different suppliers who maintain the vehicles and receive income from fares charged to users. Some would be basic, low-cost units, others special purpose or luxury units at higher cost. Users could book a particular type of unit in advance, or accept the nearest unit. From knowledge of the number of people requiring transport and their destinations, the system could work out the capacity and frequency of service needed to cover the demand. When not in use, units would park themselves and recharge.
David Bainbridge, New South Wales, Australia
Victory Gardens
As an architect in Chicago, one of the most important aspects of future city life for me is urban farming. During World War II, "Victory" gardens produced 40 percent of the country's vegetables, and an overall average of 20 percent of American cities are vacant lots. As transportation costs may become a large part of future food price increases, this aspect of city life, an underexploited resource at present, may assume an important place in the sustainable urban experience of tomorrow.
Bruce Blair, Chicago
Self-Organizing Carpools
Most U.S. cities aren't dense enough to make mass transit practical. Google's self-drive car technology could drastically increase welfare in family wealth, time, environment, safety and convenience. These cars could self-organize carpooling by grouping people with similar itineraries. Carpooling, using hybrid or electric cars, will reduce pollution and so far these cars have shown amazing safety records. Finally, this technology fits with the way we've built our cities and lived our lives (for better or worse) for the past 100 years.
Steven Sandhoff, New York
Billboard Bans
A comprehensive ban on broadcast advertising (e.g. billboards, bus banners, excessive retail signage) in public spaces would greatly improve the livability of any city I have ever seen. Also, we should elevate the city-state as the primary institution of government in replacement of the obsolescent, imperial relic of the so-called nation-state.
Corey Ladas, Seattle, Washington
See what we're tweeting about
6 Comments
Add CommentWe are living in the most remarkable period in our planet's history, where food, energy and jobs have been accessible to anyone who wanted them. That must transition to something else that requires no petroleum or coal, as these 2 resources will have disappeared within the next several generations!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy not build a 100% sustainable global infrastructure immediately, while we still have the resources to build anything on the grand scale that it will take to support the world's current population, to say nothing of its future population?
Please view the designs for such an infrastructure that I have been developing for the past 31 years, inspired initially by the ideas that occurred to me as I staggered, walked and jogged more than 330 miles to recover the abilities to walk, speak and remember that I had lost when my heart stopped for 10 minutes following a car accident in Kenya in 1980, at www.greenmillennium.eu
I challenge you to do better...for the sake of the components of our genes, which have existed ever since life first began on this planet. They may still be here in 2000 or 200,000 years if we are successful!
Thank you, on their behalf!
Funny how what always seems to be missing from these stories is the age old concept of having people work from home where possible. Especially in this age where such a large percentage of people drive to an office to sit by a computer and or phone all day. Just think how much simpler doing most of the above would be if all those unnecessary commuters could live in small towns and stay off the roads. Not to mention the savings in infrastructure needs and company overhead. And the best part is we do not need to wait weeks much less years to start seeing returns. The only reason not to have your people type at home appears to be the lingering beliefs that employees need to be watched and a big image needs a big office. Companies need to start asking themselves is it REALLY worth the cost of all that office space? Plus green is IN. Nothing is more green than people working from home.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCities will not only need to be designed in a way to use less resources, alleviate congestion, and provide necessary services to a growing population. Cities must also foster a shared communal experience, one that gently forces people to interact and collaborate with their fellow citizens, that creates mechanisms for shared accountability, and fosters a culture of empathy and concern for one another. These may not be the things one would consider innovations for improving the quality of life in cities, and they are not. They are however, the goals that the mentioned innovations should be trying to achieve.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you've never lived in an American city with those things, you're choosing that. I've never lived in American city where I can't walk to the store, and I'd never want to.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat you said already exists. It's called telecommuting. It's already been done and will probably be more common, but I guess this article is focusing beyond the usual future green things. Plus, not everyone likes telecommuting so it should at least be an option rather than mandatory. Plus not everyone has sufficient resources, shared tools is greener than buying one for each home, working on big projects, etc. would be better in person.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn the same subject, what's funny is how what always seems to be missing from these stories is the age old concept of people that DON'T work in offices, and couldn't telecommute if they needed to. How are you going to manufacture your items, transport your items, and office service to your items if they all telecommuted, eh?
Too many ideas are either done or dumb. Bike sharing exists, car sharing exists, though cart-sharing could only work in limited areas designed for that. Social housing is too obvious if people behave or dress differently...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDial-a-ride is called POD cars in England's Heathrow. Self-organized carpools can be done online, and a car that drives itself is lazy. Bus banners subsidize the cost of public transit needed.
Someone ends up paying for 'socialized' health clubs. Do you? There's YMCAs for that or public parks! Walking Metropolis is Hong Kong...