Cities of tomorrow

Urban mobility

Media coverage and our own investment research tell us that growth in automated vehicles, such as driverless cars, is a huge area of research and development. There are also many other initiatives under this banner, such as vehicle pooling and passenger bikes adapted to help protect the user from the elements, to the concept of drones and driverless delivery vehicles. The world’s automobile fleet is estimated at 800 million vehicles and is set to rise over time, given that seven out of ten people in the developed world currently own a car, compared to two in ten in the developing world. This growth has wide-ranging impacts spanning energy inefficiency, the environmental consequences of fossil-fuel usage, potential disruptions to fuel supplies, the urban sprawl created by automobile reliance, and congestion caused by inadequate alternative modes of transport. The solution needs to be radical. It is hard to envision what the vehicle of choice will be – size, shape, range, speed, fuel type. It probably won’t have a combustion engine, it is likely to be pooled, and there will be debate over how it should be integrated with public transport. In addition, a huge number of companies have vested interests in this – from the conventional auto companies, to consumer goods and services organisations, to technology and internet businesses. Between them, they have the opportunity to massively enhance our mobility and that of the goods and services we use. Efficiency is another factor at play here, with cars utilised less than 90% of the time, and there is a ‘redistribution problem’ or the clustering of vehicles. Ryan Chin believes that “to make the car of the future, we need to make the city of the future.” This could encompass facets such as no parking lots, quieter traffic, and even no traffic jams! In many ways it will all be about the digital infrastructure as opposed to the physical infrastructure which is often rightly dubbed the infrastructure dinosaur.

The use of the space around us

“Architecture aims at Eternity” is a saying from Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the highly acclaimed British architect. The problem in this day and age though is that housing isn’t really built like that, and most cities do not adopt such an approach. Most activity is about building it fast or stacking it high, with less focus on the actual quality of the buildings. We don’t need every building to be as long-lasting as Stonehenge (still standing since around 2600 BC), but there is a need for space and the use of it to become ever more flexible, while resisting the temptation just to build concrete jungles – something that is seen in many less developed economies. 

Housing is a segment MIT and other academic institutions have been working on. Ryan Chin and his colleagues have been researching adaptable living spaces, and broadening the remit to include workspaces. They have been working on what they consider to be an optimal design for a compact 200 square feet apartment – beds and furniture that are automated, can even be hidden away, and make the user space much more versatile. Some of his colleagues are planning an automated furniture start-up, a good example of the commercial side to their work. Discussing this with him evokes an image of a desk, bed, and other such furniture all moving around the room, getting out of the way or making the living and workspace much more flexible. Some of the ideas may appear excessive, but they are evidence of a willingness to push boundaries and challenge convention. Would you really want or need an automated helper or a desk that can bring your printing or even a coffee or snack? Who knows. Whatever happens it will be exciting to see what new ideas come through in this field.

Agriculture

Agriculture and food is a much newer area of research, certainly for the cities lab at MIT where the work currently involves propagating plants in water with added nutrients in controlled environments. How this can be done industrially in confined spaces and in cities is a question now being addressed. The arguments for this include the ability to produce plants with higher nutrient content, faster growing cycles in controlled conditions, and facilities to optimise production. The idea of high rises growing broccoli seems a little far-fetched, but it serves to show just how novel some of the research is in this area. This could have huge implications. Might it lead to the democratising of growing and the ability to pull back some control from the large agriculture companies around the world? Or the opportunity to enhance yields and limit diseases? Could it also impact supply chains? Is there a possibility of it helping improve diets globally by making access to varied foods more readily available? Could it also have an impact on the green urban environment? 

Image: Shanghai at sunset.
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