From vehicles to people

The second option instead prioritizes speed rather than connectivity and we know that within urban fabrics this results in segregation. One thing they both have in common is that even if successful implementation was carried out, the capacity of these systems is very low and implementation could be very expensive. Resulting in a system that transports the few who can afford it. Instead, we should keep in mind that technology and innovation within the transport field should be in the service of a greater purpose, and by this, I mean ensuring democratic access to the territory for the majority of the population.

For this to happen, I believe we need to change our approach. The traditional approach to transport engineering was a car-centered model in which the focus was on moving vehicles by granting capacities and speeds through the implementation of infrastructural projects, which were often short sighted rather than being part of a comprehensive long-term strategy. The focus of transport planning should instead shift from planning traffic to planning mobility & accessibility, from vehicles to people. We are now focused on granting accessibility and raising quality of life through a comprehensive planning process that is not only interdisciplinary, but that also involves citizens through participatory design and takes into account socio-economic components. This new model has the potential to re-shape our cities supported by a context sensitive planning process. In which main objectives are: better connecting people, making places more accessible, and ultimately enhancing quality of life in communities around the globe.

Placing the importance of ensuring democratic accessibility and the willingness to change approach at the center of future developments may bring you to pose the following question: ‘in which kind of territory may these two components come together to have the greatest positive impact?’ The answer, I believe, lays within the territories of the informal city. This is an issue that I personally know very well being born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. The capital city has a declared population of over 2 million people, but an estimated population that could be as high as twice that figure, and an outstanding 60% residing within informal settlements. To make matters worse, decades of transport planning focused on building infrastructures to ensure capacities for private vehicles have risen barriers between the formal and the informal city, in the form of highways.

The paradox of this story is that most informal dwellers work within the formal city and struggle daily to gain access to job opportunities. So, in the future do we want to go on planning for barriers or is it time we start planning for links? I personally believe that we should plan for a future in which accessibility is granted so that every individual has equable opportunity to reach their full potentials regardless of their social background or race. Keeping the future we would like in mind, lets instead look at what is happening in the world today. In the last decades population growth has been mirrored by a relentless increase in motored vehicles. Today there are 1 billion cars on the road and although European and American markets have remained steady, we see that within the developing world car sales keep rising dramatically. This is partially due to the fact that in many of these countries’ household incomes are rising in cities that have not been provided adequate mobility solutions, and thus they rely on their ‘own means’ which translates to private vehicle increase. If business went on as usual, developing countries could potentially reach the motorization index of the western world.

As a result, if trends are not reverted, we could soon find ourselves facing the largest wave of motorization in history. In order to prevent this catastrophic scenario, there needs to be global shift of mind, in which citizens worldwide go from private vehicle dependency on to public and sustainable active modes of transport. But for this to happen, it is up to us as transport planners to pave the way. And we are doing so, not only by changing our approach but also by supporting it with ‘Data’.

Geographic mobility data, such as human and vehicle movements, have become increasingly available due to location-aware technologies. But Data can be much more than an abstract figure meant to inform economic feasibility and overall system optimizations. When imbedded in a comprehensive approach, Data can give us key information into people’s daily life and the constraints they face when moving through the city grid. It can inform a finer planning process that steps away from a detached transport engineering approach to get closer to real life dynamics. In doing so, it enables us as mobility planners by giving us the necessary insights into a population’s movements and desires, so that truly effective mass transit can be implemented.