Dear Colleagues,

 

As I read John Polak’s announcement to this group today announcing two
research posts in Pervasive Mobile Environmental Sensor Grids a thought
comes to mind concerning which I would like to invite the views and
counsel of the members here. The topic is what we call “New Mobility
Partnerships” and while the immediate focus is short distance transport
arrangements in and around cities, I am sure that the implications
stretch well beyond.

 

In our New Mobility Advisory and Briefs program which is just getting
underway and whose goal is to inform mayors and city leaders about some
of the new and better (and cheaper and faster) ways available to tackle
the problems of congestion and environmental and economic impacts of
dysfunctional transport arrangements in most of our cities, we try hard
to distinguish between the “politics of transport” and the technical
competences that are essential to preparing and then monitoring the
various parts of our complex urban mobility systems (and indeed their
whole, but more on that another day).

 

Our claim is that the current systemic dysfunctionality is in good part
the result of misdirected transport and related technical expertise.
I.e., we have all these great technical skills but they are being put to
work by and large on the wrong jobs. I ask your views on this, because a
too quick read of our brief might suggest that we are charging
transportation professionals with the responsibility for these current
short-comings. My point is: not at all. But if in the city we move to a
saner and more creative transport policy environment, this not only
makes the technical virtuosity of the transport professionals even more
critical (because they are in many cases using their skills to navigate
in unknown waters), but that at the same time it can provide a better
and more rewarding professional and personal environment for them –
since they are working on the right side of all these problems as
opposed to the old stuff which as often as not works to make all the
bottom line indicators worse.

 

Now, I have to apologize for this in closing, because I know that
dialogues of this sort are not the main purpose of this list, but you
are such a great place to start I simply cannot resist the temptation.
As to your reactions and future exchanges, may I suggest that you either
send them to me privately at [log in to unmask] or pale them on
the New Mobility Café via [log in to unmask]

 

Kind thanks for your indulgence on this.

 

Eric Britton

 

PS. If you want get a quick feel for the approach that we feel is called
for in the face of the challenges our cities and beleaguered planet
face, you may wish to take a few minutes with the two short video clips
that you will find on the top menu: the Sneak Preview of the forthcoming
film Contested Streets, and the Man on the Street interview in Groningen
(great value!). Also, if you click to the 2006 Awards link you will see
our two group nominations for this year’s World Technology Environment
Awards. One of them is to recognize the contributions of Jan Gehl in his
highly innovative public space work. Jan also appears in the Contested
Streets video, which he closes with the following wonderful statement:
“It is really a wonderful thing to live in a city where when you wake up
in the morning you realize that today the city is a little bit better
than yesterday. I have had this feeling now for almost forty years”. I
would say that all of us who care can fairly make this our shared goal.