This fall, the Swiss transport authority (Bundesamt für Verkehr -BAV) announced the plans to invest heavily in railway infrastructure until 2035. Over 200 Projects and 11.5 bn CHF will be invested in tunnels, concrete and steel across the country. Last Sunday, an NZZ article (in German) has allowed an alternative view on the intended infrastructure … Continue reading Investing in concrete or intelligence
Last week, a Swiss Think Tank published this interview about the development in trade in a city. I want to utilize this as a good example of the challenges and common misconception that we face when thinking about the future urban area. First of all, it follows the concept of ceteris paribus (other things equal). … Continue reading A common misconception of the city
I just watched this TED talk again and had to reconsider what possible impacts of driverless cars are on the city of the future. Hope it also encourages you to think beyond the next 5 years, from the perspective of the city as a living organism. https://embed.ted.com/talks/wanis_kabbaj_what_a_driverless_world_could_look_like
Over the weekend I saw a fascinating TED talk about the usage of glass in modern cities. Justing Davidson elaborates what he thinks is the effect of glass as a main fassade building material used in urban areas nowadays. He points out that other materials, from stone, brick walls, up to copper have strong advantages … Continue reading The effect on overusage of glass on cities
Many transport undertakers, agencies who are responsible for transport, consultants and suppliers are focusing nowadays on the customer experience in transportation transport. Articles such as the recent McKinsey article on travel distribution show exemplary what the philosophies and proposed strategies behind this narrative are. 1. Harness advanced analytics to understand the customer better. 2. Adjust … Continue reading Why the focus on customer experience is shortsighted
CityMetric pointed in a recent article on Elon Musk's vision for autonomous driving towards an interesting point regarding spacial limits: Musk's vision that everybody will not be moving anymore with public transport but with autonomous cars that offer point-to-point travel is somewhat flawed. The limits are or geometrical nature due to the limit in capacity … Continue reading Spacial limits of alternative transport systems in urban areas
Over the holidays I read this article in German about the development in transition regions after conflicts. Three aspects are in my opinion critical about that: Urbanization, resource consumption and respective migrant movements will have a significant impact in the future way of living The potential to start and support social healing through common projects … Continue reading Developing transport in post-war regions
In Switzerland, planners estimate that there will be a transport capacity shortage in the mid/long term. This is why, alternative modes of transport are analyzed such as the Cargo Sous Terrain (-> see project page). Today, the federal council announced in this article that they will adapt the regulation so that a project such as … Continue reading Why small transport projects might be much more important than large infrastructure investment
With the vast proliferation of the mobile phone, starting in the 2000s we have gained access to increasing access to communication tool for consumption of information as well as interactions. In 2015, the average American spent over 15’000 minutes per year in commute, mostly by car. With the autonomous vehicle, this time will experience a … Continue reading Why the automated car will change the way we communicate on our daily basis
I recently watched the webinar organized by IBM regarding think beyond the rails. And there are a few things that became very clear to me which i would like to address: Railways need to improve their skills in soft- and hardware to reduce costs but also increase quality (and with this reliability, availability and safety) … Continue reading Railways 4.0 – Divide and Conquer
mobilistics 