Urban Technology at University of Michigan Week 92
4x4 Interview on Mobility with Nneka Sobers, Molly Kleinman, Walter Greason, & Reilly P. Brennan
Admissions season is coming to a close, the semester—our first semester!—is ending, the Protogrants concluded two weeks ago, but instead of rolling into a quiet summer we’re getting ready to run our first-ever Cities Intensive, a compact, two-month semester where we will be traveling as a group around Ann Arbor as well as to Detroit, Toledo, Grand Rapids, and Chicago to learn about how urban systems work today, and imagine how they might work tomorrow. We’ll write more about those expeditions in upcoming newsletters, but this week we have a 4x4 interview on the topic of mobility (the focus of our trip to Chicago) with a lovely group of minds.
💬 Hello! This is the newsletter of the Urban Technology program at University of Michigan, in which we explore the ways that technology can be harnessed to nurture and improve urban life. If you’re new here, try this 90 second video introduction to our degree program.
🚲 4x4 Interview on Mobility++
Mobility, transit, transportation, even traffic: these are terms that have industries and academic research behind them, and yet none of the terms are as discrete and singular as the words imply. It’s impossible to think about mobility without also considering urban form. Transit and transportation require regional political and economic issues to be on the table. Traffic can be analyzed, managed, and optimized, but convenience and wait times mean nothing without balancing them against against pedestrian safety, transit ridership, and air quality.
To think about mobility, we have to think across a multitude of dimensions, or with a nerdier metaphor, as “mobility++.” In most programming languages appending “++” to a number means the same as n+1, so when we write mobility++ we’re acknowledging that the future of how people move around cities is also the future of how and where batteries are charged, of how decisions are made, and by whom, about the multiple priorities that shape urban environments, and of so much more. Mobility + 1. Mobility++.
As we consider the way that our curriculum and research touches on mobility++, we invited a group of folks whose work we admire across fields as diverse as urban technology, history, venture capital, and urban and tech policy to share their thoughts. Borrowing a trick from ESPN, this week we have for you an interview with four people and four questions.
Walter Greason is Professor and Chair of the History Department at Macalester College and a prolific author on urban planning and race. In my experience, he’s always ready to talk about the ways that yesterday and tomorrow are woven together.
Molly Kleinman is Managing Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at U-M’s Ford School. Beyond her University work, she chairs Ann Arbor’s Transportation Commission, is an elected trustee of the Ann Arbor District Library, and co-hosts the Ann Arbor AF podcast.
Reilly P. Brennan is a founding general partner at Trucks, a seed-stage venture capital fund for entrepreneurs changing the future of transportation—and is also an alum of this fine institution.
Nneka Sobers is Research & Program Manager at Cornell Tech’s Urban Tech Hub. Previously she has been a Product Manager at NYC Planning Labs, as well as a co-founder of a civic tech startup.
This interview was conducted by email and responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
What are you excited about in the world of mobility that does not get enough attention in your opinion?
WALTER GREASON: The need for electric mass transit is one of my top priorities. As we move towards more transit-oriented design and affordable, higher-density housing, clean mass transit is essential for these communities in the next decade.
MOLLY KLEINMAN: Cargo bikes, and especially electric cargo bikes. They can handle so many of the use cases people think they need cars for, from transporting children to doing a Costco run to making deliveries. They enable a lot of families to go car light or even car free, and an increasing number of businesses are making the switch, too. When we talk about innovation and the future of mobility, e-cargo bikes are the electric vehicles that have the most potential to make a revolutionary impact on our cities and our planet.
NNEKA SOBERS: Digitizing "informal" transportation networks. Whenever I visit my family in the Caribbean or travel to other countries in the Global South, using informal buses is oftentimes a vital way to get around. However, these informal bus networks usually do not have accessible information on bus routes, pickup frequency, or even bus stop locations. Usually, deep local knowledge (and confidence) is required to know which buses or routes are optimal for your commute across the city…. The way in which technology can be applied to address this challenge depends on the specific needs of the community. My favorite example of collaborative community engagement and leveraging technology to digitize informal transportation networks is Sarah Williams + Civic Data Design Labs' work on Digital Matatus in Nairobi.
REILLY BRENNAN: The future of everything is trying to make it safe for you to walk without getting murdered by a truck. I am not a believer in mixed traffic solutions and believe our children will look back at shared bike / vehicle lanes as we look at photographs of our grandmothers smoking Winstons. Therefore I am excited about people being honest about making things safer. I believe this will mean more separation of traffic types in unique lanes.
What kind of research related to mobility is most needed in the next 5 years?
MOLLY: A lot of the things we most need to do to create a safer, more sustainable transportation system, we already know what they are and how to do them: reduce car use by making it more expensive and less convenient to drive, invest in transit, use physical barriers to protect vulnerable road users from cars. The problem is about mustering the political will. So I guess that's the research question: What are the most effective and successful methods of overcoming political resistance to make the kinds of policy changes necessary for a safer, more sustainable transportation system?
REILLY: Battery management software that properly tunes cells to the task at hand.
NNEKA: I'm looking forward to seeing more information on the impacts that the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal has on solving transportation inequities in the US. The Federal policy will fund foundational improvements to roads + bridges, public transit, and electric vehicle stations, so there is a lot of potential to understand how improving transportation infrastructure may be linked to reducing broader social and economic inequalities.
WALTER: As the world recovers from COVID, the concept of 'disability' is outdated. There is a spectrum of human ability that we must understand, and it will require substantial new commitments to sustainable transportation systems from neighborhood walkability to dramatic reductions in global fossil-fuel consumption.
How should communities assess the success of mobility pilots?
REILLY: It's only successful if you would let your 5-year-old take a bike ride around / within it.
NNEKA: Based on the principles of design justice and participatory action design, a key way for communities to determine the success of mobility pilots would include reflecting on how involved the community was in directly defining the problem that the pilot seeks to address, as well as determining how well the pilot resolves community-specific pain points. Another important metric for success would be assessing how successfully the mobility pilot leverages the community's assets (both physical and intangible).
MOLLY: It's important to ask what problem the pilot is solving. I think a lot of "innovations" in the mobility space are just gadgety, convoluted versions of a less glamorous but highly functional technology. So first, did this pilot address an unmet need or solve a known problem, or was it just cool? Beyond that, I'm interested in understanding impacts on transit users, pedestrians, bikers, and people who can't drive or don't have access to a car. Does this technology help people who are poorly served by our current transportation system? Or is it providing yet another option to people who already have options?
WALTER: Three factors come immediately to mind: usage, investment, sustainability. If usage exceeds 20% of local residents, that constitutes an immediate success. If local policymakers sustain investment over 3-5 years, that metric shows promise. If the energy requirements of these system demonstrate improvements in air quality and other social determinants of health, then the pilot should be expanded.
What’s even more important than mobility for the future of cities?
WALTER: Mobility is certainly a major priority; the complete physical re-design of public facilities (schools, hospitals, libraries, law enforcement) is as important, if not more.
MOLLY: Income inequality and the wealth gap, and the racist underpinnings of both. So many of the most intractable problems our cities are facing, including housing, transportation, and public safety, come down to a toxic stew of generations of racist policymaking and the fact that for the last several decades the rich have been getting richer and the poor have been getting poorer.
REILLY: People walking around is good for people and good for cities. Take a walk with one headphone in so you can blend the real world with your favorite music.
NNEKA: Housing affordability! A lot of our urban mobility challenges are related to where people are living and how the housing location yields specific transportations behaviors and needs. Essentially, housing affordability and mobility are inextricably linked.
Bonus round: What’s your favorite city and why?
MOLLY: Philadelphia, PA. It's my hometown so I'm biased, but the more places I live and visit, the more special I realize it is. For starters, the personality is off the charts. It has so much going on, but it's on a scale that feels so livable. The arts, culture, and food scenes are all top notch, and there are beautiful spaces all around, both built and natural. I love introducing people to Philly who have never been there before. There's always a moment where they turn to me in surprise and say, "I had no idea Philly was so cool!"
REILLY: Tokyo is my favorite, even though I've only begun to explore it. It also manages to be high volume but high safety.
NNEKA: My favorite city is Berlin. When I lived there a few years ago, I greatly admired the pace of the city. In addition to having the key ingredients of a pleasant city (access to green space, walkability/accessible public transit, affordability, diversity), I loved how easy it felt to explore and expand your life outside of school or work in Berlin. Whether it's gardening or having a picnic in many of the unique parks, trying out the many art/flea markets or great night life options, there are always many opportunities to try new things and meet new people. Berlin makes it easy to experience and define your life outside of your professional self.
WALTER: Addis Ababa. Its long history and specific geography have always fascinated me. African cities overall do not get enough attention in our conversations about urban design.
Links
🌳 Let the forest be your type designer. File under: codesign, human/nature entanglements, trees, fonts.
🌴 Tree-shaped but not a tree: LINK kiosks in NYC are being upgraded to 5G posts File under: there’s a lot going on here. h/t Anthony Townsend.
🏘 Growing number of housing “experiments” in Detroit, with four being profiled recently by the Detroit Free Press. Construction technologies are important, but how about more focus on multifamily? And more innovation in financing and ownership models to complement the new construction tech, please?
🖼 Taubman College has an online exhibition of student work right now. Of special interest to readers of this newsletter would be the Urban Design projects from 2021. Folks near Ann Arbor can also see faculty work in person.
🪜 Maslow’s pyramid of needs… is actually steps?!?! File under: rug pull. h/t Hacker News
These weeks: Machinery taming still underway. Cities Intensive kicks off next week and the name is accurate: the experience will be intensive for students and the planning is intensive for Phil, Charlie, Toban, and Bryan. Spring has arrived in Michigan, with the first intrepid flowers blooming. 🏃