Since the beginning of the pandemic we have already witnessed dramatic increases in the mobility of people, goods and information while simultaneously confronting the realities of climate change and carbonisation. We are now seeing trends away from fossil fuel to cleaner electric propulsion, vehicles that can charge by induction, be driverless and “platoon”, nose to tail; a shift against car ownership by the young with an appetite for ride-sharing and on-demand services such as Uber; the rise of scooters and e-bikes and the prospect of drone technology for moving people and goods, new patterns of working, etc. The cumulative effect of even just a few of these trends will change the infrastructure of our cities with the hope of a better balance – shared global action on the big environmental and health issues, and local action in the making, growing and powering of our connected societies.
Photo: Marek Slomkowski