High Volume Transport

Vital transport research to ensure accessible, affordable and climate friendly transport for all.

Making City Infrastructure Work

Overview

We tend to think that transport systems are there to support economic wealth
Climate catastrophe is Human catastrophe
This is about city infrastructure and how it relates to people
City location can be independent of the means to support it : therefore it is highly dependent on infrastructure
We have developed infrastructure to support the artificial sustenance of human life: e.g. delivery chains
Infrastructure separates people from the consequences of their demand
Then we create infrastructure to support infrastructure
We have an unsustainable system based on historical decisions made by humans around the world – which we now consider to be a legacy
Cities are no different!
Trains => linear expansion
Cars => area expansion
But cities are all about people
Energy is not limitless
Emissions are making people mentally and physically unwell – and killing them
Core energy need of humans is not significantly different now from what it was 100,000 years ago
Homo sapiens is a social species
“Species” means everyone


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Making city infrastructure work Nick Tyler CBE FREng Centre for Transport Studies University College London UK Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi We tend to think that transport systems are there to support economic wealth Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Climate catastrophe is Human catastrophe Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi This is about city infrastructure and how it relates to people Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi City location can be independent of the means to support it : therefore it is highly dependent on infrastructure Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi We have developed infrastructure to support the artificial sustenance of human life: e.g. delivery chains Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Infrastructure separates people from the consequences of their demand Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Then we create infrastructure to support infrastructure Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi We have an unsustainable system based on historical decisions made by humans around the world – which we now consider to be a legacy Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Cities are no different! Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Trains => linear expansion Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Cars => area expansion Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi But cities are all about people Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Energy is not limitless Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Emissions are making people mentally and physically unwell – and killing them Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Core energy need of humans is not significantly different now from what it was 100,000 years ago Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Homo sapiens is a social species Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi "Species" means everyone Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi 150 The number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi 5 The number of people in a person's 'inner circle' Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi 3 The number of people a person can converse with at the same time Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi The need for 'absent ties' 1 The number of unknown people a person can greet casually at a time MSc T1 2019 People will need to be truly social to improve their quality of life MSc T1 2019 Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi What does this mean for infrastructure? Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Macro-scale crowd effects are driven by micro-scale personal reactions to the constantly changing situation Infrastructure capacity Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi New Tube for London experiment at PAMELA Boarding flow rate Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Design infrastructure for people Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Design infrastructure for sociality Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Create spaces for people to converse Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Create spaces for physical and mental wellbeing Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Big cities = lots of small localities Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Cities are people – they need small spaces in which to converse Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi To make cities work, we need to think about connectivity rather than size Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Roads are necessary for connectivity, but they are not sufficient: they need to be designed for people, not vehicles Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi … so more of the same is not enough: Left to their own devices, cities create damage rather than health Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi To make cities work, we need to think about connectivity rather than size Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Cities must work with the environment, not in spite of it: Road infrastructure is necessary but not sufficient for human survival Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory • Fully instrumented life-sized fully configurable physical and sensorial environments • Study neurological, psychological, physiological, cognitive, sensorial and physical reactions to situations within the urban environment • To help design the next generation city infrastructure Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi PEARL is a 40,000m3 space for studying multiscalar multisensorial multifunctional peopleenvironment interactions in detailed naturalistic contexts to make the world better for everyone Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory • Fully instrumented life-sized fully configurable physical and sensorial environments • Study neurological, psychological, physiological, cognitive, sensorial and physical reactions to situations within the urban environment • To help design the next generation city infrastructure Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi PEARL is a 40,000m3 space for studying multiscalar multisensorial multifunctional peopleenvironment interactions in detailed naturalistic contexts to make the world better for everyone Nick Tyler World Roads Congress 2019, Abu Dhabi Thanks! n.tyler@ucl.ac.uk