REBALANCING: infrastructure in a moment of forced immobility
With millions of people under stay at home orders, and many of those furloughed or unemployed, the future of work and our previous subjugation to commuting is up for grabs. A newly immobilized population means our transportation needs have rapidly changed; highway congestion has plummeted in even the most stubborn high-traffic cities, while demand for walking and biking at safe distances means sidewalks and parks are at or over capacity.[i] Fear of COVID transmission has made transit even less appealing and leaves those with no other options — often the same already vulnerable front line workers — at increased risk of additional exposure. Depending on the length of this reset and the restructuring of work at large, long held arguments for increasing road capacity for cars may finally be moot, and the chance to reconsider not just road space, but a whole system of inter-connected, symbiotic infrastructures may emerge. Any reboot should consider not just vehicle miles travelled or transit routes, but how the way we move, and infrastructure at large, supports quality of life beyond its singular function. Whatever the next steps hold, now is a time to start with rapid, low-stakes experimentation; identify opportunity areas for increased flexibility and adaptability; and plan for the next round of investment to decrease environmental impacts, increase resiliency and improve access and connectivity for all members of society.
Today’s half empty roads are great for testing ideas that would normally be resisted due to traffic or safety concerns. Cities all over the globe are re-negotiating road space in the immediate term. Reminiscent of the pedestrian plazas and bike lane pop-ups Janette Sadik-Khan popularized that ultimately led to Snøhetta’s redesign of Times Square, reduced traffic and increased local demand have resulted in the transformation of some major urban thoroughfares into bike and ped-only routes to allow for safe social distancing. New Zealand Transport Minister, Julie Ann Genter, is offering immediate funding for quick redesign of road and sidewalk space — small moves that are not just affordable, but proactive responses that are both practical and symbolic. As restaurants begin to reopen, new efforts are emerging to expand the parklet concept from single parking spaces to full lanes. An ironic side effect of this stay-at-home moment is the potential fast-tracking of projects normally disruptive to the right-of-way. In LA, the drop in tourist activity and shuttering of businesses along Miracle Mile has resulted in a recension by the city of Beverly Hills of the highly restrictive construction parameters on the Metro Purple Line expansion. Expedited construction now could shave three months, millions of dollars and hours of future traffic frustration off the timeline. How might that money equalize mobility access and capture environmental opportunities right now?
Though these small moves insert nominal flexibility into typically rigid road space design, the future of infrastructure must be able to accommodate changing needs, technology and environmental conditions far more rapidly — at both the small scale and the large. Bundling systems, where interconnectivity is a bonus, increases efficiency and opportunities for resilience. Projects like SMART (Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel) in Kuala Lumpur allow for multiple levels of traffic in times of high congestion but convert one level at a time to stormwater management as flood risks rise. The LINK Market, built in a shipping container and installed at a Metro stop in northwest St. Louis, brings affordable produce and nutrition education to transit riders in an area with high obesity and heart disease and few healthy food options. Co-locating and symbiosis (when one system’s waste is another system’s fuel) increase adaptability and decrease spatial and environmental footprints.
Since the start of the pandemic shutdown, pressure on the global logistics system has meant a rapid and scattershot shift away from wholesale and freight movement and towards impromptu medical manufacturing and home delivery. One boom in the employment sector, Amazon had already committed in 2019 to 100,000 new electric delivery vans and a fossil fuel-free fulfillment chain by 2030, but the possible introduction of autonomous trucking to create more fluidity in the system would put the bulk of American ecommerce — over $250 billion — on a more environmentally conscientious and spatially condensed path. Working more like a flexible train than traditional trucking, smart trucks in a newly dedicated lane can tetris on highways, reducing gaps between vehicles and radically increasing road capacity without adding lanes. Shockingly, the State of Texas announced at the beginning of 2020 that the future of transportation is no longer highways.[ii] The possibility of a nation-wide network with vast excess capacity could mean a government-owned right of way clear for high-speed ground travel (rail, hyperloop or other no emissions options) or other large-scale contribution to clean interconnectivity. Less congestion at all scales means road space can be shared not only with bike, bus or multi-modal lanes, but water harvesting, food production, high speed fiber, and renewable energy capture. Coming modifications to reclaim under-utilized road space should not revert to single functions, even multi-modal adjacent ones, but should find productive codependencies and incorporate flexibility to accommodate a more uncertain future.
This more uncertain future must prioritize accessibility and connectivity for the most vulnerable among us. Right now, blocked off roads for walkers and bikers are more about recreation than democratization. Though bike lanes, bike share, and light rail increase multi-modal options at large, they are often most used by wealthier patrons and may signal, or even exacerbate, rising gentrification and displacement. Private ebike and escooter sharing companies have absconded public space for their own profits, disregarding the cost to public life and access that overrunning the commons creates. More options are good, but how they engage existing options and public space needs matters. This forced pause of micromobility is a good chance for redesigning and renegotiating the ownership of those benefits.
Next generation infrastructure must be socially as well as environmentally productive. For cities without the luxury of affordable light rail or subway, a good bus system serves a broader and deeper portion of the population, particularly our current essential workers. But it’s often second class. Now is also the time to learn from cities and countries with successful transit operations. Fixed, well-designed stations shift the perception of bus ridership — and hopefully the reality along with it — to something more reliable, permanent, and high quality, particularly when stations are climate-protected and elevated to meet boarding heights, allowing for faster and broader accessibility. This permanence also brings additional investments nearby that the common flimsy bus stop doesn’t. Access to seating, shade, real time arrival information, and amenities like wifi and device charging while waiting furthers the sense that bus ridership is up to date and not only for those without better options. Mobility hubs that bundle bus stops with other modalities or more expansive support programming like day care or health facilities, elevate bus convenience and integrate it into whole life needs.
During the COVID crisis, Los Angeles director of transportation Seleta Reynolds is operating on the simple, humane principle of do no harm, and address the harm you’ve inherited. LA buses are now providing free access to all riders and opening back doors only for entry and exit to protect drivers. Where public transit is not filling the gap, the city has stepped in by developing electric vehicle car share for low-income neighborhoods. The flexibility of the individual automobile in cities without pervasive transit is an access-providing luxury. In places like LA, a job hunter can reach twelve times as many opportunities by car than transit in equal time.[iii] Until more options are available, decoupling opportunity from auto-ownership — like decoupling good schools from home ownership — helps equalize access.
In this unexpected moment of forced interruption, the short-term solutions are challenge enough to determine, but the long-term solutions are what will shape the spaces of the future. Two distinctly different lessons can be learned from the past. The 2008 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) mostly shored up existing industry and filled the literal gaps in the pavement — small benefits, but hardly visionary. After Superstorm Sandy, New York took on the climate change challenges of a threatened waterfront and invested in green and blue infrastructure, like Hunters Point South Park, that creates a porous edge of active and passive water management integrated into recreation and habitat space. The latter increases environmental resiliency while also adding 5,000 housing units, 60% of which are designated permanently affordable, insuring long-term economic diversity in the neighborhood. Better, but still room for improvement.
As a Burners Without Borders organizer said yesterday in a sustainability planning summit held on Zoom: This is not a year to take off, but a year to take on. Better bus stops and multi-modal lane shifts are small examples of larger, necessary changes; they are instigations to capitalize on this pervasive pause to shift the paradigm from mono-functional, efficiency-first conduits to resiliency-focused, well-designed and inter-connected networks at both the micro and the macro scales. As designers, we bring the skill to combine complex functionality with spatial agility. As interdisciplinary thinkers, we can facilitate the cross-agency, multi-scalar and symbiotic demands of a next gen system. As experts in experience, we can design spaces of joy, ease, and dignity inclusive of and designed with all people. As privileged professionals, we can advocate for holistic cities where pervasive wellness and opportunity are prioritized over limited profit for the few. Mobility is not a privilege, but a right, and rebalancing the system to prioritize connectivity and inter-connectivity by designing across our public infrastructure networks with equity and environment in mind, is a once in a century opportunity.
[i] StreetLight Data: https://www.streetlightdata.com/VMT-monitor-by-county/#emergency-map-response accessed 21 May 2020
[ii] Jackie Wang, “Gov. Greg Abbott: Emphasis on Building Out Texas Roads ‘Is Going to Change” Rivard Report, January 8, 2020.
https://therivardreport.com/gov-greg-abbott-emphasis-on-building-out-texas-roads-is-going-to-change/ accessed 21 May 2020.
[iii] Seleta Reynolds, General Manager LA DOT, Urbanism Next conference, 14 May 2020.
