Signal 2: New Markets, New Technology, Less City-Space
In my first signal, I discussed the problems of cemeteries taking up valuable city-space, and how new technology help create alternative burials so to conserve city-space. In this signal, I will point out how recent trends of technology, in trying to create efficient cities, might lessen the space of the city.
The rise of dockless bikes and scooters has been exponentially increasing in various major cities in recent years, but the fact of them being dockless becomes a problem of taking up space on any sidewalk or road. And especially with the oversaturation of the dockless bike market in China, this resulted in way too many firms competing for the rider market, which placed more and more rental bikes around the streets, increasing city clutter, decreasing city space, before the city can regulate it. According to Time magazine, 60 firms in China may be able to place around 18 million bikes on the street. And after a bubble burst in the bike-sharing market in China, various firms filed for bankruptcy, which resulted in a huge portion of those millions of bikes completely abandoned and cluttered in the streets.
However, the problem of lessened road and side-walk space may not be completely attributed to bike and scooter sharing services. A Vox article proposed that the problem may be the streets themselves, and thus a complete revamp of them, with larger sidewalks to accommodate both riders and pedestrians, may allow cities to adapt to the changes and trends in increasing alternative transportation ridership.
Regardless, the decision on whether to revamp roads should also depend on other trends as well, not just the trend of dockless bikes. Consideration should be taken if the number of drivers has decreased or increased tremendously in cities, so to be concerned of traffic problems, but also be concerned of the recent bike trends as well, especially of the number of firms competing for an oversaturated market. This is where I believe open data comes into play.
