NonA Weekly: HARD, SOFT, FAST, SLOW

Image by @ailadi

Dear readers and friends,

Can you imagine a city where your mobility is on your balcony? As cities become denser and technologies improve, it becomes increasingly clear that the truly three-dimensional city – one that includes flying vehicles – is surely one of the city models of the future.
How could vertiports integrate aerial and terrestrial transport links in cities around the world?
Transport use will continue to significantly transform. People increasingly refrain from using or owning cars and engage in other forms of transport: combining modes of travel, car sharing, public transport, and … slow traffic. Slow or non-motorized traffic is mainly synonymous with cycling and walking. But also skating or moving with vehicle-like devices fall in this category.
This weeks newsletter will talk about Air mobility: Drones, helicopters, and planes; as well as Slow mobility: Cycling & Pedestrians.

1. MVRDV AND AIRBUS INVESTIGATE HOW VERTIPORTS COULD BE INTEGRATED INTO CITIES
Architecture firm MVRDV has collaborated with aircraft manufacturer Airbus to research how landing hubs for passenger drones, called vertiports, could become part of transportation networks in future cities.

2. LONDON ROOFTOPS SNAPPED UP FOR “VERTIPORTS” AS DRONE TRAVEL MOVES CLOSER
Landing and recharging pads for DRONES will become ubiquitous atop urban buildings within a few years, according to a company that is buying up London rooftops for a network of drone ports.

3. SLOW MOBILITY
With public health and the liveability of cities in mind, authorities are creating space for slow mobility when it comes to urban development. Innovation and design alter the experience of slow mobility to new levels. In a slow traffic culture, the BICYCLE gains importance to move across the city.

4. URBAN AIR MOBILITY COMPANIES TO WATCH

The increase in demand for an alternative mode of transportation in urban mobility is a key factor driving the anticipated growth of urban air MOBILITY (UAM).

5. URBAN AIR MOBILITY: THE WAY TO A SUSTAINABLE INTERCITY AIR TRANSPORT

Urban Air Mobility will be a key milestone for the TRANSFORMATION of the aviation industry towards green mobility – but there are still some challenges to be solved.

6. URBAN AIR MOBILITY

Amidst the rapid advances in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technologies and increasing international investment in the budding URBAN AIR MOBILITY (UAM) sector, several offices, are engaged in an ongoing discourse focused on understanding the key parameters, opportunities and constraints around UAM implementation and integration into the built environment.

7. KITE IS A PASSENGER DRONE CONCEPT DESIGNED TO CONNECT THE CITIES OF THE GREATER BAY AREA

Conceived by Italian designer Andrea Ponti, “KITE” is a fully-electric, autonomous DRONE concept to connect china’s greater bay area. developed in response to the restrictions on air travel and tourism experienced in 2020, the passenger drone imagines an alternative mode of transport for life after COVID-19.

8. HOW DRONES AND AERIAL VEHICLES COULD CHANGE CITIES

Drones, personal flying vehicles and air taxis may be part of our everyday life in the very near future. Drones and air taxis will create new means of MOBILITY and transport routes. Drones will be used for surveillance, delivery and in the construction sector as it moves towards automation.

9. SAÚL AJURIA FERNANDEZ IMAGINES AN ‘URBAN DRONEPORT’ FOR THE NEAR FUTURE

Anticipating the need for transport and infrastructure to support the explosion in popularity of online shopping, spanish architect saúl Ajuria Fernandez has shared his idea for a “DRONEPORT“, based in Madrid. Given that 80% of package deliveries weight less than 2kg, and have a volume less than that of the average shoe box, it looks like drones are almost certain to be the postmen of the future.

10. HOW BIKE-FRIENDLY “SLOW STREETS” ARE CHANGING CITIES

Covid-19 caused rapid shifts in travel infrastructure to make STREETS friendlier to bikers and pedestrians. Can these changes endure as people return to their cars and public transport?

11. HOW SLOW LANES CAN SPEED UP NEW MOBILITY (AND SAVE LIVES)

MOBILITY is the word on everyone’s lips these days. The newfound excitement around electric scooters and the infrastructure to accommodate them has also engendered a fair share of tension and friction. Cities are resistant to the “chaos” that seems to be accompanying the launch of shared scooter and bike systems.

Stay creative and see you all next week!
Daniela