Moving in a narrow space. Towards a new mobility

The pursuit of acceleration, often manifested in such projects as Hyperloop trains launched inside pressurised tubes, still continues to seduce us today. 3D animations invite us to imagine a world in which futuristic technologies will permit us to travel ever faster and ever further – everything coordinated by digital environments. Our continuous consumption of space through the compression of time is no longer tolerable, as we are reminded by the renowned professor of sustainable development, John Whitelegg. The energy and material consumption necessary to ensure the mobility of people and goods has contributed, and is continuing to contribute, to the various crises afflicting the planet, from the loss of biodiversity to harmful gas emissions. Moving ever more frequently and ever faster is not only taking us further away from an ecological transition, but in recent decades it has led – above all because of the automobile – to a rising sprawl, with the subsequent loss of the relationship of proximity, contributing to a slow social atomisation. That is why we need to radically change the way we move; and it is in this regard that the present book seeks to offer a little guidance in the great transformation of contemporary mobility, providing tangible examples of transformation in Moscow, Paris, Milan and Barcelona. New forms of mobility have to become a central part of our densely populated cities and the low-density urbanised territories. It is a challenge that we can and must overcome – together.