Mobility issues in megacities must be addressed by looking at the problem within an ecosystem. Individual interventions will not flourish as stand alone solutions. Integrated problem solving is the key.

World Design Talks Mobility - Shanghai Report

The World Design Organization™ (WDO) held its second World Design Talks in Shanghai, China on Saturday 22 October 2016 to address the issue of transportation in megacities and specifically the problem of mobility in Shanghai.

Supported by Tongji University and the Shanghai Industrial Design Association, and hosted by WDO board member Yongqi Lou, Professor and Dean of the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University, the day-long World Design Talks was held at Bridge 8, a creative co-working space in Shanghai, and featured guest speakers Jingfeng Shao, Design Director of SAIC Group, Feng Shen, Vice-President of Research & Development of Volvo, YunSheng Su, Innovation Director of Bauhinia Valley Investments, Guang Yang, Senior Director of Alibaba Group, Ma Jun, Professor of the School of Automotive Studies at Tongji University, and Gilles Rougon, WDO Board Member.

52 participants—including local academics, industrial designers, designers, consultants, and design students—explored concrete problems related to the design and manufacturing of autonomous driving cars, and the adoption of systems thinking to improve the efficiency of Shanghai’s transportation network. They highlighted the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to improve the integration of transportation solutions from a multi-stakeholder perspective. At the heart of this discussion was the consensus that the proliferation of digital data and new technologies are challenging conventional notions about telecommuting and work.

Luisa Bocchietto, WDO President-elect, who also participated in the World Design Talks along with other WDO board members representing six different regions of the world, said, 

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Building on the World Design Talks in Istanbul, it’s clear that there’s an important role for industrial designers to play in terms of helping solve the challenges faced by today’s megacities. Designing for the future requires a human centred approach, and that approach must also be collaborative and multi-disciplinary.

Rapid Urbanization: Navigating Mobility Issues in Megacities

As the largest city in China with a population of over 24 million residents, Shanghai is also the country’s largest financial centre due in part to the fact that it also houses the world’s busiest container port. As a result of the city’s rapid economic growth, rapid urbanization has followed, as citizens have sought better opportunities and emigrated from rural areas in search of long-term employment in Shanghai.

Although Shanghai boasts the most comprehensive and longest metro network in the world, the desire to drive a private vehicle remains high among residents of this megacity, because car ownership is seen as status of wealth. The current road and transportation infrastructure in Shanghai, however, has been unable to keep up with the demands of a growing population hungry for car ownership, causing severe mobility and traffic congestion issues for residents.

What’s more, the causes of traffic congestion in Shanghai aren’t limited to the desire for private vehicle ownership – in fact, frequent congestion on roads, crowded Metro trains during peak hours, low efficiency and transfer problems on the bus network, as well as dead-end roads and poor transportation planning have been stated by government officials as factors to blame for mobility problems.

That said, city officials have implemented several policy instruments to alleviate some of the pressure on Shanghai’s roads, with some success. Shanghai is now the 28th most congested in the world, according to TomTom’s 2016 Traffic Index compared to 26th in the year 2013.

Reducing traffic congestion would address various targets set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to improve air quality, a major health problem in most megacities.

Systems Thinking and the Role of Big Data

1. Big Data

The internet and big data are changing the way individuals make choices and behave every day. With the proliferation of smart phones and the availability of global positioning systems (GPS), individuals can now make more informed transportation choices to avoid traffic jams. Data received in real time can also inform policy and decision makers about the behaviour of private vehicles and public transportation to make improvements to the overall transportation network. This can also aid transportation officials to understand how to apply certain policy levers to privilege certain behaviours (ex: taking public transportation, carpooling) while discouraging others (ex: traffic congestion pricing for private vehicles during peak hours). Big data has a large role to play in contributing to positive behaviour change on the road.

2. Technology

Car design is shifting at an incredible pace with the incorporation of computers and sensors in automobiles for autonomous driving. Car companies such as Tesla are pushing traditional automobile companies towards a whole new paradigm in car design, challenging the status quo. Accidents and traffic jams are often caused as a result of different reaction times and the emotional states of human drivers. New technologies, coupled with big data, take the emotionality out of driving, calculating speed and pace, taking into consideration other vehicles on the road, and the use of alternate routes, for a smoother ride overall. In turn, driverless cars will free up drivers to tend to other business during their commute, thus enhancing the overall human travel experience – truly, human centred design.

3. Systems Thinking

Any kind of design intervention, be it a new car design, or the use of alternate transportation methods, cannot stand alone in isolation, and must be integrated within a larger ecosystem. Even if battery operated cars become the norm in the future, this intervention will not withstand the test of time if the infrastructure around it doesn’t privilege the innovation (ex: battery charging stations integrated in city centres). Likewise, as a result of technological innovations such as the internet, smart phones and smart apps, traditional notions of work and the workplace are changing. Telecommuting, as opposed to physically commuting to a workplace are changing the activity of what we know as “going to the office”. As a result, the changing tide of the traditional notions of work and the office will have a net impact in reducing the amount of cars on the road. This is why systems thinking, and a multi-stakeholder approach are necessary, taking into consideration different perspectives of the same problem, to reach more robust solutions.

What’s Next? What You Can Do

We are looking to the wider design community and other likeminded organizations concerned with this issue to help us tackle the issue of mobility and traffic congestion on the World Design Organization LinkedIn Group. We welcome your research, experience, insights and ideas.

Step 1
Join the World Design Organization group on LinkedIn

Step 2
Contribute to the discussion online; comment on posted articles, or share your experiences and expertise through a post

Step 3
Share this story

Step 4
Participate in a World Design Talks near you

Speakers

Jingfeng Shao
Design Director, SAIC Group

Feng Shen
Vice President of Asia & Pacific, Volvo Car China

Yunsheng Su
Senior Urban Planner

Guang Yang
Senior Director of Alibaba Group

Gilles Rougon
WDO Board Member

Acknowledgements

World Design Talks is grateful for the support of the Tongji University and the Shanghai Industrial Design Association. We also acknowledge and appreciate the expertise shared by our featured guest speakers Jingfeng Shao, Design Director of SAIC Group, Feng Shen, Vice-President of Research & Development of Volvo, YunSheng Su, Innovation Director of Bauhinia Valley Investments, Guang Yang, Senior Director of Alibaba Group, Ma Jun, Professor of the School of Automotive Studies at Tongji University, and Gilles Rougon, WDO Board Member. Thanks to the Bridge 8, a creative co-working space in Shanghai that helped to fuel the creativity of our 52 participants. Special thanks to WDO board member Yongqi Lou, Professor and Dean of the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University, who hosted and organized the day-long World Design Talks.