tech and the city
TRANSCRIPT
Tech and the City
Hi! My name is Bart.
I work fordigital agency .
Also on : @netlash.
a digital view on cities…
I know nothing about cities.
But a lot about digital…
So it will be a bit of a forced sci-fi view.
We often think about technology in sci-fi terms.
While we forget to look back at how tech from the past changed our behaviour.
I’ll illustrate with a story.
I worked at a bank end of the 90’s.
Do you remember the 90’s?We still used these:
I worked at a bank end of the 90’s.
I had to visit lots of clients in unknown places.
I worked at a bank end of the 90’s.
Do you remember the 90’s?We still used these:
Remember these?
I prepared the night before by printing out lots of route descriptions.
Now I have this.
I don’t even think about preparing anymore. The information comes to me, frictionless, the moment I need it.
Now I have this.
My behaviour changed, induced by technology.
First we change technology, than technology changes us.
So don’t focus on technology, but on tech-induced behaviour change.
Technology moves lightning fast.
NY, Fifth Av., 1900 NY, Fifth Av., 1913
But however much technology changes us,somehuman behaviourstays the same…
‣ self-driving cars
‣ Uber (‘sharing’ economy)
‣ 3D-printing
‣ e-commerce
‣ drones
Software is eating the world.
First we change technology, then technology changes us.
Self-driving cars
Self-driving cars
Car radio? Outdoor advertising?
‣ drink coffee
‣ do make-up
‣ car with a built-in sink?
‣ work on computer
‣ watch movie
‣ exercise: car with fitness?
‣ …
Who pays the bill?
Who pays the bill?
‣ cost per km drops dramatically
‣ switch to pay-as-you-go
‣ the story of the museum
‣ the story of the Uberpreneur
‣ the dating fleet?
‣ retailers? Will retailers have a fleet of self-driving
cars to take me to their shop?
Mobility will be part of someone else’s business model.
The horseless cart syndrome.
“We will use technology but will not change our behaviour.”
First we change technology, then technology changes us.
From ‘calling a place’ to ‘calling a person’.
“Car, bring me to a medium-priced restaurant, but not chinese.”
Cars could be the search engine for the physical world.
Small side note.
We need to talk about ethics in technology.
Robert Moses
The trolley problem.
Ethics will be designed inside our technology.
(end of side note)
2 types of transport
‣ get us (person) to a place
‣ bring it (stuff) to me
This 2d type of transport will change.
Amazon Prime Air
Anticipatory shipping
Places will come to us.
Retail will change
‣ no more ‘distribution’
‣ experience
‣ pop-up
‣ forget parking…
Cities will have to change.
Why not redesign cities?
Why do we live where we live?
‣ working: remote, commute is not an issue
‣ learning: Khan Academy, Coursera
‣ shopping: anticipatory shipping
‣ storing things: sharing economy
‣ …
Pop-up houses?
Car ownership will shift fromjust-in-case to just-in-time.
Cars as elevators
Changed perception of cars
‣ from ownership to ‘job-to-be-done’
Self-driving car = movable, lockable personal storage space.
A possible scenario for the future.
But I know nothing.
A possible scenario for the future
‣ price-per-km drops drastically
‣ more km are being driven (without humans)
‣ disruption happens at the bottom of the market!
‣ new top-layer app/service for interoperability
‣ private cars join this top-layer app
‣ demand for public transport will rise (at first)
‣ private fleets will join this top-layer app
‣ private cars will disappear
Driving a car will be like hunting.
As a sport, a bit elitist, a bit frowned upon.
A possible scenario for the future
‣ price-per-km drops drastically
‣ more km are being driven (without humans)
‣ disruption happens at the bottom of the market!
‣ new top-layer app/service for interoperability
‣ private cars join this top-layer app
‣ demand for public transport will rise (at first)
‣ private fleets will join this top-layer app
‣ private cars will disappear
Private or public Transportation Cloud?
Technology moves lightning fast.
NY, Fifth Av., 1900 NY, Fifth Av., 1913
Put Ghent at the top of innovation
‣ De Lijn or NMBS should invest in this
‣ we have the factories to build
‣ we have skilled and hard working car builders
‣ we have talented app developers
‣ we have talented UX designers
‣ we have experience with cities as living labs
‣ we have politicians who are innovative!
“We choose to go to the moon.”
We have to do this. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
