Page 73 - Green Builder MagazineJan-Feb 2019 HOTY Issue

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Align Your Mobility
When we consider daily travel, most of us
keep our sights on the destination. What if
we instead focused on the journey?
BY JULIET GRABLE
MILLENNIAL WITH A DOWNTOWN JOB zips by on a
rented electric scooter to the nearest light rail station. A single
woman with a ex schedule walks down to the co-working
space a few blocks away. An older person with mobility issues
consults with his doctor using FaceTime.
One of the questions we’re exploring with The Align Project
is how to thoughtfully overhaul our transit habits: Can we
reduce the negative impacts of transportation, energy use
and traŠc among them, and improve our quality of life at
A the same time?
One way to approach this problem is to make the journey as important as
the destination. This shift in perspective would aŒect everything: the type
of car or truck we drive, which city we live in, the type of neighborhood we
choose, how far we are willing to live from work or play, and with whom
we travel.
For example, there’s been a lot of hype about autonomous cars in recent
years. By taking out the human error, such vehicles could improve the ow
of traŠc. However, other studies warn of negative consequences. The World
Economic Forum modeled traŠc [https://bit.ly/2MsFrsR] in downtown
Boston and predicted a 5.5 percent spike in traŠc as users chose autonomous
vehicles over mass transit.
One problem with autonomous cars is that they are strictly destination based.
And while they may be a great solution for some people some of the time,
they’re just one small part of a more human-centric transportation system.
The point is that there is no silver bullet—even a bullet train. It will take
thoughtful, holistic planning. But “rst, we need to “rst consider where we are.
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