Mobility solutions today in dense urban cities like London are quite sufficient for the average traveller. Between, black cabs, underground, double-decker buses and cycling the average commuter and city goer can traverse London with timely ease. Commuters have it easy, so we sought to investigate the lesser considered travellers and the issues they encounter daily.
City centres with historic streets (like London’s Soho) have already taken bold steps to reduce motor traffic to reclaim community space. London’s well-loved back streets, short-cuts, mews, and quiet zones are not only beautiful spaces, but they can offer greater mobility through the city if utilised appropriately. If high streets are the veins then the mews are the capillaries. Allowing quiet tasks like delivery to take place on a back street instead of on the high street could greatly alleviate congestion and traffic. They could even be further transformed into vibrant community spaces that could alleviate traffic demands on the whole.
Looking beyond the commute, numerous other mobility needs are overlooked and are cumbersome and inefficient. We focused on the utility side of vehicles and the needs of shopkeepers, restaurateurs, delivery services, movers, contractors, entrepreneurs, vendors and alike for our opportunities. It is these services that are the lifeblood of a city and give each neighbourhood its flavour and function. These people have business demands linked to their objects of work (or delivery goods) and the variety of scale can be vast. They are conflicted between owning a truck/van and the untailored size of them in the city.
Every situation is not without its own unique needs, but universally they need to carry not only passengers but their whole business with them too. Cargo and utility are key.