Mobility as Essential Infrastructure

08 Dec Mobility as Essential Infrastructure

One of the shared understandings to arise out of the DVA Metrocore Quilt roundtables was that there are three essential elements for an urban society:

Water * Mobility * Society

• Without water, there is no habitation (nor food)
• Without mobility,there is no trade (exchange of labour nor material progress)
• Without society, there is no basis for interchange (culture or economy)

While water and society are widely accepted as essential for urban culture (and embedded into our “quick brain” thinking), mobility may come as somewhat of a surprise (and require a bit of “slow brain” contemplation to grasp).

Mobility can be separated into two main areas: people and mechanics. People movement include activities like sitting, standing and walking/ This all organic infrastructure is invisible when not in use, but which accompanies us everywhere. On the other side, there are the mechanical systems that are all mobility’s conveyances and conduits—bikes, cars, trucks, busses, trains.  These are items that need to be put somewhere, whether it is in use or not.

Mobility represents the interaction between journeys and destinations. Work, recreation, home, and goods movement are the primary causes of transportation—whether powered by people or mechanical systems. Thus, by serving mobility movement, transportation’s primary function is to add joy to efficiency.