There Are No Cars in Wakanda

For decades, the automobile provided a pathway to economic opportunity and upward mobility. But now the negative consequences — including a reliance on fossil fuels and increased emissions of greenhouse gases; a dramatic increase in the rate of deaths caused by cars[x]; the disconnection of local community and weakening of local economies; the rise... See more

Designers, wrote Brentin Mock, who covers social justice and equity for City Lab, ‘have been wowed by [the nation of] Wakanda’s mechanical marvels of hyperloop rapid transit, maglev trains, dragonfly-shaped spaceships, hoverbikes, skyscrapers orchestrated from chords of stone, wood, and metal, and other innovative spectacles’. In conjuring this pla... See more

With this sort of amenity-rich cocoon, there is a relentless focus on the object, absent of any context or community. The future of mobility is assumed to be car-dependent, while a vision based more on public transportation is thought to be old-fashioned. But isn’t planning for the car the thing that is most out of date?

prototype after prototype espouses a future where we never have to be bothered by other people; where we are, in fact, shielded from them.

It feels nearly impossible to imagine what that might look like, but what we shouldn’t do is feel paralysed by FOBO (fear of better options). An emphasis on the local, on smaller, walkable neighbourhoods and more central job and amenity centres is a good place to start. It’s not just tiny villages that can reap the benefits of this spatial reconsid... See more

what does the city look like, if everything is delivered directly to us? What does our community look like, if we never leave the house?

Among the many challenges in a capitalist society, it’s hard to imagine a way to profit from a car-free future. Governments don’t profit from providing public transportation to citizens. It’s a service, a reflection of our commitment to the social good. Private transportation — cars — are a different animal: hundreds of industries profit from it, f... See more

Futurists, technologists, engineers, film directors, science-fiction writers, automobile execs, transportation planners, venture capitalists — almost all are majority white males, almost to a fault. And this is one of the primary reasons our collective visions of the ‘future’ feel so limited. They’re not collective at all, because so few have been ... See more

The challenge is not a technological one really, though ride-sharing apps, electric bikes and such all have their place. There are policies to change, zonings to reform and dollars to reallocate, but ultimately the real obstacle is a psychic one. We need to hear from a ‘bunch of mothers’ — and a bunch of other folks, too. We’ve imagined our futures... See more