New Cities Foundation Launches Connected Mobility Initiative

The New Cities Foundation on June 3 launched the “Connected Mobility Initiative,” with support from the Toyota Mobility Foundation, to address the critical need for metropolises worldwide to enable the efficient and viable movement of people. The Initiative will produce a set of case-based recommendations that will be made available to cities around the world. The New Cities Foundation has appointed mobility expert Greg Lindsay as senior fellow to lead the Initiative from 2015-16.

Urban mobility is evolving rapidly in a world where 1 million people move to cities every week. Change is also being driven by other factors such as technological innovations, increased constraints on energy use, deep changes in the structure of urban economies, shifting lifestyles, and new ideas about urban design.

Aging and inadequate urban transport systems have negative social and economic repercussions. For example, the local economies of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo each lose close to US$50 billion per year from traffic congestion.[1] In the United States, 42 per cent of major urban highway systems remain congested, costing the nation’s economy an estimated US$101 billion in wasted time and fuel annually.[2] In addition, the use of public transport varies dramatically across different regions. Only 1.5 per cent of residents in Dallas use public transportation to commute to work, compared with 30 per cent of New Yorkers and 62 per cent of Singaporeans.[3]

The Connected Mobility Initiative will produce an in-depth report outlining key insights and recommendations on the future of mobility for private and public sector stakeholders in different cities worldwide. A strong focus will be placed upon public sector-led innovation around connected transportation, with the aim of distilling lessons for public sector officials, technology vendors, and citizens alike. The report will also examine trends in personal mobility, with a focus on the elderly and people with disabilities.

Lindsay is a non-resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight Initiative. He is also a contributing writer for Fast Company, co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, and a senior fellow of the World Policy Institute. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Fortune, among many other publications.

Over the next 12 months, Lindsay will share his insights into the future of urban mobility at New Cities Foundation global events including the New Cities Summit in Jakarta (June 9 -11), and Cities on the Move, a one-day cross-sector gathering in London (Oc. 14), as well as events by other leading organizations.

Lindsay, senior fellow of the New Cities Foundation, said, “I’m delighted to work with the New Cities Foundation in exploring the future of urban mobility. The smart phone is becoming as significant a technology in transportation as the car. Now that Uber, Lyft, Ola, GrabTaxi, Didi Dache and others have demonstrated the potential of mobility-on-demand, the next step will be to integrate multiple modes of urban transport through information. How that happens and who owns it — will it be a public good, or privately provisioned? — will have a tremendous impact on cities in the years to come.”

John Rossant, chairman of the New Cities Foundation, said, “Today, the world’s metropolises are simply not equipped to cope with the sheer numbers of people moving around each day and with changing urban lifestyles. Smart city leaders recognize that now is the time to re-think the modus operandi when it comes to transport options. Our new project, made possible by the Toyota Mobility Foundation, sets out to lead the way in this field, and we are delighted to have Greg Lindsay at the helm.“

Latondra Newton, chief program officer, Toyota Mobility Foundation, said, “The Toyota Mobility Foundation is proud to partner with the New Cities Foundation and Greg Lindsay to expand our collective understanding of the dynamics that are shaping the future of urban mobility. This Initiative reflects Toyota’s approach of partnering with others who share our innovative spirit to advance the freedom of mobility for more people everywhere.”