Episode 32: Designing Resilient Cities (The #CitiesFirst Webinar)

WEBVTT
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Welcome everyone. My name is Scott Shepherd and
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I'm founder and CEO of the city's first podcast.
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And I'm very excited to have a range of guests
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that are going to cover pretty much everything
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related to resilience, mobility, and how to plan
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for cities that will take us through the next
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century. And it's really exciting to hear from
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a range of perspectives in Europe and North America
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around this topic. The actual title of our webinar
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today is Designing Resilient Cities Strategies
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for a Future Ready Urban World. And this is sponsored
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today by PTV Group and Econolite. So we're really
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excited to have a panel of guests here to talk
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about these topics. First, we have Matthias Frehm,
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a senior product manager with the PTV group in
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Karlsruhe, Germany. Welcome, Matthias. Thank
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you for having me. Hello. And next, we also have
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Mike Dang, who is a product manager and EMA with
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the Econolite from Anaheim, California in the
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US. Welcome, Mike. All right, thank you. Yeah,
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I did my master's program in transportation management.
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So this is a topic that's very dear to my heart.
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Yes, and I'm an urban planner myself. So we have
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lots to talk about here. So we're going to deep
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dive. And if we have an opportunity to perhaps
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have one or two more speakers join during the
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conversation, we'll kind of open up the panel.
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But for now, we'll just kind of kick off and
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talk about this topic of designing resilient
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cities strategies for a future -ready urban world.
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And with that, maybe we'll just kick it off with
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the first topic, which is just defining what
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is resilience for cities. So I'll kind of tee
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this off to you, Mathias, for the first kind
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of question, which is what does resilience mean
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for cities today? In your view, just from a very
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broad perspective. How would you define that?
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And there's no right or wrong answer. Yeah, there
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are many definitions. I would say quite generally,
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it's about avoiding any kind of vulnerability
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to the city and the citizens. And before going
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into resilience, I would first start with I would
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say less en vogue word of just robustness, because
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of course, that's the general foundation. And
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there are quite simple examples of robust structure,
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for example. When you define something as robust,
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that means it's strong and unlikely to fail.
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taking your power line, for example, and burying
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it in the ground. That's a very robust approach
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because you won't have any trees falling on it.
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You won't have any impact of storm, of ice on
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it. So basically you can say a buried line in
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the ground is not affected by weather. So this
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kind of robustness is definitely a good foundation
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also for any kind of resilience thinking. And
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when we think about transportation networks,
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then being robust, that also means that you don't
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operate at the edge of your capacity. can have
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alternative routes, you have a well -connected
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transportation network, and that means if in
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with situation one route is maybe blocked through
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a breakdown vehicle, you can just accept that
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more easily when you have alternative routes
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that make the traffic still flow. But coming
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back to resilience, yeah, there are many definitions,
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but I like the one that is also adapted from
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the National Academy of Science that says the
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ability of the system to prepare and plan for,
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absorb, recover from, and more successful adapt
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to adverse events. So we are talking about something
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bad happening and two key elements from my perspective.
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One is of course preparation and planning. So
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being resilient means you have to think ahead,
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you have to build scenarios, you need to make
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plans, run simulations, ask about all the what
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-ifs to help to improve that adverse event doesn't
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make such a dent when it hits. on your system.
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And the second thing is, of course, that recovery
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idea. So once you have the dent in your system
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performance, it's about bouncing back. So how
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fast are you in setting up reactions, in adapting
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to make sure that you can come back to at least
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the system performance you had? And I personally
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also like the idea of not only bouncing back,
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but maybe even bounce forward or bounce ahead.
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So you want to adopt, you want to learn. from
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what happened, you want to take that into your
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plans, into your scenarios and make sure that
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you are better prepared for the next effect or
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for the next event that could happen in the future.
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So resiliency is not just about recovery but
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it's also proactive and forward -thinking, so
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it could be sustainable and additive, not just...
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a replacement for what was lost before. I think
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that that's a key takeaway from what I hear from
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you, Matthew. So Mike, what are your thoughts
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on the same topic? Yeah, I mean, I think the
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playa kind of hits the nail on the head there.
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And to add a little bit onto that, I mean, there's
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really no preventing disruptions from happening,
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right? There's going to be earthquakes, there's
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going to be flooding, there's going to be hurricanes.
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But like where we were talking about, it's about
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how we respond to those and not only how we respond,
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but how we be proactive about it, right? We don't
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want to go through the same cycle every year,
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right? It's hurricane season, you get a bunch
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of equipment knocked out, and then you replace
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it, next season it all happens again. How do
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we prevent that? How do we make sure that, you
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know, when we're replacing it, we're thinking
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about a design that, you know, that this keeps
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happening. How do we replace this but do it in
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a way where it doesn't happen so that we don't
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have to spend all this capital every year replacing
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traffic cabinets that get flooded during hurricane
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season? You know, it's a lot of wasting money
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that could be spent making the system more robust,
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more resilient. Building smarter, I think, is
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one of the key things to being resilient. Or
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you're but you're based in Southern California.
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I'm from LA so we can talk about fire season
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We can talk about what happens in Los Angeles
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at the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire Which
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was not too far from where I grew up in Pasadena
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and Altadena, California So the level of destruction
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the San Gabriel Mountains and the Santa Monica
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Mountains was just nothing We've seen probably
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on this scale in the last century. Although fires
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are part of the natural ecology of coastal and
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Southern California Mediterranean climate, of
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course However, this kind of fire zone interface
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between urban, suburban and, you know, these,
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let's say wilderness environments, whether they
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be protected or not, is something that gives
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us cause for, I would say, concern and rethinking
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land use, the built environment, and how do we
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rebuild or, you know, quote, put a judge, do
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we build back better? Do we build at all? I mean,
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do we really want to build in these urban fire
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zone interfaces because it's been mapped? quite
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frequently in the state of California. I saw
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a very interesting map. I was a former cartographer
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myself for many years. So I'm very akin to these
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types of visualizations. And just seeing that
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broad swath of the danger zone as a ring around
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the Los Angeles Basin and around kind of, you
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know, south and central Orange County, and then
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a ring all the way around the San Joaquin Valley
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and around central, you know, central California
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from the coastal range over to the The Sierra
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Nevadas of these are areas that you know by definition
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should be considered no build zones or low build
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zones And we need to kind of rethink about those
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whether they are specific tools technology processes
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that can Help us rethink not only for resilience,
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but building smarter and better is what Matthew
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said and what you're saying for hurricane season
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I just use that fire analogy because it's really
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precious in California throughout the state And
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it was a huge disaster in the city of Los Angeles
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that I've never seen in my lifetime as a native
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Angelenos. So it's time to rethink how we build.
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Yeah, absolutely. And to go along with that,
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not only thinking about how we build or if we
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should build, Being resilient, I think we've
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got to kind of also think outside the box. What's
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causing these fires and how do we go back? And
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is there a way we can prevent them all together?
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Is there anything we can do? Are there technologies
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that have emerged since the last fire that we
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can put into use to see what's causing these
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areas to be high risk areas? Should we be planting
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more greeneries instead of having all these tried
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shrubs everywhere? are susceptible to burning
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right so there's a lot of ways to go about it
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uh certain tree species design but we got to
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kind of look at it at all right in order to be
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a resilient city in order to make sure that everything
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works the way it's supposed to work and humanity
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can thrive there uh we have to look at it and
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attack it from all angles just just to go down
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the rabbit hole Sorry, go on. I just wanted to
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say that that's a very crucial point. I mean,
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thinking forward and also Maybe not like sitting
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the rabbit, like the rabbit in front of the snake,
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not doing nothing, just waiting for the next
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thing to happen, but really be able to make conscious
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decisions. And I get it that people still like
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to live in that area and they want to rebuild
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and so on, but at least planning and foresight
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and scenarios, they make it possible to give
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kind of an evaluation of to make it an informed
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decision if you want to take the risk. And then,
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of course, you can run the mitigation strategy
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to level down. risk as much as possible, but
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especially when we're talking about fires, that
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also brings one other component to mobility,
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I would say. For such a disruption through nature,
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you can lose lots of utilities. You can lose
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your fresh water supply, your wastewater. You
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can use electric power. You can lose whatever.
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But when you lose the ability to move and to
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leave, that may be quickly the question for life
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and death. So that is the very critical situation.
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You can make, let's say, your basement full with
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food supply that doesn't turn bad and have fresh
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water for the next three weeks. But you can't
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take that last part of mobility that you need.
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for evacuation. So that is extremely precious
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in comparison to the others. Yeah, and we saw
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that in LA just several months ago, you know,
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in terms of how mobility was impacted in several
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communities that were isolated and didn't have
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access to essential services and infrastructure.
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One final point and I'll go on is, Mike, you
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made a really interesting point about kind of
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habitat and species and specific tree species
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that could help or harm kind of this urban fire
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interface and one species that comes to mind
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that is kind of a super spreader that we have
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planted for over a century in southern California
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are eucalyptus which were imported from Australia
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and those only exacerbate the fire danger in
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a lot of these zones and originally they were
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used for the construction of railroads and streetcars
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in Los Angeles and Orange County over 100 years
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ago but that's something that one example that
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we need to rethink too in terms of the the actual
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habitat and the species that could help or harm
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how to address and mitigate the danger for fires
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and other natural disasters in the future. But
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with that, we'll just kind of move on to the
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next topic here. I thought this was super interesting.
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But maybe coming back to the definition of resilient
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cities, Mathias, maybe if you could give us some
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perspectives in terms of where you see a resilient
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city. with respect to urban planning, technology
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and climate. So how would these particular, let's
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say, domains be positioned such that a resilient
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city could actually be broadened to a more interesting
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use case as we move forward? I would maybe first
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differentiate between stressors like heat, or
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let's say rising sea level that may become slowly.
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And then of course, shocks like a hurricane or
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a fire that just hits. And of course, you can
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see that heat, for example, needs a lot of adaption
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if you want to keep the different modes of transport
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alive. So we see it in Australia, for example,
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that you have lots of shaded pathways for the
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pedestrians to make sure that they can walk safely.
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I experienced it in Dubai for the ITS World Congress
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that you have kilometers that you can walk in
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climatized areas that you can still move around
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as a pedestrian and you don't have to get into
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the car because they basically built like a tunnel
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to shelter you from the external. So that is
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one possibility to address that. But of course,
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on the other side, you also have direct impacts
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on the infrastructure. So you can foresee that
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beyond a certain level of heat, maybe your tarmac
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or asphalt is soft or maybe your rails start
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to bend. So that is the level of disruption that
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you could foresee more easily. rising sea level,
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what do you do with port areas, what do you do
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with bridges and so on. And in terms of those
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shocks that hit, then it's of course a lot about
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how flexible you are in the network. So what
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I already said, when you have a very well intertwined
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system and maybe let's say your subway system
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is flooded a little bit because there was heavy
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rain, but still people can easily change to other
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modes, then you keep mobility alive. And when
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you have blocks that are crucial, then of course
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it's the question how to get your first responders
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there quickly. So then we are talking about the
00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.879
really tactical measures like prioritization
00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:52.639
of first responder vehicles, making sure that
00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:55.820
they access and to remove those blocks as fast
00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:58.000
as possible. So I think there are many, many
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.379
different perspectives you can take from the
00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:03.620
individual traffic accident or a very local site
00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:06.539
up to one big event like a hurricane that hits
00:14:06.539 --> 00:14:09.470
the region up to a general trend. like the earth
00:14:09.470 --> 00:14:12.210
heating up that would ask for different measures
00:14:12.210 --> 00:14:16.649
for mitigation. The good thing is I think investment
00:14:16.649 --> 00:14:19.149
in technology and planning and infrastructure
00:14:19.149 --> 00:14:22.289
for such a smart and resilient city. That is
00:14:22.289 --> 00:14:24.690
an investment that doesn't only pay off on the
00:14:24.690 --> 00:14:27.350
day of the disaster, but you also perceive the
00:14:27.350 --> 00:14:30.169
positive effects in everyday operation. So I
00:14:30.169 --> 00:14:32.110
would say there's a very good return and invest
00:14:32.110 --> 00:14:34.769
in terms like insurance that would help you on
00:14:34.769 --> 00:14:36.809
the worst day, but still pays off during the
00:14:36.809 --> 00:14:40.190
good days as well. That's a great point you make.
00:14:40.529 --> 00:14:41.990
And Mike, I'd love to get your perspective, too,
00:14:42.070 --> 00:14:45.049
but just really quickly around kind of the short
00:14:45.049 --> 00:14:48.450
-term, near -term shocks and more of the long
00:14:48.450 --> 00:14:50.809
-tail events that kind of, let's say, creep up
00:14:50.809 --> 00:14:53.190
over a longer period of time. And what are the
00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:56.370
different mitigation, planning, and resiliency
00:14:56.370 --> 00:14:58.789
strategy measures that can be used, whether it's...
00:14:59.049 --> 00:15:04.149
Hurricane Sandy back in 2012, 2011, to the firestorm,
00:15:04.830 --> 00:15:07.750
to long range climate change and sea level rise,
00:15:08.049 --> 00:15:10.950
to maybe perhaps the collapse of the Francis
00:15:10.950 --> 00:15:14.250
Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last year, to a
00:15:14.250 --> 00:15:16.929
range of events. So Mike, what are some of your
00:15:16.929 --> 00:15:20.440
thoughts on this topic? Yes, I think for me personally,
00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:22.700
when we talk about resiliency and how to deal
00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:25.840
with these stressors and events, one of the key
00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.980
components is the transportation network. I think
00:15:28.980 --> 00:15:31.220
in the city, the transportation network is the
00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:33.919
heart and soul of civilization. If you're not
00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:35.320
able to move goods and people, you're not able
00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:36.899
to get first responders where they need to go
00:15:36.899 --> 00:15:40.279
quickly, you're going to struggle with resiliency.
00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:43.100
So that's the first area I'll focus on. Make
00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:45.019
sure the transportation system is robust. Make
00:15:45.019 --> 00:15:47.580
sure we're using equipment out there that's UL
00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:50.850
-less. from an ISO certified company that are
00:15:50.850 --> 00:15:53.330
designed and built to withstand the environment
00:15:53.330 --> 00:15:55.950
that they're used in. And to be smart about how
00:15:55.950 --> 00:15:57.250
you're installing them. If you're in a high flood
00:15:57.250 --> 00:15:59.509
area, don't be putting equipment that's susceptible
00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:01.309
to water on the ground all the time, right? Let's
00:16:01.309 --> 00:16:03.549
mount them on a pole, get them higher up out
00:16:03.549 --> 00:16:05.470
of the way so that they're not being destroyed
00:16:05.470 --> 00:16:08.210
year in and year out. And aside from that, I
00:16:08.210 --> 00:16:09.629
really like the fact that we're starting to see
00:16:09.629 --> 00:16:13.049
a lot of agencies, cities, states put positions
00:16:13.049 --> 00:16:16.570
of resilient officers in place. There are a couple
00:16:16.570 --> 00:16:19.990
of agencies that now have chief resilient officers
00:16:19.990 --> 00:16:23.070
whose sole job is to look at the design of their
00:16:23.070 --> 00:16:26.830
city. How do we mitigate a lot of these disruptions
00:16:26.830 --> 00:16:28.970
that happen to us and how do we design better?
00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:31.789
So I think we're starting to finally focus on
00:16:31.789 --> 00:16:34.190
what's important city -wise and I'm hoping that
00:16:34.190 --> 00:16:37.230
it starts to spread long -term and if every agency,
00:16:37.610 --> 00:16:41.610
every city has a resiliency position. I think
00:16:41.610 --> 00:16:43.649
we'll be off to a great start because then at
00:16:43.649 --> 00:16:45.710
that point we're no longer just looking at, you
00:16:45.710 --> 00:16:47.610
know, how do we get stuff up and running? It's
00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:51.610
how do we keep things up and running? Yeah, it's
00:16:51.610 --> 00:16:53.509
definitely... Oh, sorry, go on, Matthias, please.
00:16:53.549 --> 00:16:56.629
No, I would just like to add also one aspect.
00:16:56.830 --> 00:17:00.230
So from a city perspective, of course... I mean
00:17:00.230 --> 00:17:02.710
the city has the duty to serve all its citizens
00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:06.109
and we can clearly see that the less income,
00:17:06.210 --> 00:17:08.069
the less wealth you have, the more affected you
00:17:08.069 --> 00:17:10.730
are typically by such adverse events. So if you
00:17:10.730 --> 00:17:13.990
have a strong heat and you can't afford your
00:17:13.990 --> 00:17:16.650
AC for your house, then of course you're in a
00:17:16.650 --> 00:17:19.049
much worse position. And the same is also true
00:17:19.049 --> 00:17:21.730
for the whole mobility situation. So I think
00:17:21.730 --> 00:17:24.470
that is also important to keep in mind when we
00:17:24.470 --> 00:17:27.470
talk about measures and strategies that we also
00:17:27.470 --> 00:17:30.759
should make equity analysis. And say, for example,
00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:35.480
you build a shelter that can be used to protect
00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:39.630
people against heat. or cold. So either of those
00:17:39.630 --> 00:17:42.809
purposes are very, very usual. Then you can make
00:17:42.809 --> 00:17:45.369
an accessibility analysis first and see where
00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:47.809
you place it in terms of the modes of mobility
00:17:47.809 --> 00:17:49.930
that are relevant for the people that you actually
00:17:49.930 --> 00:17:53.150
want to serve. So this is then the point where
00:17:53.150 --> 00:17:55.490
you can make much better, much more informed
00:17:55.490 --> 00:17:57.650
decision when you have the right tools, the right
00:17:57.650 --> 00:17:59.869
software available, the right data available
00:17:59.869 --> 00:18:05.220
to basically generate a much bigger impact with
00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:07.640
the same budget that you would spend in other
00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:11.660
places, maybe a lot less effective. Great points,
00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:14.579
Mathias. Yeah, accessibility and equity towards
00:18:14.579 --> 00:18:19.079
resources and facilities to address kind of resiliency
00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:23.500
mitigation measures. And to kind of expand upon
00:18:23.500 --> 00:18:25.599
Mike's point, which I thought was great is in
00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:30.500
terms of the proclivity and expansion of job
00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:34.400
titles and roles in the public sector of more
00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:37.140
so mid to large size US cities. We're seeing
00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:41.559
quite a recent trend on that front in terms of
00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:44.440
chief resiliency officers. I believe Phoenix
00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:47.240
or Tucson has a chief heat officer. I believe
00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:49.799
even Miami might have that. So the job titles
00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:52.099
are changing, but they all have the same theme
00:18:52.099 --> 00:18:55.619
just in the last few years. And you can see that
00:18:55.950 --> 00:18:58.750
whether or not these is a repositioning of kind
00:18:58.750 --> 00:19:01.430
of the organizational structure or a new focus
00:19:01.430 --> 00:19:04.549
in an added, let's say, core capacity towards
00:19:04.549 --> 00:19:07.170
municipal governance. It is quite encouraging
00:19:07.170 --> 00:19:10.589
because of this emphasis of protecting all of
00:19:10.589 --> 00:19:14.190
our systems, soft and hard, infrastructure and
00:19:14.190 --> 00:19:17.950
everything, in future proofing for, you know,
00:19:18.130 --> 00:19:21.470
short -term shocks, like Matthew said, and long
00:19:21.470 --> 00:19:25.289
-term, let's say, slow -moving events. And I
00:19:25.289 --> 00:19:27.430
think that this is something that we all need
00:19:27.430 --> 00:19:30.569
to consider. And it's good that the public sector
00:19:30.569 --> 00:19:33.210
and municipal governments. I'm not quite seeing
00:19:33.210 --> 00:19:35.049
at the state level, although I believe there's
00:19:35.049 --> 00:19:36.670
a few states, New York state, and others that
00:19:36.670 --> 00:19:39.009
are starting to include that in their nomenclature.
00:19:39.289 --> 00:19:41.950
But I think really where the action is at right
00:19:41.950 --> 00:19:45.690
now, where it's really exciting, is local and
00:19:45.690 --> 00:19:48.190
regional governments in the United States with
00:19:48.190 --> 00:19:51.009
not just the job title changes, but a lot of
00:19:51.009 --> 00:19:53.769
the new programs and policies in place, funded
00:19:53.769 --> 00:19:56.630
programs. With that, let's kind of move on to
00:19:56.630 --> 00:19:59.869
our next topic, which is around smarter mobility
00:19:59.869 --> 00:20:03.529
and community protection. So, Mike, maybe if
00:20:03.529 --> 00:20:06.609
you want to give us a quick perspective on how
00:20:06.609 --> 00:20:09.730
intelligent transportation systems can enhance
00:20:09.730 --> 00:20:15.210
urban resilience. Yeah, so a lot of agencies,
00:20:15.410 --> 00:20:18.450
cities nowadays, they use video detection to
00:20:18.450 --> 00:20:20.450
detect vehicles coming to the intersection and
00:20:20.450 --> 00:20:23.589
give them the green light to pass through. But
00:20:23.930 --> 00:20:26.430
a lot of these detection systems, be it video,
00:20:26.470 --> 00:20:29.410
radar, they also have the capability to record
00:20:29.410 --> 00:20:32.670
and provide a lot of data. So we got to start
00:20:32.670 --> 00:20:34.589
looking at, you know, aside from just detecting
00:20:34.589 --> 00:20:37.150
vehicles, can we use the infrastructure that
00:20:37.150 --> 00:20:38.490
we already have out there, the hardware that
00:20:38.490 --> 00:20:40.170
we have out there? Can we do something else with
00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:43.680
that data to help with... this whole resiliency
00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:46.200
thing, right? We can't just keep installing new
00:20:46.200 --> 00:20:48.660
items over and over and over. We can look at
00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:50.720
what we already have. Are we using this data
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:52.500
that we're getting to the max of its capabilities?
00:20:52.859 --> 00:20:54.200
Is there something else we can do here? Can we
00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:58.500
look at this data to learn video feeds? Can we
00:20:58.500 --> 00:21:02.380
see why these areas are prone to fires or theft
00:21:02.380 --> 00:21:04.740
or anything like that? There's equipment that
00:21:04.740 --> 00:21:06.180
we already have out there that I'm sure we're
00:21:06.180 --> 00:21:09.539
not making full use of the capabilities that
00:21:09.539 --> 00:21:13.359
we can be looking at. And aside from that. When
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.259
we do put in new equipment, we kind of got to
00:21:16.259 --> 00:21:18.420
think into the future, too. Does this equipment
00:21:18.420 --> 00:21:20.900
serve our needs now or can it also serve what
00:21:20.900 --> 00:21:22.319
we're going to need in the future? You know,
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:24.019
if our city is going to expand and grow and we're
00:21:24.019 --> 00:21:26.799
going to see more people living here, is this
00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:28.720
going to be adequate for when that time comes
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:30.279
or are we going to have to replace it again?
00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:32.559
Right. I think resiliency goes hand in hand with
00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:34.660
sustainability. You know, at some point in the
00:21:34.660 --> 00:21:37.180
future, maybe 100 years from now, 200 years from
00:21:37.180 --> 00:21:39.140
now, we're going to run out of material to build
00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:41.420
new things. So we got to kind of have to look
00:21:41.420 --> 00:21:44.859
at what can we do what can we build now that
00:21:44.859 --> 00:21:47.319
kind of pushes forward into the future so that
00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:48.960
we're not having to replace the equipment every
00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:51.599
five years, every 10 years. We wanna do something
00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.500
that lasts a little longer to help with, to be
00:21:54.500 --> 00:21:58.119
more resilient and more sustainable. And to repurpose
00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:01.420
existing infrastructure by maybe making more
00:22:01.420 --> 00:22:04.900
incremental add -on changes versus completely
00:22:04.900 --> 00:22:06.660
replacing like you had mentioned every three
00:22:06.660 --> 00:22:10.299
or four or five years, which one is just capital
00:22:10.299 --> 00:22:14.390
intensive. And two, it's diametrically opposed
00:22:14.390 --> 00:22:17.730
to the policy directions and choices that cities
00:22:17.730 --> 00:22:19.670
are trying to make. So Mathias, maybe you care
00:22:19.670 --> 00:22:22.329
to weigh in on this topic. Yeah, I would like
00:22:22.329 --> 00:22:26.990
to bring the technology word now from the operations,
00:22:27.250 --> 00:22:30.430
where you have a lot of physical technology,
00:22:30.529 --> 00:22:33.960
more to the planning side, where you have. algorithms
00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:36.140
as the core technology. But I think they also
00:22:36.140 --> 00:22:39.059
play a very crucial role because I mentioned
00:22:39.059 --> 00:22:41.319
it at the beginning already. Resilience is a
00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:44.400
lot about being prepared and not having to improvise,
00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:47.779
but really knowing about plan A, B, C, and D.
00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:50.359
And that is, of course, where good planning and
00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:53.400
analysis tools come into play. So you can really
00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:55.799
test evacuation scenario, for example, under
00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:58.680
different circumstances. It's a completely different
00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:01.980
thing if you say you want to make something in
00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:04.539
rush hour. on a work day or maybe it's a weekend
00:23:04.539 --> 00:23:09.259
day in a... in a fun area where everybody goes
00:23:09.259 --> 00:23:12.819
to a lake or something. So you need to accommodate
00:23:12.819 --> 00:23:15.220
for different scenarios. And the planning tools
00:23:15.220 --> 00:23:17.740
just help you to give you that virtual environment
00:23:17.740 --> 00:23:22.259
where you test out and know about what you should
00:23:22.259 --> 00:23:24.880
do before you are in the position that you actually
00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:27.259
have to do it. And that is the very important
00:23:27.259 --> 00:23:30.759
thing where you can really also foresee when
00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:34.160
you would need to inform which kind of endangered
00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:36.849
people or even identifying them. I know that
00:23:36.849 --> 00:23:39.049
we were talking about California, for example.
00:23:39.150 --> 00:23:42.009
I know that there's legislation that requires
00:23:42.009 --> 00:23:45.609
to make analysis to find people in hazard areas
00:23:45.609 --> 00:23:50.069
that only have two or less potential routes to
00:23:50.069 --> 00:23:52.769
evacuate from that area. And as soon as you have
00:23:52.769 --> 00:23:55.509
one route blocked, then it's a super strict bottleneck
00:23:55.509 --> 00:23:58.250
than you have. And also that legislation then
00:23:58.250 --> 00:24:01.170
requires to make capacity analysis. And from
00:24:01.170 --> 00:24:04.609
such proactive measures, you can then say, well,
00:24:04.690 --> 00:24:07.289
OK, we found out that really on this route capacity
00:24:07.289 --> 00:24:10.250
is not good enough. And maybe there can be simple
00:24:10.250 --> 00:24:12.829
solutions like having a dedicated signal timing
00:24:12.829 --> 00:24:16.269
plan. for evacuation or maybe it's just a rebuild
00:24:16.269 --> 00:24:19.630
of a few intersections that used to be stop sign
00:24:19.630 --> 00:24:21.609
and now they are roundabout for higher capacity
00:24:21.609 --> 00:24:24.529
or something. So it can be really small measures
00:24:24.529 --> 00:24:27.910
when you act proactively to prevent a lot bigger
00:24:27.910 --> 00:24:31.049
damage in case of emergency. I believe, correct
00:24:31.049 --> 00:24:33.690
me if I'm wrong, the California legislation was
00:24:33.690 --> 00:24:40.200
a a response or reaction to the 2017 -2018 Paradise
00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:42.299
Fire, which was near Chico, California, northern
00:24:42.299 --> 00:24:44.900
California, where many residents were trapped
00:24:44.900 --> 00:24:48.119
in this kind of isolated, forested community
00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:50.579
in the upper Sierra Nevada mountains, where there
00:24:50.579 --> 00:24:53.619
was only like one access point, one ingress and
00:24:53.619 --> 00:24:56.220
egress. And, you know, some of these challenges
00:24:56.220 --> 00:24:58.400
are limited by the built environment and just
00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:00.940
the street network. But I believe I completely
00:25:00.940 --> 00:25:02.700
agree with you. There are technologies we can
00:25:02.700 --> 00:25:06.650
use to help with the integration of timing access
00:25:06.650 --> 00:25:09.630
and maybe facilitating the infrastructure that
00:25:09.630 --> 00:25:17.339
we do have to, let's say, promote the the precedence
00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:20.380
of first responders and others that would need
00:25:20.380 --> 00:25:23.880
to get on time with the highest level of priority
00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:27.380
so that we don't have these strict bottlenecks
00:25:27.380 --> 00:25:30.740
because these recent events that have happened
00:25:30.740 --> 00:25:34.059
have triggered a lot of cause for concern and
00:25:34.059 --> 00:25:39.670
how maybe more rural and let's say districts
00:25:39.670 --> 00:25:43.430
that are not quite as accessible do need better
00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:47.089
facilities and access. So with that, let's kind
00:25:47.089 --> 00:25:51.410
of maybe move on to our next kind of topic around
00:25:51.410 --> 00:25:54.589
smarter mobility and community protection. Mathias,
00:25:54.589 --> 00:25:56.309
maybe if you just also want to weigh on this
00:25:56.309 --> 00:25:58.890
is maybe if you want to share some examples for
00:25:58.890 --> 00:26:01.609
us on some innovative mobility solutions that
00:26:01.609 --> 00:26:05.789
you've seen specifically within the domain of
00:26:05.789 --> 00:26:10.319
resilient cities and resilient planning. Yeah,
00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:12.559
I mean, when we talk about innovative mobility,
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:15.680
everybody today thinks about some drones flying
00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:18.359
around and stuff like that. But from my perspective,
00:26:18.579 --> 00:26:21.380
you don't really have to go to that, I would
00:26:21.380 --> 00:26:25.380
say, rare, maybe modes in the future. But the
00:26:25.380 --> 00:26:28.059
true innovation is really by making that strongly
00:26:28.059 --> 00:26:32.200
interconnected network. So I believe the more
00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:34.660
modes you have available, of course, the more
00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:37.680
resilient you are. So you have a roadblock. no
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:41.119
problem you just take the train and or maybe
00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.859
you go go on your bike and you use that kind
00:26:43.859 --> 00:26:46.900
of infrastructure so it really it's often it's
00:26:46.900 --> 00:26:49.980
it's not even that technology heavy but it's
00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:54.200
more about offering alternatives that can be
00:26:54.200 --> 00:26:58.140
used as plan B or C in that case. And of course,
00:26:58.140 --> 00:27:00.279
when we're talking about the technology side,
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.339
then Mike already mentioned we have technology
00:27:03.339 --> 00:27:06.599
to prioritize certain movements. So this is a
00:27:06.599 --> 00:27:08.940
lot about modern communication technology. It's
00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:11.220
about vehicles talking to the infrastructure
00:27:11.220 --> 00:27:13.960
and receiving information back. It's about cloud
00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:16.559
backbones that allow for prioritization along
00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:19.519
corridors. So definitely, those are important
00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:23.769
aspects. Of course, you can't make any talk about
00:27:23.769 --> 00:27:27.509
innovation in 2025 without the elephant in the
00:27:27.509 --> 00:27:32.349
room, AI. So of course, AI is a strong tool that
00:27:32.349 --> 00:27:36.569
can help us, for example, in analytics of live
00:27:36.569 --> 00:27:40.789
data, using knowledge about patterns to identify
00:27:40.789 --> 00:27:44.549
problems. while they are still very small or
00:27:44.549 --> 00:27:47.869
just starting. And so you can take proactive
00:27:47.869 --> 00:27:50.750
measures to keep your mobility system stable
00:27:50.750 --> 00:27:53.829
and operating. Because typically, you know from
00:27:53.829 --> 00:27:56.829
patterns, if you would let this run without taking
00:27:56.829 --> 00:27:59.589
a measure, then you run into real problems. But
00:27:59.589 --> 00:28:02.089
normally when you react very early, then you
00:28:02.089 --> 00:28:05.210
can still basically, like with a fire, when it's
00:28:05.210 --> 00:28:07.650
still small, it's a lot easier to fight against
00:28:07.650 --> 00:28:10.049
it than getting it big. And the same is true
00:28:10.049 --> 00:28:12.819
when you have proactive traffic. management that
00:28:12.819 --> 00:28:16.539
use such strong analytics and have the capability
00:28:16.539 --> 00:28:19.440
to look a little bit into the future. Great.
00:28:19.559 --> 00:28:21.460
Thank you, Michael. So Mike, what are your thoughts
00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:25.009
on some examples of innovative models? Thay has
00:28:25.009 --> 00:28:28.009
hit on a great point there. You know, traditional
00:28:28.009 --> 00:28:30.549
technology and systems that have been put in
00:28:30.549 --> 00:28:32.349
place, they kind of just kind of cater to cars
00:28:32.349 --> 00:28:35.329
and passenger vehicles, right? But we're starting
00:28:35.329 --> 00:28:37.390
to see a lot of more different modes of transportation.
00:28:37.549 --> 00:28:40.369
We're seeing micro mobility, e -scooters, e -bikes.
00:28:41.029 --> 00:28:43.390
A lot of people are now into a green lifestyle
00:28:43.390 --> 00:28:45.789
where they're walking more. So we got to be looking
00:28:45.789 --> 00:28:48.410
at systems that kind of expand beyond just looking
00:28:48.410 --> 00:28:51.210
at cars and how do we protect cars and start
00:28:51.210 --> 00:28:53.630
looking at. How do we protect everybody on the
00:28:53.630 --> 00:28:57.089
street? The pedestrians, the bikes, the guy on
00:28:57.089 --> 00:28:59.410
the e -scooter, the people walking their dogs.
00:28:59.990 --> 00:29:02.190
A lot of systems nowadays, they're starting to
00:29:02.190 --> 00:29:05.210
develop that capability. For example, at Econolite,
00:29:05.390 --> 00:29:08.069
in the past our traditional video detection system
00:29:08.069 --> 00:29:09.849
and radar system, they kind of just look at cars,
00:29:09.869 --> 00:29:12.210
but now we're incorporating machine learning
00:29:12.210 --> 00:29:14.490
and neural networks to try to expand that, to
00:29:14.490 --> 00:29:17.150
be able to differentiate between a car, a bike,
00:29:17.569 --> 00:29:19.349
a guy walking on the street, a pedestrian who
00:29:19.349 --> 00:29:23.059
wants to cross the street. using technology that
00:29:23.059 --> 00:29:26.200
way, expanding our technology to be able to serve
00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:28.119
all of our community and not just a small subset
00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:30.440
of it like we traditionally have in the past.
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:33.380
I think that's going to be really big in creating
00:29:33.380 --> 00:29:37.140
a resilient transportation system. Not only the
00:29:37.140 --> 00:29:39.259
future, but I always say the present is multimodal.
00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:42.720
So it's here now in 2025. And it's not even just
00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:45.980
in Europe. It's starting to... take hold in North
00:29:45.980 --> 00:29:48.700
America and US and Canada. Europe has been always
00:29:48.700 --> 00:29:50.920
traditionally a bit more multimodal, but we're
00:29:50.920 --> 00:29:52.900
seeing it across the globe right now. And the
00:29:52.900 --> 00:29:55.539
opportunities abound for different tools and
00:29:55.539 --> 00:29:58.839
technologies to provide that granularity, that
00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:01.980
insight, that level of detail required beyond
00:30:01.980 --> 00:30:04.880
traditional 20th century auto -centric urban
00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:06.960
planning, transportation planning. We've gone
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:11.359
so far, especially since the pandemic. view,
00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:12.980
and I'm writing a book on this right now, and
00:30:12.980 --> 00:30:15.339
I'll plug this for everyone, cities first, you
00:30:15.339 --> 00:30:17.359
know, urbanism and mobility in the post -COVID
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:19.359
city. What is the post -COVID city? The post
00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:22.980
-COVID city is multimodal. It is third places.
00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:25.859
It is, you know, moving away from the standard
00:30:25.859 --> 00:30:29.700
AMPM, you know, cyclical commute traffic patterns.
00:30:30.619 --> 00:30:34.289
It's almost post CBD, post downtown, we're seeing
00:30:34.289 --> 00:30:37.130
a repurpose of land use, you know, from just
00:30:37.130 --> 00:30:39.369
specifically commercial and retail to housing,
00:30:39.529 --> 00:30:41.390
you know, in downtown San Francisco and LA and
00:30:41.390 --> 00:30:44.109
all these places. So all these different mixes
00:30:44.109 --> 00:30:47.109
of modes of planning and transportation systems
00:30:47.109 --> 00:30:52.029
lend themselves to a rich tapestry for this granularity
00:30:52.029 --> 00:30:56.059
and this dissection of how different generations.
00:30:56.480 --> 00:30:58.859
And let's talk about the generational shifts
00:30:58.859 --> 00:31:01.220
now. If we're talking about Gen Z, we're talking
00:31:01.220 --> 00:31:04.240
about millennials, Gen Alpha, a lot of them aren't
00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:06.799
even owning cars anymore. And this is even the
00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:08.440
United States, but it's even more so in Europe
00:31:08.440 --> 00:31:11.480
and especially Northern Europe. So the preferences,
00:31:11.700 --> 00:31:13.759
the consumer habits are changing since COVID
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.299
so that people really want to have the freedom
00:31:17.299 --> 00:31:18.960
of choice, not the freedom of the automobile,
00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.240
but the freedom of choice. So how are we going
00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:23.890
to do that? How are we going to plan and deliver
00:31:23.890 --> 00:31:27.829
cities and built environments to actually accommodate
00:31:27.829 --> 00:31:31.029
these preferences, these choices, through granularity
00:31:31.029 --> 00:31:33.710
and through insights that isn't traditional,
00:31:33.710 --> 00:31:36.250
top -down, 20th century, auto -centric urban
00:31:36.250 --> 00:31:39.309
planning, vis -a -vis Robert Moses, New York
00:31:39.309 --> 00:31:41.630
City. So we need to move away from this very
00:31:41.630 --> 00:31:46.150
1950s, 1940s worldview to something that is relevant
00:31:46.150 --> 00:31:48.950
for 2025 and Gen Z and Millennials. But I went
00:31:48.950 --> 00:31:51.329
off a little tangent, but I think it hits to
00:31:51.329 --> 00:31:54.710
what you guys are talking about. towards more
00:31:54.710 --> 00:31:58.210
opportunities for AI technologies to present
00:31:58.210 --> 00:32:01.670
this realistic picture of where we're at, where
00:32:01.670 --> 00:32:04.069
we're going to be, not just a copy paste of where
00:32:04.069 --> 00:32:07.230
we were 67 years ago after World War II. Because
00:32:07.230 --> 00:32:11.789
that urban paradigm model is outdated and it's
00:32:11.789 --> 00:32:14.289
irrelevant now. So cities function differently.
00:32:14.569 --> 00:32:16.569
You guys want to weigh on that? Yeah, I think
00:32:16.569 --> 00:32:19.289
you brought up a brilliant point here. I mean,
00:32:19.369 --> 00:32:21.549
at the end, we can even take it a step forward
00:32:21.549 --> 00:32:23.970
and talk about the ideal of the 15 minute city.
00:32:24.109 --> 00:32:27.190
So a city where everything you need for your
00:32:27.190 --> 00:32:29.549
daily life is reachable within 15 minutes of
00:32:29.549 --> 00:32:31.450
walking. Then, of course, that is automatically
00:32:31.450 --> 00:32:34.650
super resilient in terms of if car traffic breaks
00:32:34.650 --> 00:32:37.250
down, well, you still reach everything you would
00:32:37.250 --> 00:32:39.710
need from the groceries and so on within 15 minutes
00:32:39.710 --> 00:32:43.170
of walking. So that is that is definitely a big
00:32:43.170 --> 00:32:45.769
attractor. And of course, what we see a lot here,
00:32:45.769 --> 00:32:49.009
I mean, I'm dialed in from Germany. So speaking
00:32:49.009 --> 00:32:51.250
for the European perspective, we see a lot of
00:32:51.250 --> 00:32:54.250
conversion going on where we take away a lane
00:32:54.250 --> 00:32:57.250
that was dedicated for car traffic. So you had
00:32:57.250 --> 00:32:59.529
two lanes for the cars. Now you have one lane
00:32:59.529 --> 00:33:02.349
for the cars, one for the bikes, or even you
00:33:02.349 --> 00:33:05.589
free up some space that you can now use to plant
00:33:05.589 --> 00:33:09.049
something. So make the city more livable, make
00:33:09.049 --> 00:33:11.809
it greener. And that is also definitely something
00:33:11.809 --> 00:33:14.230
that helps you from a sustainability perspective,
00:33:14.730 --> 00:33:16.829
shifting to the modes, but also freeing up that
00:33:16.829 --> 00:33:19.490
space that helps for resilience against the heat,
00:33:19.509 --> 00:33:21.769
for example. So we're having big discussions
00:33:21.769 --> 00:33:25.079
about the city. that have basically too much
00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:27.740
stones and rocks that would just heat up and
00:33:27.740 --> 00:33:29.980
now they are building trees again and having
00:33:29.980 --> 00:33:32.019
something green that would actually help to keep
00:33:32.019 --> 00:33:36.019
the temperature down and so yeah get everybody
00:33:36.019 --> 00:33:38.789
a better life in the city. Yeah, the urban heat
00:33:38.789 --> 00:33:41.309
island effect, as we always say. And the 15 -minute
00:33:41.309 --> 00:33:44.049
city is something that we urbanists have studied
00:33:44.049 --> 00:33:47.230
for years, but it's a bit of a new label on a
00:33:47.230 --> 00:33:49.150
traditional town and urban planning concept,
00:33:49.329 --> 00:33:52.410
which is basically kind of pre -industrial revolution,
00:33:52.650 --> 00:33:55.529
getting back to kind of pedestrian and cycle
00:33:55.529 --> 00:34:00.849
and pre -automobile. locomotion. And, you know,
00:34:00.890 --> 00:34:02.410
Mike, I'd love to get maybe your take on this
00:34:02.410 --> 00:34:04.750
now that we're kind of on this topic. You're
00:34:04.750 --> 00:34:07.009
in Anaheim, maybe some examples even in Orange
00:34:07.009 --> 00:34:08.530
County. I know they got the great park going
00:34:08.530 --> 00:34:10.250
on in Irvine, so live right down the road from
00:34:10.250 --> 00:34:13.880
there. Some interesting urban planning. you know,
00:34:13.940 --> 00:34:16.340
concepts going on near the El Toro Y off the
00:34:16.340 --> 00:34:18.880
405 and the five freeway. But, you know, even
00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:21.159
downtown Anaheim has some really cool stuff going
00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:24.440
on and some mixed use. I know near the Honda
00:34:24.440 --> 00:34:27.719
Center, right near the Santa Ana River by Disneyland,
00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.099
they're doing a really mixed interesting mixed
00:34:30.099 --> 00:34:32.760
use project off the five freeway. Maybe what
00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:34.380
are some interesting things that you're seeing
00:34:34.380 --> 00:34:37.320
in the backyard of a Connell light that you think
00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:41.380
are kind of promoting multimodality? Just an
00:34:41.380 --> 00:34:44.590
orange. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think here
00:34:44.590 --> 00:34:46.710
a lot of cities and agencies are putting more
00:34:46.710 --> 00:34:49.530
focus in their active transportation plan. So
00:34:49.530 --> 00:34:51.489
we're seeing a lot more mixed use developments
00:34:51.489 --> 00:34:53.969
in Costa Mesa, which is about 20 minutes from
00:34:53.969 --> 00:34:56.969
here. We're seeing them repurposing a area that
00:34:56.969 --> 00:34:58.429
used to be a dead mall. They're going to turn
00:34:58.429 --> 00:35:00.389
that into a mixed use area. And we're seeing
00:35:00.389 --> 00:35:03.010
a lot of as part of these plans, we're seeing
00:35:03.010 --> 00:35:05.889
them put a lot of parks up where it's pedestrian
00:35:05.889 --> 00:35:09.429
friendly, green friendly. So I think that that's
00:35:09.429 --> 00:35:11.289
where a lot of agencies are looking and going
00:35:11.289 --> 00:35:14.369
towards. And here, people like to copy each other,
00:35:14.949 --> 00:35:17.650
right? Anaheim and Los Angeles are the two biggest
00:35:17.650 --> 00:35:20.530
cities in the Southern California, Orange County
00:35:20.530 --> 00:35:23.369
area. And a lot of agencies around here kind
00:35:23.369 --> 00:35:26.190
of look to them to see what are they doing. And
00:35:26.190 --> 00:35:29.750
thankfully, I think Anaheim and LA are pretty
00:35:29.750 --> 00:35:31.969
progressive cities in terms of how do we look
00:35:31.969 --> 00:35:34.250
forward. In LA, it's a little hard to do because
00:35:34.250 --> 00:35:36.389
you already have so much development that are
00:35:36.389 --> 00:35:40.500
set the way they are, but in... Places like Anaheim,
00:35:40.780 --> 00:35:43.780
Costa Mesa, Santa Ana. Whenever these new projects
00:35:43.780 --> 00:35:46.440
come up, there's more focus on mixed use and
00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:49.519
not just building office buildings and building
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:51.739
things that you can really only get to from a
00:35:51.739 --> 00:35:54.340
vehicle. Because being multimodal, just having
00:35:54.340 --> 00:35:55.980
multiple ways to get to where you need to go,
00:35:56.079 --> 00:35:58.000
that in itself lends itself to resiliency. If
00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:00.099
something breaks down, you have a myriad of other
00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:02.500
ways that you can use to get what you need. So
00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:05.210
that's what I'm seeing around here. Yeah, I mean,
00:36:05.230 --> 00:36:07.289
back to South Orange County, you know, what we
00:36:07.289 --> 00:36:10.329
saw in the 1970s and 80s were kind of traditional
00:36:10.329 --> 00:36:12.289
commercial office parks like near John Wayne
00:36:12.289 --> 00:36:15.150
Airport and all that stuff. Now, a lot of the
00:36:15.150 --> 00:36:18.530
new green field or repurposed developments include
00:36:18.530 --> 00:36:20.949
traffic calming measures. They include roundabouts.
00:36:21.090 --> 00:36:23.769
They include road diets. Like Mathias said, they
00:36:23.769 --> 00:36:26.550
include a lot more soft scaping. They're using
00:36:26.550 --> 00:36:30.050
a lot of the techniques actually that were conceived
00:36:30.050 --> 00:36:31.949
in the Netherlands, you know, the Wooner, you
00:36:31.949 --> 00:36:34.489
know, the living street. to use the Dutch term,
00:36:34.849 --> 00:36:37.230
and these are being implemented even in American
00:36:37.230 --> 00:36:41.070
and U .S. kind of mixed -use large -scale developments
00:36:41.070 --> 00:36:43.329
on a bit of an incremental scale. They're kind
00:36:43.329 --> 00:36:45.250
of testing it out. It's not necessarily the entire
00:36:45.250 --> 00:36:48.550
city, and we're seeing, you know, like on the
00:36:48.550 --> 00:36:51.329
neighborhood level in terms of kind of new transportation
00:36:51.329 --> 00:36:54.510
projects, even in Los Angeles with the introduction
00:36:54.510 --> 00:36:58.739
of new BRT, bus rapid transit corridors. this
00:36:58.739 --> 00:37:01.260
kind of introduction of squeezing out parking
00:37:01.260 --> 00:37:03.960
like Matthew said and everything. There's a brand
00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:05.840
new BRT corridor that's going to be running.
00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:08.440
I forget the name of it, but LA Metro is running
00:37:08.440 --> 00:37:11.460
it from Pasadena to North Hollywood along the
00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:15.559
134 freeway in Eagle Rock. And these are really
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:20.159
interesting concepts that I think promote multimodality
00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:24.079
and not only, let's say, encourage the use of
00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:26.719
public transit, but other lighter modes that
00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:29.739
could complement kind of traditional, you know,
00:37:29.940 --> 00:37:31.940
transportation modes. So it's really exciting
00:37:31.940 --> 00:37:34.980
time to see what's being implemented by Citi
00:37:34.980 --> 00:37:38.440
just in the last five years. Yeah, and I'm glad
00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:39.719
that they're doing this at a time where they're
00:37:39.719 --> 00:37:41.360
also thinking about resiliency, right? We talked
00:37:41.360 --> 00:37:43.500
about having these chief resiliency officers
00:37:43.500 --> 00:37:46.699
in place. These guys, I hope that they're involved
00:37:46.699 --> 00:37:49.500
in these projects and also a part of it and have
00:37:49.500 --> 00:37:52.190
their spot on the table where they can, you know,
00:37:52.329 --> 00:37:54.170
bring in a lot of these concepts that we're talking
00:37:54.170 --> 00:37:57.050
about as we develop these projects, so that we
00:37:57.050 --> 00:37:58.889
don't end up in the same place that we were 15
00:37:58.889 --> 00:38:01.389
years ago when all is said and done. Yeah, because
00:38:01.389 --> 00:38:03.130
it's one thing to have a resilient building,
00:38:03.289 --> 00:38:05.110
but if a resilient building is surrounded by
00:38:05.110 --> 00:38:08.110
acres and acres of, you know, asphalt, or if
00:38:08.110 --> 00:38:11.170
a resilient building is by a 10 -lane boulevard
00:38:11.170 --> 00:38:14.250
or a freeway, or if you have a resilient park
00:38:14.250 --> 00:38:17.559
but it's surrounded by old concrete materials.
00:38:18.139 --> 00:38:21.179
I mean, the resiliency has to factor in all three
00:38:21.179 --> 00:38:25.340
dimensions of softscape, hardscape, roads, buildings,
00:38:25.619 --> 00:38:28.400
the entire built environment. So one would imagine,
00:38:28.519 --> 00:38:30.639
one would hope that cities in the United States
00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:33.980
and in Europe under this resiliency umbrella
00:38:33.980 --> 00:38:37.280
are factoring in all these different interconnected
00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:41.940
physical elements. Of course, with a strong emphasis
00:38:41.940 --> 00:38:45.219
on mobility, one advantage we have here in Europe,
00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:49.159
Mike, that is not in the US is we have the sustainable
00:38:49.159 --> 00:38:51.760
urban mobility plan, which the US doesn't have,
00:38:52.059 --> 00:38:55.099
which is a bit more coordinated around the central
00:38:55.099 --> 00:38:58.219
theme of mobility to tie in all the threads of
00:38:58.219 --> 00:39:00.260
urban development versus kind of the traditional
00:39:00.460 --> 00:39:03.280
US urban planning process, which is where you
00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:05.440
have a separate chapter for housing, a separate
00:39:05.440 --> 00:39:08.079
chapter for land use, a separate chapter for
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:10.340
economic development. But I'm not saying that
00:39:10.340 --> 00:39:13.539
that is something that could be a new potential,
00:39:13.539 --> 00:39:18.599
let's say, innovation in the United States. However,
00:39:18.780 --> 00:39:21.440
it's interesting that mobility is a central theme
00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:25.699
of our topic of resiliency that ties all these
00:39:25.699 --> 00:39:28.599
different components together. So whether or
00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:31.150
not it's part of the traditional transportation
00:39:31.150 --> 00:39:34.469
land use planning process or not, it's something
00:39:34.469 --> 00:39:37.889
we should all think about in terms of being comprehensive
00:39:37.889 --> 00:39:42.429
though, from my perspective. I don't know if
00:39:42.429 --> 00:39:43.550
you guys have some thoughts on that. It's going
00:39:43.550 --> 00:39:46.480
to require a mindset change. Especially here
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:48.300
in America, right? We're very car -centric here.
00:39:48.480 --> 00:39:50.420
And that's going to require a mindset chipped
00:39:50.420 --> 00:39:51.800
away from that. And that's going to be really
00:39:51.800 --> 00:39:53.300
hard to do. It's not going to happen overnight.
00:39:53.780 --> 00:39:55.860
But slowly and surely, with all these projects
00:39:55.860 --> 00:39:58.000
and measures, and hopefully over time, we'll
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:02.480
start to see that shift towards multi -modal
00:40:02.480 --> 00:40:04.639
networks that are able to support more than just
00:40:04.639 --> 00:40:08.690
cars. And then if we can shift our... our daily
00:40:08.690 --> 00:40:10.769
use away from, you know, I need a car to get
00:40:10.769 --> 00:40:13.329
where I need to go and to, you know, I can take
00:40:13.329 --> 00:40:15.110
my bike, I can take this train. Hey, this bus
00:40:15.110 --> 00:40:17.269
now goes on this route that takes me to work.
00:40:17.650 --> 00:40:19.389
No, that's going to go a long way in the future.
00:40:19.909 --> 00:40:24.389
It's a mindset. You know, you spot on and we
00:40:24.389 --> 00:40:27.030
need to move away from these silos, these individual
00:40:27.030 --> 00:40:28.969
domains to something that's interconnected. Sorry,
00:40:29.130 --> 00:40:31.409
Mathias. Yeah, I think the important word here
00:40:31.409 --> 00:40:34.710
is change. So at the end, change is always difficult.
00:40:35.579 --> 00:40:38.219
all creatures of habit. So we do what we do every
00:40:38.219 --> 00:40:41.099
day. And repeating is a lot easier than starting
00:40:41.099 --> 00:40:44.139
something new. So in the end, to make a change
00:40:44.139 --> 00:40:47.139
happen, it's about, I would say always about
00:40:47.139 --> 00:40:50.980
push and pull and the delicate combination. So
00:40:50.980 --> 00:40:55.539
have as much. pulling forces towards more attractive
00:40:55.539 --> 00:40:58.860
new modes maybe multimodality maybe using the
00:40:58.860 --> 00:41:01.159
bike because you have an attractive infrastructure
00:41:01.159 --> 00:41:03.539
you have something built that makes it easier
00:41:03.539 --> 00:41:06.260
for you and at the same time also pushing a little
00:41:06.260 --> 00:41:09.139
bit and i think the the conversion of a lane
00:41:09.139 --> 00:41:12.139
is a perfect example for a push and pull at the
00:41:12.139 --> 00:41:14.460
same time because it's a pull towards cycling
00:41:14.460 --> 00:41:16.880
you make it more attractive for the cyclists
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:19.780
at the same time you reduce the capacity for
00:41:19.780 --> 00:41:23.820
the car. So using the car is getting more unattractive
00:41:23.820 --> 00:41:26.840
and of course simulation can help you to evaluate
00:41:26.840 --> 00:41:30.000
how much that would actually mean in terms of
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:33.920
capacity reduction before you do it. And but
00:41:33.920 --> 00:41:36.420
at the end, you need them both because I always
00:41:36.420 --> 00:41:39.219
say we are like water. So we search for the easiest
00:41:39.219 --> 00:41:42.239
path down the hill. And if you if you change
00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:45.199
the built environment a little bit and the circumstances,
00:41:45.380 --> 00:41:47.699
then the easiest path down the hill is maybe
00:41:47.699 --> 00:41:50.119
by bike in the future and not by car anymore.
00:41:50.579 --> 00:41:54.920
Because from my perspective, my daily commute
00:41:54.920 --> 00:41:57.219
to work, basically, it's the same time if I take
00:41:57.219 --> 00:41:59.440
the car, if I take the bike, because we have
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:01.699
such a good cycling infrastructure here in Karlsruhe.
00:42:01.900 --> 00:42:05.039
And that is, of course, the result of decades
00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:08.820
of dedicated planning for that. But you can see
00:42:08.820 --> 00:42:11.000
it clearly reflected in the modal split with
00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:14.179
around, I think, 40 % of the trips done by bike
00:42:14.179 --> 00:42:17.639
and active modes. That is, it didn't come from
00:42:17.639 --> 00:42:21.199
nowhere. It just requires some dedication and
00:42:21.199 --> 00:42:23.139
some endurance. And what you also mentioned,
00:42:24.099 --> 00:42:26.199
the sustainable urban mobility plans, that is,
00:42:26.199 --> 00:42:29.550
of course, a similar approach on let's say a
00:42:29.550 --> 00:42:32.929
very very high level because it couples the additional
00:42:32.929 --> 00:42:36.420
funding you get to this way of holistic thinking.
00:42:36.679 --> 00:42:38.639
So if you can do it from your own budget as a
00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:41.179
city, you can still do it however you want. But
00:42:41.179 --> 00:42:44.820
if you want to have funding from the levels above,
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:47.340
then you need to fulfill certain criteria. And
00:42:47.340 --> 00:42:49.539
this is, again, setting the incentive. You get
00:42:49.539 --> 00:42:52.320
extra money when you do it in a sustainable way.
00:42:52.679 --> 00:42:56.119
So, well, maybe let's do it this way. And my
00:42:56.119 --> 00:42:59.760
final thought is on this topic here. We should
00:42:59.760 --> 00:43:04.119
also always just think in terms of resilience
00:43:04.119 --> 00:43:06.300
and sustainability for stuff that we have to
00:43:06.300 --> 00:43:11.719
do anyway, and especially thinking very far ahead
00:43:11.719 --> 00:43:14.420
when we build infrastructure that will really
00:43:14.420 --> 00:43:16.440
last very long. So for example, when you build
00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:19.340
a bridge right now, it will probably be around
00:43:19.340 --> 00:43:22.360
in 2100. So you should not only build it for
00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:24.880
the requirements you have today, but you should
00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:27.139
try to foresee what requirements you have there.
00:43:27.280 --> 00:43:30.699
And of course, we have been talking about rising
00:43:30.699 --> 00:43:33.619
sea level and stuff like that or the higher likelihood
00:43:33.619 --> 00:43:36.219
of heavy rain events. So maybe you already think
00:43:36.219 --> 00:43:39.199
about another drainage system or level it up
00:43:39.199 --> 00:43:41.969
a little bit. And this is. from today's perspective,
00:43:42.429 --> 00:43:44.329
such a minor additional invest that you would
00:43:44.329 --> 00:43:46.969
have to take, but it will save a lot of money
00:43:46.969 --> 00:43:50.230
from maybe having to rebuild everything in 30,
00:43:50.230 --> 00:43:52.409
40, 50 years down the road, because then you
00:43:52.409 --> 00:43:54.969
realize it just doesn't fit to the changing environment
00:43:54.969 --> 00:43:58.289
anymore. Yeah, that's a good point. Mike, would
00:43:58.289 --> 00:44:01.250
you care to expand upon that a bit? Yeah, I think
00:44:01.250 --> 00:44:02.730
that's a great point. We have to get away from
00:44:02.730 --> 00:44:05.289
the mindset of 50 years from now, that somebody
00:44:05.289 --> 00:44:08.380
else's problem. And we're working on it now.
00:44:08.440 --> 00:44:10.099
This is what we want to deal with. I'm going
00:44:10.099 --> 00:44:11.940
to retire at 10 years. It won't be my problem.
00:44:12.059 --> 00:44:13.320
Then somebody else can deal with it. We got to
00:44:13.320 --> 00:44:16.539
get away from that mindset in order to be sustainable
00:44:16.539 --> 00:44:19.300
and resilient. We have to think about, we have
00:44:19.300 --> 00:44:20.900
to care about what our children is going to have
00:44:20.900 --> 00:44:24.079
to deal with in their timeline. How do we build
00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:26.679
today without taking away their ability to do
00:44:26.679 --> 00:44:28.780
what they need in the future? How do we build
00:44:28.780 --> 00:44:31.260
this to last so that they can also use it and
00:44:31.260 --> 00:44:33.239
not have to redo it and come up with a solution
00:44:33.239 --> 00:44:36.210
on their own later on? So those are my thoughts.
00:44:36.690 --> 00:44:39.369
A lot of it is mindset and change, right? We
00:44:39.369 --> 00:44:41.429
have a certain way of thinking things. It's human
00:44:41.429 --> 00:44:42.849
nature. We're kind of born to think, what do
00:44:42.849 --> 00:44:45.309
I need to do to survive? But we kind of have
00:44:45.309 --> 00:44:48.630
to think more broadly and more on a societal
00:44:48.630 --> 00:44:51.690
level. How do we keep our cities going into the
00:44:51.690 --> 00:44:54.010
future? When I'm long gone, how do I make sure
00:44:54.010 --> 00:44:56.269
that these guys have what they need to keep my
00:44:56.269 --> 00:44:58.969
city going? How do I leave a legacy for them?
00:45:00.320 --> 00:45:03.760
Yeah, and like I said, this is just an opinion,
00:45:03.840 --> 00:45:07.380
not a fact, but I do believe the onset of the
00:45:07.380 --> 00:45:10.639
COVID pandemic was a break point though. It was
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:14.340
a change, a paradigm shift in how we view how
00:45:14.340 --> 00:45:17.719
cities function and plan. And it provided an
00:45:17.719 --> 00:45:20.579
opportunity during that crisis mode for the first
00:45:20.579 --> 00:45:22.679
few months here in Europe, but somewhat in the
00:45:22.679 --> 00:45:25.780
US too, to start experimenting with more traditional
00:45:25.780 --> 00:45:29.519
forms of urban design and intervention. whether
00:45:29.519 --> 00:45:32.119
they be pop -up bike lanes, whether they be car
00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:35.440
-free streets, corona pathways, et cetera. So
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:37.519
we had all these different tools that we were
00:45:37.519 --> 00:45:39.900
experimenting with. And there was this, well,
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:46.159
I mean, it was, obviously, we all know the experience
00:45:46.159 --> 00:45:48.219
we went through. But I would say that was the
00:45:48.219 --> 00:45:51.340
one silver lining, at least for urbanists, was
00:45:51.340 --> 00:45:54.840
that after about 60 or 70 years of being marginalized
00:45:54.840 --> 00:45:57.679
and going through kind of the traditional auto
00:45:57.679 --> 00:46:01.739
-centric, copy -paste, top -down transportation
00:46:01.739 --> 00:46:05.219
planning methodology since the Second World War
00:46:05.219 --> 00:46:07.559
and even before probably starting in the 1920s
00:46:07.559 --> 00:46:10.199
because that's when most state highway departments
00:46:10.199 --> 00:46:12.480
were founded in the United States, Caltrans,
00:46:12.619 --> 00:46:15.119
Minnesota, etc. It's been gone for over 100 years
00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:18.400
now of this very kind of traditional mindset
00:46:18.400 --> 00:46:22.159
of road building and circulation and the movement
00:46:22.159 --> 00:46:27.769
of vehicles. not humans, that a lot of these
00:46:27.769 --> 00:46:30.809
different, let's say, concepts and schemes were
00:46:30.809 --> 00:46:34.969
given a little bit of latitude to try out on
00:46:34.969 --> 00:46:37.349
a neighborhood level. Not on a city level, but
00:46:37.349 --> 00:46:39.909
to get back to Mathias's theme of the 15 -minute
00:46:39.909 --> 00:46:42.449
city, that's where the 15 -minute city started
00:46:42.449 --> 00:46:45.369
gaining steam was during the COVID lockdowns
00:46:45.369 --> 00:46:47.619
and after. That's when it started in 2020, because
00:46:47.619 --> 00:46:49.119
we didn't really hear about it that much before
00:46:49.119 --> 00:46:52.659
that. And that is really where we saw a big movement
00:46:52.659 --> 00:46:55.800
and a shift in mindset. Albeit, I agree with
00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:58.719
what you're saying, Mike. You know, there is
00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:01.360
inertia and there's resistance. A lot of that
00:47:01.360 --> 00:47:03.179
is institutional. A lot of it is generational,
00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:04.960
too, though. You know, if we're talking about
00:47:05.420 --> 00:47:08.739
Gen X boomers not sure they're probably gonna
00:47:08.739 --> 00:47:10.659
dig in their heels. We're talking about younger
00:47:10.659 --> 00:47:13.260
generations They're a bit more open and they
00:47:13.260 --> 00:47:16.260
are adopting these new modalities And a lot of
00:47:16.260 --> 00:47:18.719
them are starting to work for city councils governments
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:21.699
and for the private sector So I don't want to
00:47:21.699 --> 00:47:25.420
be too, you know Unrealistic but that dude does
00:47:25.420 --> 00:47:27.300
give me hope and I see there's some tangible
00:47:27.300 --> 00:47:31.199
results of Tactical urbanism and do -it -yourself.
00:47:31.380 --> 00:47:38.289
Let's say changes to streets to infrastructure
00:47:38.289 --> 00:47:42.789
that are done low cost, some with funding of
00:47:42.789 --> 00:47:45.949
sump, some done on a neighbor level, but most,
00:47:46.369 --> 00:47:51.909
to your point, Mathias, is with a blended, let's
00:47:51.909 --> 00:47:56.909
say, connection to the sump only because there's
00:47:56.909 --> 00:48:01.170
256 sumps in Europe and counting. So cities would
00:48:01.170 --> 00:48:03.389
only do themselves a disservice by trying to
00:48:03.389 --> 00:48:06.820
do this in isolation so most of them are complying
00:48:06.820 --> 00:48:09.719
with those guidelines to prepare some and they're
00:48:09.719 --> 00:48:12.940
on board because really they know that it's not
00:48:12.940 --> 00:48:16.659
like let's say it's free money but it is really
00:48:16.659 --> 00:48:20.699
a logical framework to plan and organize your
00:48:20.699 --> 00:48:24.159
city and it's really the cost of either doing
00:48:24.159 --> 00:48:28.579
business or governing and managing a city that
00:48:28.579 --> 00:48:32.150
has become the accepted norm now. So what might
00:48:32.150 --> 00:48:34.670
have been an outlier before COVID or 10, 15 years
00:48:34.670 --> 00:48:38.050
ago, in terms of smaller cities and outlying
00:48:38.050 --> 00:48:39.809
regions that maybe didn't want to be part of
00:48:39.809 --> 00:48:42.449
this kind of overarching planning framework.
00:48:43.090 --> 00:48:44.510
The ones I'm talking to, the ones I'm working
00:48:44.510 --> 00:48:46.050
with, because I do a lot of my work here in Europe,
00:48:46.050 --> 00:48:48.389
but in the US too, they're all on board now.
00:48:48.429 --> 00:48:50.170
And they're totally fine with some framework,
00:48:50.349 --> 00:48:52.409
not only because of the financial incentives,
00:48:52.510 --> 00:48:56.829
but because they agree with the policies and
00:48:56.829 --> 00:48:59.929
let's say goals and objectives that the cities
00:48:59.929 --> 00:49:04.110
already have in their own, let's say, political
00:49:04.110 --> 00:49:06.849
governments process. Albeit though, we're going
00:49:06.849 --> 00:49:08.610
through a little bit of a political disruption
00:49:08.610 --> 00:49:11.210
at the municipal level in Europe and in the US
00:49:11.210 --> 00:49:14.570
right now. So things are changing, but there
00:49:14.570 --> 00:49:18.170
is a strong push towards this decarbonization
00:49:18.170 --> 00:49:21.869
of the transport sector and improving our built
00:49:21.869 --> 00:49:27.940
environment. catch your thought in between. So
00:49:27.940 --> 00:49:31.099
you were talking a lot about how COVID triggers
00:49:31.099 --> 00:49:34.159
structural change. And I would say a very big
00:49:34.159 --> 00:49:39.079
change was also about not how we move but why
00:49:39.079 --> 00:49:41.780
we move or if we move at all because typically
00:49:41.780 --> 00:49:44.619
on a Monday morning I don't wake up and say I
00:49:44.619 --> 00:49:47.219
want to ride my bike or I want to drive a car
00:49:47.219 --> 00:49:50.159
but I say I need to work and that used to be
00:49:50.159 --> 00:49:52.539
I need to get to work but today it's really I
00:49:52.539 --> 00:49:55.280
need to work so I have my laptop with me I can
00:49:55.280 --> 00:49:58.800
work from home I can and that is of course a
00:49:58.800 --> 00:50:04.199
much underestimated from in many perspectives,
00:50:04.780 --> 00:50:07.880
element also of resilience we are talking about
00:50:07.880 --> 00:50:11.840
here. So it's actually not needed for many of
00:50:11.840 --> 00:50:15.139
the purposes that we needed to have physical
00:50:15.139 --> 00:50:17.159
transportation. That's not needed anymore today.
00:50:17.199 --> 00:50:20.059
So even if your network is overloaded, well,
00:50:20.059 --> 00:50:22.380
then you just stay where you are and you can
00:50:22.380 --> 00:50:25.780
still accomplish the job you have to be accomplished.
00:50:26.119 --> 00:50:30.059
And I would say with the distribution of many
00:50:30.059 --> 00:50:33.400
people regularly working remotely, today we see
00:50:33.400 --> 00:50:36.739
just less load on the same road structure, so
00:50:36.739 --> 00:50:39.320
that also gives us a little bit of flexibility
00:50:39.320 --> 00:50:42.880
to deal with unexpected events. Absolutely. So
00:50:42.880 --> 00:50:45.139
maybe we'll just kind of wrap it up here with
00:50:45.139 --> 00:50:46.940
a few minutes left, but maybe some final words,
00:50:47.099 --> 00:50:50.280
Mike, on what is the current and future outlook
00:50:50.280 --> 00:50:54.239
for resiliency in cities and how we can plan
00:50:54.239 --> 00:50:57.699
for the future. Yes, Scott, I think you hit on
00:50:57.699 --> 00:51:00.179
a great point in your previous remarks and that
00:51:00.179 --> 00:51:02.579
a lot of it is generational. I think that is
00:51:02.579 --> 00:51:06.579
definitely for sure. An example I had is, and
00:51:06.579 --> 00:51:08.639
I won't name the specific cities, not to throw
00:51:08.639 --> 00:51:11.519
anyone under the bus, but we recently had a city
00:51:11.519 --> 00:51:15.300
who had a traffic cabinet knocked down, got hit
00:51:15.300 --> 00:51:17.380
by a vehicle, right? So they had to replace it.
00:51:17.579 --> 00:51:20.599
And they used an old TS -1 spec that was the...
00:51:20.590 --> 00:51:24.269
put out in the 1970s. And the traffic engineer
00:51:24.269 --> 00:51:25.730
kind of just said, all right, let's put another
00:51:25.730 --> 00:51:28.960
TS1 cabinet there. so many new technologies to
00:51:28.960 --> 00:51:32.219
ATC. And I'm like, why? This is your opportunity
00:51:32.219 --> 00:51:35.239
to build back better, to build forward, to bounce
00:51:35.239 --> 00:51:37.780
forward. But no, they're like, well, we don't
00:51:37.780 --> 00:51:39.420
want to train our staff. We don't want to learn
00:51:39.420 --> 00:51:40.659
this new thing. If the name broke, don't fix
00:51:40.659 --> 00:51:42.320
it. That's what the Americans say. Even though
00:51:42.320 --> 00:51:46.679
it is broke. It's the old thing, right? And that's
00:51:46.679 --> 00:51:48.960
not the right mindset to have. Whereas with the
00:51:48.960 --> 00:51:51.400
newer generations, we're seeing a lot more willingness
00:51:51.400 --> 00:51:54.840
to explore newer technologies that's available,
00:51:54.840 --> 00:51:57.610
right? They're inviting us in to talk about,
00:51:57.929 --> 00:51:59.690
okay, we see that there's this new ATC cabinet
00:51:59.690 --> 00:52:01.730
spec. What's that all about? What kind of benefits
00:52:01.730 --> 00:52:03.769
do we have? How does that future proof us? And
00:52:03.769 --> 00:52:05.449
that's the kind of conversations that kind of
00:52:05.449 --> 00:52:08.489
drive this forward and help build it to resiliency.
00:52:08.630 --> 00:52:10.329
Let's not keep doing the things we always have
00:52:10.329 --> 00:52:12.550
been doing. Just because it's the way we've always
00:52:12.550 --> 00:52:14.489
done it doesn't mean it's the way we always need
00:52:14.489 --> 00:52:16.969
to do it, right? Let's look for new and improved
00:52:16.969 --> 00:52:19.530
ways. And a lot of agencies are starting to move
00:52:19.530 --> 00:52:21.929
in that direction, and that's good. We just got
00:52:21.929 --> 00:52:24.889
to keep that momentum going forward. That's very
00:52:24.889 --> 00:52:27.989
encouraging to hear. Yeah, and we need to start
00:52:27.989 --> 00:52:30.969
thinking for the future. So, Mathias, maybe some
00:52:30.969 --> 00:52:34.829
final thoughts on the current and future outlook
00:52:34.829 --> 00:52:38.869
for resiliency in cities and kind of the technology
00:52:38.869 --> 00:52:45.289
and policy landscape. I think the main message
00:52:45.289 --> 00:52:49.050
from my side is use the intelligence you can
00:52:49.050 --> 00:52:52.050
get from smart planning, from evaluations to
00:52:52.050 --> 00:52:55.269
make smart decisions. I don't even want to say
00:52:55.269 --> 00:52:57.909
which policy goal you need to set because they
00:52:57.909 --> 00:52:59.690
are different in the world, but make informed
00:52:59.690 --> 00:53:02.590
decisions. So get away from gut decisions, but
00:53:02.590 --> 00:53:06.369
really take it into digital twins, virtual representations,
00:53:06.550 --> 00:53:09.670
however you want to call it, to foresee on basis
00:53:09.670 --> 00:53:13.340
of KPI, foresee in a data -driven way what plan
00:53:13.340 --> 00:53:16.780
A or plan B would actually mean and then make
00:53:16.780 --> 00:53:19.940
informed decisions how to go forward and hopefully
00:53:19.940 --> 00:53:22.800
in a consistent way and hopefully of course in
00:53:22.800 --> 00:53:25.699
a strategy that leads you to a sustainable and
00:53:25.699 --> 00:53:29.260
resilient future but at least be conscious about
00:53:29.260 --> 00:53:31.699
what you're doing and not experiment around.
00:53:32.800 --> 00:53:36.639
Exactly. So with that, I'd like to thank our
00:53:36.639 --> 00:53:38.659
guests, Mathias and Mike. It's been a really
00:53:38.659 --> 00:53:41.199
sincere pleasure. I really enjoyed this dialogue.
00:53:41.679 --> 00:53:43.460
It gives me a lot of hope for the future, a lot
00:53:43.460 --> 00:53:46.860
of things to unpack, a lot of institutional barriers,
00:53:47.099 --> 00:53:50.940
a lot of technology gaps. But the learnings that
00:53:50.940 --> 00:53:54.199
we have can definitely guide us forward to build
00:53:54.199 --> 00:53:57.099
more resilient, stronger, and sustainable cities.
00:53:57.849 --> 00:54:01.110
from your both perspectives, from PTV and Econolite.
00:54:01.429 --> 00:54:03.570
I really appreciate that. So, you know, thanks
00:54:03.570 --> 00:54:05.949
for joining us today on this topic. It's been
00:54:05.949 --> 00:54:08.530
a pleasure. Absolutely. Thank you, Scott. Thank
00:54:08.530 --> 00:54:11.789
you very much. Yeah. So with that, I just want
00:54:11.789 --> 00:54:14.730
to thank everyone. Again, this episode was sponsored
00:54:14.730 --> 00:54:18.949
by PTV group Econolite, Umovity. Our next episode,
00:54:19.050 --> 00:54:20.969
we're going to have a podcast at the end of September.
00:54:20.989 --> 00:54:24.059
We're going to talk about... digital twins and
00:54:24.059 --> 00:54:25.780
city and regional planning. So that'll be really
00:54:25.780 --> 00:54:29.159
exciting. So stay tuned on that. And once again,
00:54:29.199 --> 00:54:33.019
I just wanted to thank Mathias and Mike for your
00:54:33.019 --> 00:54:35.159
time. And maybe we'll have you guys on again
00:54:35.159 --> 00:54:38.099
in the near future. Sounds good. Thanks, Scott.
00:54:39.500 --> 00:54:40.840
Thanks. It would be a pleasure.