Art Center Summit - Designing Sustainable Mobility
Tue, 06 Mar 2007 Shrinking oil reserves, global warming, failed political administration policies, the car as an avatar, industrial humanism and the motorized shoe were just a few of the topics and ideas discussed at the Art Center College of Design 'Designing Sustainable Mobility' conference, held in California in February.
For the designers in the room, a bright light was shone from BMW's Chris Bangle. A lively speaker with an optimistic speech giving us terms like "Industrial Humanism" and "design with meaning". He also gave us inspiration on day two with his presentation of BMW's latest experimental flexible structural material called GINA - encouraging to see from a major auto manufacturer.
However, the overall theme taken from day one was the central idea that we, as an industry, need to address the topic of the summit from a systems level design solution standpoint and not from that of being intent upon creating a new type of automobile to solve the problem all on its own.
The second day of the summit was distinctly changed in both tone and atmosphere to one of optimism with presentations on implementing tangible solutions - a focus for day two's discussions. For instance, Amory Lovins gave a very precise and informative presentation pointing the way for the auto industry to embrace lightweight composite materials, alternative powertrains and greatly reduced costs resulting from these efforts. Further discussion focused on rethinking the use of urban land, adding intelligent highway and commuter systems to help ease congestion, and integrating a much wider variety of mobility options into the existing urban landscape.
Whilst few of the ideas presented at the conference were new in isolation, it was the collective gathering and presentation of these ideas that made a strong impact. There were elegant solutions presented on this day from the likes of MIT, Calstart, Disney, Peter Treadway (with his aforementioned motorized shoe), and those more closely associated with the auto industry like Honda, Ford and BMW.
One topic not discussed, was that of organizational structures and processes that prevent and hinder designers exploring and developing sustainable mobility solutions due to the short term corporate focus of all but a few car companies. Encouraged as conference delegates may have been by the variety of discussions and solutions presented during the summit, until this critical issue at the highest level of decision makers within the industry is brought to the table, true progress is still nothing more than talk. With conferences such as this summit taking prominence there is a real possibility this can occur sooner rather than later: hope was something that all delegates left the Designing Sustainable Mobility conference with.
Speaker Overview:
Chris Flavin - World environmental problems, new economics required to solve them, globally scientists agree planet is in the middle of real climate change, CO2 levels way above normal and rising fast, huge new markets possible for environmentally friendly practices, new jobs waiting to replace old oil/steel based industries, new markets in China, India and Brazil will greatly affect world resources use and environmental and/or pollution impacts resulting from massive rapid growth. Chris Bangle/BMW - the role Design plays in solution, the automobile as an "avatar", design with meaning and love, like the medical field: "Do no harm", Industrial Humanism. Panel Discussion: Been There, Done That - historical perspective - only 8% of global population served by auto industry, do not fall in love with your design, creating lighter vehicles to take advantage of new battery technology, focus on outcome not output, reliability - flexibility - robustness - adaptability keys to success for integrating new technology. David Goodstein - must move from mono-fuel source (oil) to multi-fuel source with adequate financial investment to see success, no idea of oil reserves left in planet, raising gas prices with increase supply as demand is lowered, hydrogen requires more oil to refine than the equivalent of gasoline it's meant to replace so not a feasible answer today, nuclear, wind, solar, and bio-fuels more likely, Nuclear Fusion ultimate solution, we're all going down the toilet though. Dean Kamen/Segway - problem lies in definition of today's auto designers - micro level problem solvers, must become macro level systems design solution orientated, 20th Century achievements relate to larger systems success rather than one invention being truly successful. 5-min Presentations - various solutions presented, hi-lights include Peter Treadway's (ACCD Product grad) battery powered mobile shoe that made the Segway obsolete in one tour of the auditorium to massive applause; MIT's elegant publicly owned electric car that was similar in concept to getting a luggage cart at the airport that made use of an identity card and prepayment system of pick-up and drop-off on every city block. RFK Jr. - Impassioned speech about importance of the environment and conservation of our resources, massive failure of the Bush Administration in this regards, the role the Bible plays in the search for environmental solutions to sustainability and how religious conviction can support these ideas. Amory Lovins - Statistical overview of how a much lighter weight auto can be an immediate answer, supports massively increased use of carbon fiber and composite materials in vehicle production, spiral down effect on weight, number of components, packaging, and costs due to fewer number of parts required, use of fuel cells, digital engine technology, new diesel/hybrid technology, next generation electric car systems and batteries will give us the ability to produce 100+ mpg cars very soon, debunked a lot of what D. Goodstein said the day before and created a noticeably livelier auditorium from the previous day's doom & gloom speeches. Industry Panel: Auto Industry Looks Forward (C. Bangle/BMW, L. Erickson/Ford, B. Knight/Honda and J. Boesel/Calstart) - upbeat discussion on current show car level proposals and thinking, new ideas for urban land use and new developments in smart highways to ease congestion, new powertrains, new materials, new fuels, etc. to create smarter lighter products, but ultimately nothing 'new' was said. Panel Discussion: Creating New Business Models (M. Goodstein/Auto X-Prize, Dan Sturges/Intrago, Ben Schwegler/Disney) - new digital tools greatly decrease time to production and increase speed of innovations, financial incentives and prizes to lure new tech and small business into arena, low-tech solutions cannot be ignored, simple re-stripe of highway lanes to include "light mode" transportation, friendly debate between MG and DS that the car should be removed from urban systems all together, dealership sales link vital to success, Disney's research into flexible cities and urban areas as seen in Central Florida, re-education of politicians and public, Political control is relevant to achieving proper legislation, we must develop choices and options - one product like the auto will not solve entire problem. Closing comments - "take away one important idea or something learned and what is going to be the implementation of a solution to it, pursue the business networking and continue to explore cooperation between companies to arrive at solutions."
By Michael Rinaldi
