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Letter announcing project

Paris, 6 August 2008

Ms. Sue Zielinski, Managing Director
SMART (Sustainable Mobility & Accessibility Research & Transformation)
Center for Advancing Research and Solutions for Society
University of Michigan
2398 Perry Building, 330 Packard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2994

Re: Global Networking in Support of New Mobility

Dear Sue,

On the occasion of your 11-12 June high-level brainstorming meeting on "New Mobility: The Emerging Transportation Economy", you asked me to speak to the topic of networking, research and collaborative partnerships for programs such as your sustainable mobility program -- drawing on our experience with open networking and building knowledge under the New Mobility Agenda for a number of years now. You asked about "building a learning community", but with the qualification that the goal is not to try to build up new structures, but rather to see how to better spot, link and make use of the considerable wealth of programs, sites, sources and resources already at work in our sector.

As you are aware, almost all of the work the last two decades under our New Mobility program has been carried out by and large with the collaboration and support of individuals and groups working in many different countries, types of organizations and parts of the world. Not to put too fine a point to it, we live by networking.

Our domain is, at first glance at least, relatively circumscribed: "sustainable transportation" - but behind the pure movement considerations lie the broader and more fundamental topic of sustainable cities, and sustainable lives. We talk about "new mobility", a phrase reduces to gaining access to what one needs in ways that are better suited to the strong and very different exigencies and priorities of the 21st century. Which brings us smack up against such closely related areas of policy and practice as: climate, local and global environment, energy viability, resource efficiency, geopolitical considerations, social equity, private and public economics, public health, and then at the end of this long line better, healthier and fairer transportation and access choices for all social and economic classes

I am now pleased to report to you on this. I do it today in three parts: (a) the present note, (b) the website that we have created in support of this eventual future project at http://www.knowledge.newmobility.org, and (c) finally the latest version of the PowerPoint presentation of which I presented to you a far sorter earlier cut on 12 June in Ann Arbor and which you will find now at http://ecoplan.org/library/newmob-networks.ppt

To summarize the question (just to be sure we're on the right track):

Is there a requirement, a potentially useful role for a more creative and powerful system of interaction and exchange between some or all of these (and other) outstanding programs and their extensive knowledge bases?

My preliminary observations on this:

1. There is a huge amount of activity going on in this field (new mobility) in many places, though it is widely spread out, extremely varied in quality, quantity and focus, and at the present state of the art not really handy for consultation.

2. To use a common metaphor: we need to find ways to connect the silos.

3. But if one is to do anything at all in this area, we must have a firm understanding of how people go about accessing and putting all this to work in this fast-paced new century. How much detail do they need? How can we bring it to them in layers, tree like structures which give them a bit of information to get started but which then permit them to start to burrow into the topic without having to lose track of all that went before.

4. If we are looking for an analogy, what about the need for getting together to invent some kind of 21st century Dewey Decimal system to allow us to access the contents of our worldwide library.?

5. There is very definitely a "new tools" vector that is worthy of closest attention. Most of us today are working with what in fact is a pretty old tool set (Moore's Law still holds) -- but the fact is that there are amazing new communications and linking tools available/needed that we should be putting to work.

6. Certainly we need to include full access not only to web sites, news groups, blogs, print in its variations, past and planned events in our areas of interest, but also to films, videos, sound, and images, as well as to games and other learning and playing devices that can be useful to sharpen the mind and bring up new perspectives. And 21st century communications options (full range thereof). In all this, if we are looking for models we would be consummately dumb not at least to try to understand by analogy what a "Google", "Skype', "Wikipedia", and even "Facebook", "LinkedIn", "YouTube", etc. new tools approach to this might give.

7. As I see it, there is both an information and an education-communications function to be served in our field. We need better working links between the main players: public sector players, researchers, local government, public interest groups and industry. But we also need much tighter linkages and let's call it "cultural consonance" with the media, old and new.

8. One stark reality is that if you look down our first listing here, you will note that each of these groups is extremely busy and very focused. They have their mandates, schedules, and responsibilities to deliver - all putting tough claims on their time and resources to do anything else. So whatever we come up with is going to have to fit in this tight environment.

9. And unless someone can convince me to the contrary, I for one would be quite opposed to the idea of setting up some sort of one more staffed program for this. I see this as an open collaborative venture with everyone pitching in, and someone very smart and capable coming up with some new cross-cutting software link and search solutions.

10. Finally the sense of urgency. The transport sector accounts for on the order of 20% of all greenhouse gases. We have the means to reduce this contrition at least when it comes to transport in cities by several percent each year, but we are not doing it because we have not made the strong case that is needed to sway policy maker and public attention. This project could be a great help in this creating the necessary now concerns for change.

To conclude: This is an important topic and we have at least the intellectual means and the tools needed to start to deal with it. What is needed is the resources to get it started and then step by step advanced as shown to be necessary and useful.

You know what we really need? It's someone who is willing to step forward and take on the task of becoming the DARPA of New Mobility. To shepherd the amazing discovery of an information highway that this time will carry and connect both people and electrons.

Who is going to have the foresight to take the lead?

Thanks for asking me such an interesting question Sue. Let's see what happens next.

Eric Britton

Managing Director,
EcoPlan International

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