Jake Whitehead

How to ride transport disruption –a sustainable framework for future urban mobility*

ABSTRACT Existing urban transport systems have fundamentally shaped our modern urban economies and societies, however, disruptive technologies, as fundamental as recent ICT disruptions, threaten major change. Urban transport disruptions therefore present a unique challenge and opportunity for planners and policy-makers to influence and shape outcomes for society. The role of urban planners and policy-makers in future transport systems will become increasingly important as mobility disruptions start to radically transform transport systems. Without sensible and informed public policy, future urban mobility disruptions have the potential to lead to a series of non-optimal outcomes, of which some may result in transport systems functioning worse than they do at present. This paper explores the key urban mobility disruptions of: vehicle electrification, autonomous vehicles, and the sharing economy within the context of increasing urban density, to explore what non-optimal outcomes may occur if not all four of these factors are appropriately supported.