what an ugly way to start a presentation
of a famous statue in Berlin defaced by
Greenpeace protesting about air
pollution air pollution what does that
have to do with art or design air
pollution that’s part of urban living
isn’t it I’m a designer I’m in love with
art I’m addicted to it I can’t stop
looking at it but you know what I’m not
the only person here that is in somehow
in love with art even if people don’t
know they’re in love with art or know
how to acknowledge it that love of art
is embedded within us the purpose of
this presentation may be to talk about
design let’s note let’s not overlook
that everyone is a designer everyone has
design inputs to make in my case as a
designer I’m also an educator even more
specifically I’m a futurist and an
urbanist which goes some of the way to
explaining this little toy here I’m
absolutely fascinated by urban design
because it’s what we are living the
urbanism is important to us because
urbanism is something we are beginning
to live today as a subset of how we live
in cities we are going to look at
aspects of the urban future and
urban mobility without the automobile
without the automobile as we know it an
urban future without many of the
old-style bicycles and a few other
lifestyle changes one of the unavoidable
facts of our cities as they continue to
grow vertically extreme high-density
living is a part of our future so we
will talk about trends emerging for
cities and connect a few dots for the
near future these predictions are based
on how a contemporary designer thinks
principally because it is designers are
those thinking about the end user people
not making decisions just based on
technology cities of the future should
be about people cities should be for
people not for cars not for car parks
not for pollution and not for the
individual profit of a minority of
speculators or business individuals
designers whether they’re architects or
industrial designers are today engaged
with people making aesthetic and value
judgments for and with people instead of
decisions just based on engineering and
technologies so let me show you what can
be done with dots let’s start by adding
a people dot all by itself up there for
too long in recent decades design and
aesthetics have been uncomfortable and
or unnecessary considerations for a lot
of Engineers I think that’s cruel or
unjust because everyone is attracted to
art and design consciously or not people
want to see and feel something that
looks good you people in this audience
in in our city should be involved with
the designing and
because everyone is a designer at some
successful design is not just about
engineering or technology when idea
talks about the technological viability
that is the domain of engineers the
desirable part of product design is the
exclusive domain of designers when
cities were built over recent decades
building engineers and entrepreneurs
ruled many of those decisions
placing commercial considerations above
everything resulting in some stark
examples of very ugly cities attractive
design or aesthetics were a secondary
consideration the unfortunate part about
such an approach is that various factors
have drawn humankind into these extreme
high-density ugly urban centers
happiness is in short supply with a lack
of satisfaction in life social
interaction can be less than charming
between citizens streets full of
planning without people and speculators
or builders greed and people are
expected to be happy or understand any
that’s let’s not even talk about social
housing now sociologists and architects
started to make observations and then
claims about urban living this guy
Christian Deportes on Park whom you’ve
probably never heard of is a Pritzker
Prize winner said recently even though
people even though people are not happy
in their crowded neighborhoods and
claustrophobic apartments no one else
architect could solve the problems of a
contemporary city the way ad ports on
park handle space can be seen when
looking at the Luxembourg Philharmonic
he could have been a good designer but
let’s give him an architect dot similar
conclusions were shared by another
architect Renzo Carnot he did the shard
in London who commented recently
buildings eventually effects all our
lives acting as a container for the
unfolding history another urbanist megan
fowler said in the middle of last year
all designers these days agree that
cities are at their best when they are
walkable designed for people instead of
cars this walkability thing has been
around us for a surprisingly long time
it’s a successful transit system
developed since medieval times or
earlier walkability was a necessity for
enabling people to meet greet talk and
to engage in commerce when cars ran
people off the streets in these European
cities it has resulted in a serious
decline in population density and
commerce today so this is the vision
some people are having of London in the
future yes that’s the shard in the
background in London plans are underway
today at this minute to reduce cars from
the city streets with the shard there in
the background to make London a livable
walkable cities to my way of thinking
that means a dot for walkable cities
both Keano and des portes on Park talk
about designing space des portes on Park
said I understood that the idea of space
is crucial in the new world where the
street has vanished and cars
we’re and people feel lost feeling lost
in a city
time for another feeling lost dot
because it’s something to overcome in
future cities that sense of alienation
Renzo Piano addresses the same sense of
alienation claiming the essence of
architecture in terms of discovery light
space compression and a sense of
lightness for our future cities a
feeling of space and lightness leading
to a discovery dot for the future it has
become important for us to build open
spaces like this example open spaces
leads us to a renascence in urban living
a renewal or revitalization today we are
witnessing that renascence of design
over engineering so important that it
requires a dot for open spaces yet our
lust for physical beauty remains our
demands for ethereal stimulation remains
we have lived amongst beauty for
centuries we have lived amongst beauty
for centuries and the human soul cannot
will not ignore our will not ignore so
living spaces should reflect this too so
I’m going to give living spaces another
dot to revitalize cities there is a
return to design a rebirth to attractive
design to introduce some form of a heart
back into the street and to invest in
open space for the inhabitants of cities
this is one of the dots of the future
revitalizing cities in other words
design is undergoing some form of
renascence which in itself renascence is
profoundly important because renascence
because the florence in the renaissance
artists were one of the epicenters of
western art which is still reflected to
this minute in current work artists of
the Renaissance brought perspective into
images they were painting but
particularly exposed the human form in a
way never captured by artists before
there was an explosion of art and the
human body probably best represented by
Michelangelo’s memorable David the
citizens of Florence and others in
Tuscany were surrounded by art for
centuries what a celli for example the
curves of the human form may have been
first exposed in the renaissance era but
when we look at Italian industry today
curves like that still inhabit Italian
design one only has to look at the Milan
fashion industry or the automotive
industry of the tuscany region to see
reflection of that innate sense of curve
and form these undeniably beautiful cars
are designed in the physical heartland
of Renaissance Italy it can’t be a
coincidence
the connection between Renaissance art
and the design scene today
renascence deserves a dot in future
cities we are seeing a renascence in
urban design with art and space that
connection simile exists in France with
money and the car mark Citroen and many
other European nations great painters
influenced all of those automobile
producing countries these countries that
did produce stunning art tended to
design the great car marks the reason
I’m talking about cars so much with my
bicycle
is that of urban mobility we have cars
have been with us for a good part of our
lives but the urban future I’m talking
about is not likely to include cars as
we know them today you might have
already seen the suggestions for the
immediate future
so that calls for another dot connecting
to the urban future no cars as we know
them but there is something else behind
our living requirements trees nature we
are seeing a renascence in cities that
includes what is called urban forests
despite migration from farms and forests
we humans generally remain fascinated by
greenery cities today a soaked in
pollution filthy to look at filthy to
breathe people see the primary cause of
pollution as being cars when cars are
crowding the sidewalk when car drivers
are caught in traffic jams on a daily
basis people people dream of trees you
think I’m kidding about trees in
Singapore which is certainly near the
top of extreme urban density not only
are they building vertical forests
they’re even building artificial trees
since 2014 sufficient research has also
been carried out to show that removing
cars from cities will go a long way to
removing a lot of air pollution removing
cars from sidewalks has human benefits
as well that certainly deserves another
dot connecting to the urban future trees
and if you think I’m dreaming look at
the vertical or urban forests that have
being built now across Europe in Holland
for example under construction at this
very minute in France atriums in
buildings that are being proposed and in
Asia trees at 33 storeys in height and
the new Amazon dome with enclosed
rainforests or the architect Stefano Bo
Aires first vertical forest complete
completed in Milan yeah Milan that’s
part of Tuscany again or his latest work
in China I did that too fast or his
latest work in China talking of a
reduction in air pollution he states
that cities have the opportunity to be
an integral part of their own solution
by increasing the number of trees and
forests the gill City Planning Institute
in Copenhagen Denmark published late
last year guidelines on urban planning
with the adage that people should be at
the center that’s Copenhagen could there
be a link in the Denmark could there be
a link to Denmark having some of the
happiest citizens in the world or is it
only about Scandinavian consensus
democracy the point of all of this is
that design and living in some form of
happiness is inextricably linked if we
accept that humans have this feeling
about happiness art design with or
without being able to define it clearly
that spells out that humans should be
involved in design therefore for an
urban future we need an involved dot now
in this new urban setting
what are the mega trends that designers
are working on
well trend one human powered vehicles a
hybrid combination of pedal power and
small electric motors these vehicles are
in existence today that needs an HP V
dot trend to self health care and
reversing obesity recent serious
scientific studies show there’s a big
link to good health and more cycling
that needs a dot doesn’t it for self
health care and then trend number three
is hydroponics growing food that we can
eat inside buildings that also needs
another dot now we’ve got a lot of dots
there so I’ll just add a couple more
human centered design is a mega trend in
itself the trends discussed here and the
subsequent reduction of cars in cities
less pollution and so on there will be
significant developments based on hybrid
human powered vehicles which in turn
leads to measurable health benefits
human powered vehicles also answers that
human need for freedom for happiness and
markedly less pollution in the future
cities freedom deserves a dot when
designers create something attractive
and functional we are likely to enjoy it
Christian Deportes on Park said I
believe that the best projects are about
inventing or reinventing confidence in
the future another dot customers are
people too
and finally customers are what drives
commerce at what it’s what pays the
bills
one way or another all important
connecting the design dots there they
all are how do we connect all of those
dots when overwhelming evidence connects
art to design and beauty how do all
these dots connect with each other in a
future city an engineer may connect the
dots in one way management may use a
more layered approach which is great for
their bureaucracy
a designer though will connect the dots
we’ve just talked about the future of
urban living and in something a little
more innovative a designer will seek to
create an object that both serves a
purpose and is attractive to the users
so what of the future well I’m going to
stand by the claim that the future
cities have a chance to be a lot happier
a lot greener and a lot more egalitarian
and a lot less polluted because
designers of that future are engaged
with people so far it is the designers
and the architects not the engineers and
the technologists the designers and
architects that have demonstrated the
greatest fascination with how people
interact with space as a designer what
is my contribution to the urban future
beyond education I’m working with hybrid
solution for urban mobility projects
because I can in a case in case it
wasn’t obvious these are examples
referred to in lightweight vehicles
hybrid human powered a last word on
Renaissance art Vista failure and Nissen
have just released their latest
campervan and guess what they are
calling it anybody want to guess no less
then
Michelangelo and you want to tell me
there’s no connection between
Renaissance art and cars there is you
should scroll a bit more there we go
Michelangelo and da Vinci in their time
they said I can because they could today
I can design lightweight vehicles for
the future thank you very much
[Applause] [Music]