Publisher: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Editor: Henry Grabar, ISBN: 9781942884453, Format: Paperback, 124pp
With the promise of delivery drones, personal helicopters, and groceries delivered right to your refrigerator, one might think we are living in the best of transportation times. Most city commuters would be quick to tell you otherwise. This title, the third volume in the SOM Thinkers series, asks if these new modes, methods and system of transportation are all they are cut out to be, and if maybe the remedies to our transportation woes are already hiding in plain and present sight.Of all the technological interventions continuously inserted into our daily travels, which ones will last? Is ride-sharing here to stay? In ten years will we all be taking autonomous vehicles to work? Will traffic as we know it cease to exist? While this volume makes no promises or predictions, it does take a step back from the hype of the new to explore what might seem like yesterday's solutions: buses, bikes and even trains.The Future of Transportation is the third volume in the SOM Thinkers series, conceived by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. SOM Thinkers originated from a desire to start a public conversation about the built environment. Rather than frame the subject in the expected "professional" language, the series poses today's most pressing questions about design and architecture in a bold and accessible way.