Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia

Join us for a lecture and discussion launching the recently published book monograph Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia (AR+D), authored by architect, urbanist, and Assistant Professor at the New York Institute of Technology, Evan Shieh (M.AUD ‘19). The lecture will be followed by a moderated discussion by Felipe Correa (M.AUD ‘03) of Somatic Collaborative, with an audience Q&A.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are appearing on our roads, representing the next technological disruption to our mobility systems. While their long-term spatial implications remain largely underestimated, this book argues that AVs offer a major opportunity to rethink our city’s built environments – with profound implications on urban life since automobiles replaced horse-powered travel and changed the design of cities in the prior century. However, driverless vehicles also risk reinforcing many of the negative effects of auto-based urbanism including urban sprawl, single-function infrastructure, congestion, and environmental degradation. Instead, this book proposes a driverless…