Architectural competition (2019)
Year 20xx. After decades of development in automated driving, the risk of collision with pedestrians has been eliminated, and the rise of car-share has reduced the number of automobiles. A reorganization of the street from a car-centric design to a pedestrian-centric one is proposed, with cars running between humans and buildings. The city of Kyoto becomes the first city to implement this system because of its grid structure that enables to adapt the design easily, and the need to produce bigger public spaces in view of the increasing tourism. This way, the urban space of Kyoto is brought back to pedestrians, reminding of the Edo period.
Because of the huge increase in public space, it is impossible for public entities to manage all of it, leading to the introduction of a new breed of spaces, the ‘On Demand Public Space’. This space can range from front-yards to public street space. Users access to an app through their smartphones and can easily rent a space on demand. Offering a wide range of sizes and locations, the On Demand Public Spaces are suitable for many different purposes, from art exhibitions to yoga conventions. This way, users can enjoy public life however they want whenever they want, without being subject to the constraints of ‘fixed’ public space.
The extended network of public spaces calls for a new public mobility, based on a smaller-scale network than trains or buses. In order to do this, ‘Jihanki’(自販機) or vending machines are developed into ‘stops’ to which an automated public vehicle will come by just pressing a button, taking users through a route of ‘Jihankis’. The reason for choosing vending machines as stops is that there is an existing delivery path than connects them in a small scale, and as they are ubiquitous it is possible to stop almost anywhere in the city. Apart from that, vending machines could also be used as charging spots.
With Pablo Ruiz Dorronsoro, Satavee Kijsanayotin