Eco-Friendly Technologies, Rural Development And Transport

Most governments are currently dealing with the contradiction of tackling climate change and other ecological challenges while maintaining economic growth. In December this year governments from around the world will gather in Cancun, Mexico to discuss how these challenges and contradictions can be addressed at the UN conference on climate change Guardian 15 Oct 2010.

One such challenge is the fact that in many emerging economies a significant proportion of the population still living in rural poverty. The poverty and lack of opportunity in these regions is causing a wave of urbanization that is placing increasing pressure on urban infrastructures and contributing to social, ecological and economic instability. Guardian 17 Jan 2007 As a result of such instability and contractions, many governments in emerging economies are concerned with developing rural regions into economically and ecologically self sustaining communities to stem migration to urban areas, for the time being at least, and to offer alternative and more resilient paths of development than those that have been experienced in economically developed countries Guardian 15 Oct 2010.

It is perhaps fitting that the very place where the UN conference on climate change will be held is itself engaged in alternative development pathways for rural areas that will have postive impacts on the climate, environment and health. The Mexican government, for example, has recently been promoting a set of simple, cheap and more eco-friendly technologies that can be used in poor rural areas. These technologies include the solar water purifier, the waterless toilet that also converts human excrement into fertilizer and drinking water, the solar food dehydrator, and efficient wood burning stoves.

What is less commented on is the potentially massive impact these technologies could have on transport demand. Rural areas in large emerging economies are increasingly dependent on the transport of nearly everything- medicine, money, fertilizer, food and water. These technologies have the potential to reduce the flows of these products either by mitigating the need for a certain product (e.g. by promoting healthy living and therefore reducing the demand for medicine) or by facilitating the sourcing of local produce (as with water, food and fertilizer). Furthermore, by creating more ecologically and economically sustainable communities the rural to urban migration pattern, which itself creates a significant transport demand, will also be stemmed.

The Impact of a Four Day Working Week on Travel Demand

Until recently the characteristic Monday to Friday, 40 hour, 9-5 work schedule dominated modern business practices in the rich West. A number of factors helped shape this temporal schedule including Judeo-Christian holy days, the conventions and standards advocated by the International Labour Organisation set up in 1919 and the business practices of iconic capitalists such as Henry Ford. Such business schedules have impacted on many other practices in everyday life, conditioning the times and places people shop for groceries, rest, eat meals and importantly commute to work.

In terms of the work commute the standardisation of the work schedule has had the unintended consequence of creating peak traffic times and rush hours. The rush hour has been exacerbated further still by an increase in the average distance people travel to work, partly as a result of urban sprawl and the growth of out-of-town business parks. (Gallup 24 August 2007)

However, recent calls for restructuring the working week to four days, primarily to maintain employment levels and to reduce business costs in times of austerity (see Times Online 11 February 2009 for recent trend), may have huge unintended impacts on travel demand derived from the commute to work. For example, in the state of Utah, USA there are trails currently being conducted to assess the impacts of reducing the working week to four days. What has emerged is that overall employees are more satisfied, business costs are reduced and importantly transport demand is reduced. An interim report by the Utah government posited that shutting down buildings on Friday would be “the equivalent of taking about 2,300 cars off the road for one year". (Scientific American 24 July 2009)

The New Economics Foundation, a British left-wing think tank, also emphasises the social and environmental benefits of a four day week. (BBC News 13 February 2010) The additional impacts on travel demand from a four day week, however, have yet to be fully addressed.

Changing the temporal schedules of work is, of course, facilitated by technological innovation and development that has allowed working hours to be reduced while productivity is maintained (Guardian 10 November 2007) or in some cases increased. (Irish Times 5 July 2010) Future developments in technology may continue to increase productivity, reducing the demand for labour hours and thus having the potential to further reduce the transport demand derived from commuting to work in the future.

Dattoos and Travel

Imagine a world where you no longer need a wallet, smart-card, keys, bank-card, mobile; even laptop! Once viewed from this angle, Frog Design's dattoos, or interface-enabled printable tattoos, can seem like a huge jump in user-interface technologies. Gizmodo 10 November 2009

According to Frog Design Dattoos promise:

DNA-reader and identification technology; nanosensors and interactive "touch reading" for finger tips (Braille); pattern and image recognition; self-learning and educational applications; living materials that change shape and feel; flexible OLED displays; full voice interaction, directional laser speakers; bionic nano chips; and cyborg components.

Sure, it would make life easier not to have to carry a slew of objects all the time. And the benefits in terms of security surely outweigh any negatives, for instance arms scrawled with designer ink. Indeed bloggers seem to love the idea of crossing fashion with technology. Tom's Guide 26 August 2010 But what are the implications for travel?

We need to talk here about smart cards. The idea of a one-stop-shop for transport ticketing is the holy grail of intelligent infrastructure, but has only been adopted by a handful of world cities. Many have been beset by contract disputes, operational and privacy issues, and of course funding problems. But what if, instead of printing out a boarding pass on paper, you simply stuck it to your arm? More ambitious possibilities could be surfing the web, booking tickets, and checking timetables on a digital display tattooed on your arm. Ergonomic? Perhaps not, but certainly not such a dead-weight in your pocket as a smart-phone.

The Transport Potentials of Mindflex

One of the first widely known consumer technologies to use electroencephalography (EEG) is the Mattel Mindflex. The device allows the wearer of a special headset to control the motor of a little fan that levitates a ball through a number of different obstacles. How does it work? The device reads brain activity and interprets it into an electrical signal. While commercial EEG headsets have been patented and are available the Mindflex makes this technology affordable and also, albeit mildly, fun.
Of course, circuit benders have been quick to experiment with the devices. One notorious 'mod' is the Harcos Labs' hacked Mindflex that offers volunteers a not-so-mild electric shock when the wearer of the headset focuses/loses concentration. Slashgear 5 March 2010 In a similar fashion Robert Schneider has hacked the Mindflex into the Teletron to create a musical controller for synthesizers, which allows control over pitch through brain activity. Gadgetell 8 September 2010 And a student at Georgia Tech in the US, Hunter Scott, has created from a Star Wars EEG toy - very similar to the Mindflex - a sample-playing instrument called the Mental Note. Interestingly, this toy includes a serial out port left over from the development stage on the circuit-board that easily interfaces with computers.

More mainstream applications are also being prototyped. Emotiv systems have pioneered the Epoc: a brainwave interface for computers. Similarly, the PLX Devices XWave makes it possible to control an iPhone through your thoughts and purchase tailored apps as they are developed.

There are also many travel technologies around us that could be altered to work with brain activity: traffic crossings, car-doors, the play/stop button on music players. The altering of the built environment to interact with the headsets could open up a whole new realm of possibilities in terms of interactivity (and inactivity!). More ambitiously the same technology developed in the Mindflex is being prototyped to control helicopters and other airborne vehicles. Flight Global 20 September 2010 As EEG technology becomes further exploited in novelty consumer devices as well as gaming and computing, unintended transport and travel consequences are bound to emerge. The next gen of these products could be imagined to translate signals from not only brain activity, but moods.