Mobility

Creative Collisions: Mobility, The City, and New Ideas

Presented at Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) 2017

Introduction:

The majority of innovation is generated in cities. The city is an agglomerative space, creates the possibility of interactions. The city can be described as a dynamic, changing place that relies on a complex network of people, processes, and infrastructure. With the introduction of shared private mobility options and on demand transportation access to mobility, options have increased. An increase in mobility options in a city could be the catalyst that increases the rate of interactive collisions, sparking new ideas, and as a result improve social and economic conditions.

Previous work on the relationship between mobility and opportunity focuses on urban mobility as informed by urban form and the relationship between economic activity and urban form. Far less work has been done on the relationship between intra-urban mobility and the generation of new ideas.

I conjecture that a relationship exists between mobility options and the creation of new ideas. Mobility is essential for accessing a wide range of opportunities in modern society, but also for accessing other people and their ideas. New ideas are generated by interactions. These interactions occur because of an individual’s mobility, or the ability to move physically. Personal mobility facilitates this interaction between people. Individuals can become excluded from economic and social activity as a result of the lack of mobility and access to opportunities. Greater numbers of interactions between people, or “collisions,” generate new ideas. The increase of mobility options will increase the collisions in a city.

The increase in mobility options created by the gig economy are the catalyst for the exchange and ultimate creation of new ideas. And while the literature is focused on urban features, the act of being mobile is largely left out of the conversation. The introduction of mobility options, through ride-sourcing, ride -sharing, and car-sharing can potentially act as a catalyst for new ideas in a region.