Page 16 - CSA Speaker Bulletin September 2018 | CSA Celebrity Speakers

CSA SPEAKER BULLETIN INNOVATION
THE DYNAMIC
STREET
BY CARLO RATTI
International design and innovation
office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati
has worked with Alphabet’s
Sidewalk Labs in Toronto to design
The Dynamic Street, a prototype of a
modular and reconfigurable paving
system that hints at the possibility of on the street. This system is inspired
the streetscape seamlessly adapting
to people’s needs.
The project is based on Sidewalk
Labs’ extensive experience and
research into street design, and
affords visitors the ability to engage
with up-and-coming technology
concepts. The installation is at
Toronto’s Quayside 307, a former
industrial building converted into
the central office and experimental
workspace for Sidewalk Labs, and
is on view throughout the summer of
2018.
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The Dynamic Street features a series
of hexagonal modular pavers which
can be picked up and replaced
within hours or even minutes in order
to swiftly change the function of the
road without creating disruptions
by French research group IFSTTAR’s
pilot project on removable urban
pavement, underway in Nantes.
The project explores the different
patterns that can be created on
the hexagonal grid as well as the
integration of lights into individual
pavers. Each paver can also
potentially host a plug and play
element – that is, vertical structures
such as poles, bollards or even
basketball hoops.
Imagine a city street, nestled
between buildings with mostly
foot and bicycle traffic. During
the morning and evening hours,
there might be a steady stream of
commuters heading to work. In the
middle of the day and the evening,
families might use the street as a play Technology (MIT): “As autonomous
space. And on the weekend, the
street could be cleared for a block
party or a basketball game.
At the exhibition, visitors can engage
in the co-creation of the Dynamic
Street by playing on a digital
reconfigurator, to design urban
scenarios of their own.
“The installation is an experiment
and an area of active research, so
expect it to change as we learn
from feedback and tests. In this first
iteration, the pavers are made out
of wood so that we could quickly
mock something up and rapidly
change it – we would expect later
versions to be made of concrete or
other more resistant materials,” says
Chris Anderson, Urban Prototyper at
Sidewalk Labs, who adds: “We look
forward to visitors imagining new
types of urban activities for streets.”
“The Dynamic Street creates a
space for urban experimentation:
with this project, we aim to create a
streetscape that responds to citizens’
ever-changing needs,” says Professor
Carlo Ratti, founder of CRA practice
and Director of the Senseable City
Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of
vehicles are likely to start running
on streets soon, we can start to
imagine a more adaptable road
infrastructure.”