KAY’SCORNER
10 APRIL2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE
Welcome to the future
HHHENEWSATthemomentisn’t
fuuun, with items on high pollution
levvvelsoncitystreets,failinghigh
streetswithemptyshops,and
coooncernsaboutclimatechange.
Atttthesametime,hugeamounts
offfmoneyare beingdedicated to
neeewtrainlinesandairport
ruuunwayssopeoplecanmove
abbboutmoreeasily.Therehasto
beeeabetterway,arethinkabout
hooowweliveand work. Forastart,
hhhyarewecreatingmoreways
tooomovepeoplebetweenhome
andwork,fromcitytocity,when
we couldmovedata instead?
One interesting idea that’s
exploringthe useoftechnology
to improveliving conditionsis
Woven City,asustainable
mini-city on a175-acre former
factory siteinthe city of Susono
in Japan. TheToyota motor
company is behindthe scheme,
and the peopleliving in the city
will be Toyota employees and
their families, along withretirees
and hordes of researchers.
Everythinginthe city will use
new andemergingtechnologies,
and artificial intelligencebuilt in
from the beginning. The idea is
that people,buildings and
vehicles willall be connected
through data andsensors. If it
sounds like theplotofascience
fiction novel, thereality is that
thebuilding workwillstartnext
year,and manyofthe moresci-fi
sounding elements willbeseen in
actual use at theTokyo Olympics.
Woven Cityhas been designed
by Danish firm BjarkeIngels
Group(BIG), whichalso designed
Google’s headquarters in London
and California. BIG is also behind
an even wackierdesignwith the
UN calledOceanix City,a
“resilient and sustainable floating
cityfor 10,000 people”.That
designisexploring options in
responsetothepredictionthat
by 2050 ,90%oftheworld’s
largest cities willbeatrisk
because of rising sealevels.
WEAVEHO
Back on drylandwithWoven
City,the ‘woven’bit of thename
comes from the fact that there
will be three typesofroads:
those forfaster vehicles only,
promenadesfor low-speed
personal mobility vehiclesand
pedestrians, andalinear parkfor
peopleand nature.These will be
woveninto3x3 city blocks, each
framingacourtyard that is
accessible only fromthe linear
park or promenades. Theweaving
together is designedtoaccelerate
the testing of autonomous and
personal mobility vehicles(you
didn’t think Toyota was doingthis
just forbrownie points, didyou?).
Only fully autonomous,
zero-emissionvehicles will be
allowed on the faster roads,and
these (Toyota’se-Palettes) will
handleall transportation,
deliveriesand ‘mobile retail’.
You’ll be abletosee e-Palettes in
action at the TokyoOlympics this
year,whenafleet will runona
continuous loop around the
Olympic and Paralympic Villages.
Toyota e-scooters and wheelchairs
will also be in useatthe Olympics
by security and medical staff.
Woven City goesalotfurther
than being atestingground for
Toyota’s newelectronic vehicles,
though. The buildings will largely
be made of wood so the carbon
footprintofthe cityisminimised,
and power will be generated by a
mixofhydrogenfuelcells and
solarpower panelsonrooftops.
Eachcityblockisamix of
living and workingspaces,with
the infrastructure of thecity
below ground, including power
storage and water filtration
systems. Anetwork forgoods
delivery (autonomous, natch) will
be constructed below ground
connecting directlytothe
buildings above,and hydroponics
will be usedtogrowfood.
Houseswillhavebuilt-in
sensorstomonitoreverything
fromthehealthofpeopleliving
theretowhethertheirfridges
needrefilling.Robotswillhandle
domestic tasks, take care of basic
needs and‘enhance daily life’.
TESTINGGROUND
Alongside Toyota employees, the
city will be aliving laboratoryfor
researchers to test and develop
smarttechnologiesfor autonomy,
robotics and allelements of
smarthomes. The designers
intend to test connected AI
technology in boththe virtual
and physicalenvironments.
Theproject raises some
interesting questions. Forastart,
Iwonder how they’ll pickthe
Toyota employees to work there.
Can you imagine the meeting
withHRwhereyou’retoldyou’re
moving to anew city with sensors
checking your every breath,
researchers everywhere, andeven
no self-drivencars? Then,from a
practicalviewpoint, how would
you ever expand somewhere like
this? It wouldmakeCrossrail and
HS2 look like child’s play.
To be fair,thisisabig
experiment,and it highlights the
fact that much of theway our
existingtowns and cities have
developed no longer matches the
waywelive and work.People
spending hours commuting;
vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians
sharing streets; towns centred
aroundshoppingstreets when
retail is increasinglyonline–if
you were startingfrom scratch,
would you do it like this?Itbrings
to mind the old jokesabout
someoneaskingfor directions in
aremotelocation, beinggiven
the reply:‘Well, if Iwereyou,I
wouldn’t start from here’.
Theproblemisour towns and
citiesare already built, and
making any change is complex.
So Woven Cityisworthwatching.
If it can show ways to make our
towns and cities better to live in,
withcleverer useoftechnology,
we mightall benefit.
KAYEWBANK
SoftwareguruandShopperlegend
[email protected]
Anew cityinJapanisharnessing moderntechnologytocreatesustainable living
spacesforthe 21st century. KayEwbankasksifit couldchangethe waywelive
Everything in the citywill use newand
emerging technologies and AI
