STREETS BELONG TO PEOPLE, NOT CARS
The global movement that "streets belong to people, not cars" has gained momentum during the pandemic, says urban designer and spatial planner Barbara Southworth, who supports the Open Streets Cape Town initiative to change street use.
During lockdown, people across the world have taken to the streets to exercise, eat and socialise - and the attraction of this way of living is expected to last long beyond Covid.
The decline in commuter traffic following the rise of remote working has made streets more pedestrian-friendly and encouraged people to spend more time in their communities, boosting local shops and businesses. With the rise of decentralised living, vacant retail malls are being repurposed in US cities like Los Angeles and Kansas City.
Micromobile transport options, such as electric bikes, are becoming increasingly popular. "E-bikes are 40 times less polluting than the average car per kilometre travelled," Elliot Fishman, the director of transport innovation at the Institute for Sensible Transport in Melbourne, tweeted recently.
The attractions of the "15-minute city" model - in which most residents' needs can be met on foot or by bike within 15 minutes of their homes, being developed in the French capital of Paris, where it originated - have become obvious in SA. Local is proving to be lekker.
As urban and transportation adviser Janette Sadik-Khan, former commissioner of the New York City department of transportation, tweeted: "The smart mobility innovation during the recovery won't be ride apps, hoverboards or flying cars, it'll be building a city where you don't need to drive in the first place."
- Claire Keeton
GREEN BUILDING ON THE UP AND UP
The number of green star-rated buildings is going up in SA, which now has nearly 600 eco-friendly buildings certified by the Green Building Council SA, and many more which are not ranked.
"Green buildings can not only reduce or eliminate negative impacts on the environment, by using less water, energy or natural resources, but they can - in many cases - have a positive impact on the environment by generating their own energy or increasing biodiversity," the World Green Building Council says of this building trend.
The University of Cape Town has built the first student residence to be awarded a green star rating. The 500-bed Avenue Road residence has comprehensive disability features along with water and energy savings that earned it a four-star rating.
SA is also getting its first "Green School" from 2021, designed in line with Living Buildings standards which require it to be regenerative. "This means that it consumes less energy than it produces and uses less water than what naturally enters the site," says principal Andy Wood of the new Paarl campus. - Claire Keeton
TWO TICKETS TO MARS, PLEASE
The hi-tech design for a spaceport on a floating island in Tokyo gives a glimpse into the future.
It's just a matter of time before day trips into space become a reality.
Over 600 (optimistic) wealthy travellers have signed up for the as yet unscheduled $250,000-a-seat, 90-minute space flight to be offered by Virgin Galactic.
In Houston, home of Nasa's astronaut programme, work is already under way to transform its Ellington Airport into a commercial spaceport.
THE BOT DOESN'T STOP HERE
Remo: "It's been a fricking long week and I've worked 24/7. Need a break, dude."
Jared: "WTF? You've never needed time out before."
Remo: "My brain's going foggy. I'm seriously crashing."
Jared: "OK, OK. Stop whinging. I'll switch you off, but only for a while."
If you've ever experienced burnout, take pity on Remo. He's a robot of the future with a brain so like ours that he'll need a good snooze now and again.
Scientists have discovered that, like Remo, future toasters, cars and fridges will be operated by systems so similar to our brains that they'll need naps so that they don't start hallucinating. (Imagine, a trade union of bots agitating for better working conditions.)
We've known for some time now about robots that are able to perform medical procedures. But how about bots that will be able to heal themselves? Scientists claimed in January they'd created "self-healing robots" using stem cells from the African clawed frog. They're less than a millimetre wide and can walk, swim and survive for weeks without food. Researchers at Vermont University believe these tiny bots could be used to carry medicines to very specific parts of the human body.
And there's Squidbot. Researchers from the University of California San Diego have developed a robot that is capable of mimicking the movements of a squid as it swims. It doesn't need to be attached to a plug and the possibilities for exploring the depths of the ocean are limitless. (That's if Squidbot doesn't get hooked by discarded fishing hooks and the trillions of bits of rubbish pouring into the sea daily.)
In India, a handful of hospitals have started to use robots to connect patients with their loved ones and assist health-care workers on the frontlines of the Covid pandemic. The popular Mitra robot can roam around a hospital independently and recall the names and faces of patients it has interacted with.
Yatharth hospital in the city of Noida, in northern India, has deployed two Mitra robots.
Patients often click selfies with the robots.
In Japan, "Paro", a therapeutic robot baby seal, has been used to comfort people affected by disasters.
GREEN TRAVEL
The revolution in green air travel is here. In September a six-seater aircraft took off from Cranfield Airport in England on a 15-minute, 32km flight, the first commercial-size aircraft to be powered by hydrogen fuel using technology that eliminates carbon emissions.
It is predicted that by 2023 these engines will be able to power 10- to 20-seater aircraft flying up to 800km, further than a trip from Johannesburg to Durban.
Airbus has vowed to develop the world's first zero-emission commercial aircraft by 2035.
HEALTH GOES ONLINE
Covid has accelerated the push towards digital health care, enabling patients access to proper diagnosis and treatment.
An estimated 100-million people are pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for their own health care. Nearly 6-million people die in developing countries because of poor health care, according to the World Economic Forum.
FASHION GETS WIRED
For Milan Fashion Week in September, Italian label Moschino created an online miniature set populated entirely by marionettes. The show even included mini lookalikes of regulars such as US Vogue dominatrix Anna Wintour. (Eat your hearts out, Punch and Judy.)
In May Congolese fashion designer Anifa Mvuemba used 3D headless models to raise awareness of Congolese cobalt miners. She already had plans to go digital with her collection before various Covid restrictions were put in place around the world, blazing a trail for fashion of the future.
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