Book of the Month: Urban Mobility
Urban Mobility: How the iPhone, COVID, and Climate Changed Everything by Shauna Brail and Betsy Donald examines shifts in urban mobility with a focus on technological disruption, pandemic-induced travel change, and the climate crisis in twenty-first century Canadian cities.
Urban Mobility sheds light on mobility in twenty-first-century Canadian cities. The book explores the profound changes associated with technological innovation, pandemic-induced impacts on travel behavior, and the urgent need for mobility to respond meaningfully to the climate crisis.
Featuring contributions from leading Canadian and American scholars and researchers, this edited collection traverses disciplines including geography, engineering, management, policy studies, political science, and urban planning. Chapters illuminate novel research findings related to a variety of modes of mobility, including public transit, e-scooters, bike-sharing, ride-hailing, and autonomous vehicles. Contributors draw out the connections between urban challenges, technological change, societal need, and governance mechanisms. The collection demonstrates why the smart phone, COVID-19, and climate present a crucial lens through which we can understand the present and future of urban mobility. The way we move in cities has been disrupted and altered because of technological innovation, the lingering impacts of COVID-19, and efforts to reduce transport-related emissions.
Urban Mobility concludes that the path forward requires good public policy from all levels of government, working in partnership with the private sector and non-profits to direct and address the best urban mobility framework for Canadian cities.
Reviews
“In bringing together the multiple disruptions that have shaped urban mobility over past decades, Urban Mobility insightfully outlines how digital and green transitions not only influence how people and goods will move around cities but also shape urban form, urban economies, and the prospects for equitable cities. And it is a timely reminder of how much urban scholars and policy makers can learn from Canadian cities and Canadian research.” ― Robyn M. Dowling, Dean of the School of Architecture, Design, and Planning, University of Sydney
“Brail and Donald have assembled an interdisciplinary set of essays that make an important and timely contribution towards understanding how recent technologies, infectious disease, and climate change are shaping life in Canadian cities. This collection is a must-read for scholars in geography, urban studies, planning, and social justice, as well as for activists and policy makers who are concerned about the challenges we collectively face in making mobility more equitable and sustainable.” ― Sarah Moser, Associate Professor of Geography, McGill University