Mitchell, William J. (MIT Smart Cities, E14-433D)

Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century - Reinventing the Automobile Mitchell, William J. (MIT Smart Cities, E14-433D)

Commendation Quotes: Mitchell, Borroni-Bird, and Burns have created a blueprint for sustainable urban mobility. "Reinventing the Automobile" will fundamentally change the way we approach transportation design. Every car company should take note: evolve or face increasing irrelevance. Review Quotes: It isn't technological barriers so much as closed minds that are holding back the necessary evolution of the automobile; using calm and devastatingly inarguable logic, this is a virtual step-by-step manual that deploys an original idea on every page to show exactly how it can and should be achieved. If you care about cars, read this book: it opens your mind and lets the future in.--Bruce McCall, artist and writer ""The New Yorker" "Review Quotes: Visionary in its totality, it is also soberly realistic.--Peter D. Norton ""Metascience" "Commendation Quotes: In this book, William Mitchell, perhaps the greatest urban theorist and designer of the Information Age, provides a concrete alternative to the unsustainable model of urban transportation based on the traditional automobile, and paves the way for the transformation of the automobile industry as a whole. In this time of crisis "Reinventing the Automobile" is mandatory reading, besides researchers and students, for planners, industrialists, and governments searching for a way out for the car of the industrial era. Commendation Quotes: Our American auto industry is at a perilous crossroads - it can adhere to the 'old ways' and perish or it can leapfrog the competition, reinvent itself, and lead the automotive world into the 21st century. Many of the ideas set forth in this book just might serve as a blueprint for this much-needed and important change of direction. Who better to lead the way than our geek brethren from MIT?Commendation Quotes: We are at the threshold of a new era of urban transport. "Reinventing the Automobile" offers a breathtaking vista of the opportunities ahead. Mitchell, Borroni-Bird, and Burns combine their great engineering expertise, design skills, and practical experience to create a dazzling vision of a new urban transport system to support healthy, productive, safe, and environmentally sustainable cities in the 21st century. The book is consistently exciting, a wonderful chance to peer over the shoulders of masters as they sort through the complex terrain of energy systems, urban lifestyles, digital connectivity, and cutting-edge automotive engineering. This book will fascinate and inspire not only specialists in transport and engineering, but everybody interested in the new age of sustainable development. Commendation Quotes: Finally, a book that addresses the problems of carbon emissions, sustainability, transportation, city planning, and traffic, by authors who understand what the automobile industry does not -- that these issues are all interconnected and part of the same picture. This book has a great deal to offer to anyone who is interested in the green movement in architecture, in city planning, in traffic problems, in pollution, and in the challenge of making our planet more humane. Review Quotes: Presents a fascinating and challenging model of technological possibilities.--Martin Wachs ""Issues in Science and Technology" "

Contributor Bio:  Mitchell, William J William J. Mitchell was the Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr., Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences and directed the Smart Cities research group at MIT's Media Lab. Contributor Bio:  Borroni-Bird, Chris E Christopher Borroni-Bird is GM's Director of Advanced Technology Vehicle Concepts. Contributor Bio:  Burns, Lawrence D Lawrence D. Burns advises companies, governments, and universities on transportation, energy, and communications systems and technology. He was Vice President of Research and Development at General Motors from 1998 to 2009.