Epidemic and mobility. A New Paradigm for mobility plans after the Covid-19 crisis

Abstract

Covid-19 epidemic is likely to hasten some significant ongoing developments in physical mobility policies. Among them: (a) the shift from internal combustion to electric engines for cars and buses will break the close relationship between air pollution and traffic; (b) the social physical-distancing requirements will weaken the competitiveness of mass transportation and will imply a different city form; (c) the diffusion of self-driving cars and driver-assistance technologies will considerably affect mobility and urban plans. Hence, we need to revise a century-old approach based on the assumption that more mobility is always welcome and accept that coping with our daily urban problems does not necessarily require “going somewhere” and instead it is possible to have “something brought” to where we stay. The approach proposed calls for a “mobility deflation”.