People powered movement can reconnect us

Today’s contribution to THE FUTURE WE WANT is by Xavier Brice, CEO of the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust.  

Imagine a device that could move us from a-to-b instantly and effortlessly. One that took up hardly any space, produced no emissions or pollutants, in fact no apparent negative impact at all (‘externalities’ as they are known in the transport evaluation world). In short, a teleporter. The perfect transportation technology.

At first it seems alluring. What’s not to like?

Traffic – gone. The tension between place and movement that makes planning how traffic flows through towns and cities – gone.  Transport as one of the biggest contributors to global warming and air pollution – gone. Time wasted travelling – gone. The need to chauffeur children around to after school activities and parties – gone. Pop them in the teleporter and job done.

But would it really be so great?

No, I don’t think so; not at all. The teleporter fantasy lies at the heart of how we have become accustomed to think about transport and movement.

The teleporter described above would ace any transport business-case. Zero journey-time and no externalities to worry about. It is the perfect transport technology. The ur-transport tech. Arguably every bit of transport technology is trying to be the teleporter – from high-speed trains to electric scooters, MaaS (mobility-as-a-service) apps and flying cars – making journeys as quick, convenient and least disruptive as possible. So, this concept of the teleporter is not simply a thought experiment. If we accept it as the inevitable (but unattainable) goal of progress in transport, then it helps us examine our underlying beliefs about transport and movement. Are these beliefs preparing us to live and move well together in the future? Spoiler alert, no, they are not.

The fundamental belief driving the teleporter fantasy is that getting from a-to-b is part of the drudgery of human existence. Something to be optimised away, or at the very least made as easy and as quick as possible. But as Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘there is more to life than speeding it up’. As Pete Dyson and Rory Sutherland have written about wonderfully in Transport for Humans, the journey experience really matters. Comfort and pleasure can be at least as important as speed and convenience. I would go further. Our journeys are an opportunity to reconnect us.

Movement is fundamental to being human. We are beings that exist – and move – in time and space, with all the joy and friction that comes with this. From negotiating how we share space with others to the reality of our constantly aging bodies. We are physical beings. Less metaphysically, physical presence and movement have huge positive impacts on our physical health and wellbeing. From meeting in person, to the power of a hug, to all the growing evidence around the health and wellbeing benefits of walking.

Our global transport networks are incredible. Our virtual connections are greater than at any point in history. And yet, it’s a well-evidenced fact that we are far more disconnected than before – from each other, from where we live, from nature, and from ourselves. Loneliness is on the rise. We increasingly live in virtual bubbles, communicating with people who hold the same views, developing and reinforcing beliefs based on information tailored for us. The town hall and the market-place are online. Volunteering and other markers of community connection are in decline. Mental illness at an unprecedented level.

The imminent future of personal mobility – the driverless car – which is being enabled as fast as possible, encapsulates this irony in a single vehicle. To function, the driverless car needs to be one of the most connected pieces of technology in the world, plastered with cameras and sensors to interpret the world around it. To what end? Well, to enable those inside it to be as disconnected from the world around it as possible.

Movement can reconnect us. When we travel, we come across other people, we move in and through places, we can encounter nature and the world around us. And we can reconnect with ourselves – not for nothing is the road-trip in film and fiction often a narrative for self-discovery. But some forms of transport reconnect us more than others – starting with a simple walk to the shops.

When we go out into the world on foot, we move at a human-pace. We are exposed to the air, to the weather, to all the noise around us. Make that same journey in a car, and we are literally in a metal box, boxes increasingly hermetic, sealed off from the outside world. When I walk to the shops, I might see people I know, I’ll say hello – a form of connection. If I’ve time, I might stop for a quick chat. When I drive, any car in front of me is traffic, and more specifically, it’s in my way. It’s like the difference between a face-to-face conversation and an exchange in the comments section online. The first is human and can drive greater understanding and connection. The second is alienating, reinforcing whatever habits or beliefs we already hold, and is almost always about coming out on top – or getting their first.

I’m not a luddite. I own a car and use it. I use social media. The issue isn’t the technology. It’s the unquestioned use and enabling of that technology without asking “to what end”. And if the end is simply to speed things up and make them more convenient, well, that’s not good enough. That’s not an end in itself – back to that Gandhi quote.

The question must be how do we want to live. And as moving is living, how do we want to move.  The short answer, is that we should aim to live and move well together. In a way that connects us to ourselves and those things bigger than ourselves: other people, place, and nature.

I want to live in a way that connects me to the people around me. When I take the train I enjoy meeting new people. I’ve met some amazing people in this way, and enjoyed some great conversations. Okay, so I don’t enjoy people playing TikTok videos out-loud on their phone. But such is living alongside other people in all its messiness. The answer is not to retreat into private space for all movement.

I want to live in a way that connects me to place. When I walk through a town I take in buildings, I can read plaques that say something about the history of where I am.  I look in shop windows. I might buy something spontaneously. When I cycle on a traffic-free path I am surrounded by greenery. Waiting at a railway station I’ll hear the birds in the trees. I have every opportunity to realise that life is bigger than me and that I am connected to it. This is all rather hard to do from inside a car or on the short walk from front door to car door.

And finally, I want to live in a way that connects me to me. If I go for a walk or a cycle, it clears my head. It gives me space to think. And I always feel better afterwards. I’m not the only one, as the overwhelming evidence on the wellbeing benefits of active travel attest.

So what? First, what this isn’t about:  I am definitely not saying private cars should be banned. I’m not saying that slow is always good and that speed is immoral. Sometimes, we really do just need to get from a-to-b as quickly as possible.

What I’m asking for is that we are more mindful of how we move. That rather than aiming to vaporise time and space we embrace the physicality of movement and the opportunity it presents for us to reconnect to the people, places and world around us. And you can start by taking a walk.

As the strapline of Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, the Charity that I am proud to lead, states. “We need people-powered movement. Walking, wheeling and cycling might sound like small actions. But they add up to something much, much bigger. They ripple out and change everything.”

This article is based on the speech Xavier gave at THE TABULA PROJECT Roundtable Discussion Building a New Paradigm.  A full write up of the roundtable discussion series can be found here.