Future Forward

Seyi Fabode (00:09)
Hello, hello, hello Reza, how are you today?

Reza (00:12)
I'm good Seyi how are you doing?

Seyi Fabode (00:14)
I am doing very well. I am excited as always about another episode of Future Forward.

Reza (00:20)
Yeah, Seyi and today's interesting one, know, we're taking a slight detour. We're gonna talk about an interesting topic of, you know, unintended consequences of changes in cities or otherwise known as curb cut effects in cities. ⁓ So before we jump into it, Seyi, I'm gonna welcome our listeners and tell them a little bit about Future Forward. Thank you for our

Seyi Fabode (00:36)
Yes.

Please.

Reza (00:45)
regular listeners for joining us again and welcome to our new listeners. Future Forward is a conversation that Shae and I have been having for many years. We love to talk about systems, we would talk about cities, we would talk about these types of topics that we're about to touch on today in fact, ⁓ about consequences, unintended consequences. In this case, these are positive ones. And we love to talk about the trade-offs and feedback of systems.

Seyi Fabode (01:02)
Yeah.

Reza (01:10)
And we come to these episodes with curiosity. We typically sort of pick a topic, talk about the history, talk about the present, provide some strategic foresight. We're gonna do something similar today with these topics by talking about the history and the present, but with a slight twist about talking about these unintended consequences. And so I'm excited to jump in, Shade. This one's a really interesting take.

Seyi Fabode (01:32)
It

is, it is, it is. And to our listeners, we love reading books on cities as well. Some of you, our listeners, you've probably experienced this as we reference a few books on the show. And the idea for this show, I'll confess, came from a chapter on curb cuts in the 99 % Invisible City, which is a book by Roman Mars and

Kurt Kohlstedt who are, Mars is the host of the 99 % Invisible podcast, one of my favorite podcasts, honestly. And Kurt Kohlstedt is, I believe, one of the editors, if not a co-host. And shout out to Roman Mars. We're hoping you.

come on our podcast one day, we'll make it happen. It'll be a great, I promise. And so we start with curb cuts, the one unintended consequence of a thing that we now really take for granted in our cities. And the history here is that the curb cut revolution began in the late 1960s when disabled activists at UC Berkeley

They were called the Rolling Quads and no guesses for why that was the name. A group of students with mobility disabilities took direct action against the problem of inaccessible infrastructure on the campus. started on the campus. Frustrated by sidewalks that effectively trapped wheelchair users. You couldn't get up the sidewalk in your wheelchair because it just stopped, went up and then

continued and these activists organized guerrilla style interventions, sledgehammers, bags of concrete and they created makeshift ramps at intersections throughout the city of Berkeley. They started on the campus but then did it throughout the city of Berkeley.

This quite bold activism, and guess it was the 1960s, everything was acceptable in the 1960s, I guess, but caught public attention and it demonstrated the practical need for accessible design.

Reza (03:36)
You

Seyi Fabode (03:43)
The grassroots pressure proved successful when the city of Berkeley became the first city to systematically install curb cuts in 1971. And they set the precedent for nationwide adoption of this approach. The rolling quads laid the groundwork for...

broader disability rights and the movement they initiated can be felt in some of the other urban projects that have come to serve not just the original proponents but the rest of us. So, curb cuts are legally required now. The Americans with Disabilities Act, it mandates the installation of new construction and

renovation projects where you don't have proper slope ratios to allow individuals with wheelchairs or otherwise unable to get through intersections. And then the one thing that I hadn't really noticed until I read the book was the

tactile warning surfaces, those bumpy elements of the curb cuts and the adequate width specifications that exist as well. It's all around the country, retrofits of sidewalks, municipalities, making sure these are part of every single intersection you see, and we all benefit from it. This is now a universal design.

Reza (04:48)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Seyi Fabode (05:13)
you and I otherwise able we even even when I'm not paying attention when I start to fill the slope and those bumps I know I'm getting close to the street and imagine at night when you're walking on the sidewalk how much of a benefit you gain if there's no no power on or no light light on

Reza (05:22)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Seyi Fabode (05:40)
Juggers, runners prefer the gentler grade of the curb cut. Cause when you're running on the side of the road, you don't want to be, to jar your ankles by just coming from one surface to the other. That incline allows you to get a gentler grade change as you run. It's a powerful metaphor for just benefits of

Reza (05:56)
Mm.

Seyi Fabode (06:09)
policy changes to serve one group of people in the city that benefits everyone. And this is one of those design plus policy plus activism to just to the greater benefit of all that we love to talk about on this show.

Reza (06:27)
Yeah.

Seyi, this is a great opener because it demonstrates what we typically talk about on our episodes when we talk about systems, that all systems have unintended consequences. In this case, this unintended consequence is a positive one. So you introduce this little change into the system and that change we believe is going to affect a small part of the system. But in fact, what it does,

Seyi Fabode (06:37)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

Reza (06:55)
affects a much bigger part of the system in a way that we never intended in a very good way. And so I think that's what we get excited about is how can we have more of these unintended consequences? And so I like how this curb cut idea has helped us develop the rest of the show around ⁓ these others. So with that, Seyi, I'll jump into the second one that we wanted to talk about.

Seyi Fabode (06:59)
Yeah.

Yes, yes.

Reza (07:21)
which is protected bike lanes. And the concept for it really emerged after decades of advocacy by cycling safety organizations. And they were arguing that painted lines provided inadequate protection from vehicle traffic, just to have the painted line over there. And so in the 70s and 80s, there were some early implementations of this, but there was a lot of political resistance from business owners because they were concerned about lost parking spaces. Drivers were worried about

increased congestion. But the breakthrough came in 2000s when cities like Copenhagen began demonstrating that these physical separation barriers could dramatically improve cycling safety and ridership. New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, really pushed for this installation of protected lanes on major thoroughfares like Eighth Ninth Avenues. And some of these things really provided this evidence that

that other cities were looking for that this protected infrastructure could work in a dense American city. And so these early success stories really overcame some of that opposition and it provided a template for other cities to follow. So in the present day, if we jump to what's happening today, these protected bike lane designs have evolved into a really sophisticated way of incorporating different types of physical barriers, including concrete planters,

Seyi Fabode (08:17)
Yeah.

Reza (08:39)
flexible plastic posts, parked cars, raised medians. so cities now use a lot of data to measure the impacts of these installations. And these studies consistently show dramatic safety improvements, not just for cyclists whose injuries drop by about 75%, but also pedestrian injuries decrease by up to 52 % where you have these protected lanes. And so it's become...

a more, this infrastructure, this has become more sophisticated and incorporates features like protected intersections, dedicated signal phases, snow removal equipment sized for bike lane maintenance. And so over 300 American cities now have some form of this, some form of this protected bike infrastructure. And it's really a fundamental shift in urban transportation planning. And so, you know, if we talk about this unintended

benefits that we got from this one. So it wasn't just the cycling safety. You got these positive spillovers for urban communities. And in DC, the installation of protected lanes led to 56 % reduction in sidewalk cycling, which really improves pedestrian comfort. Because imagine a bike tearing down the sidewalk. That's terrifying. I've experienced that.

Seyi Fabode (09:56)
Yeah.

Reza (09:56)
And

so it improves that safety, you you're not gonna have people bump into one another. Economic studies have documented increased retail sales along protected bike lane corridors because cyclists tend to make more frequent stops and purchases compared to drivers passing through. I can also imagine that it slows traffic through there so people are actually seeing the shops that they're passing. ⁓ Property values often increase along bike-friendly streets. Local businesses report higher foot traffic.

Seyi Fabode (10:16)
Yeah.

Reza (10:23)
The lanes contribute to traffic calming effects, like I just said over here, slowing the speeds of vehicles on adjacent roads. And so it creates this more pleasant pedestrian environment, a of a calmer place in the city that feels more human scale.

Seyi Fabode (10:38)
Yeah, yeah.

Thanks so much for sharing that because it ties directly to the next one, which is the pedestrian only zones, very closely related. And this one, I remember when Letty Lozano came on, and the city she mentioned as her favorite city had these different lanes, the pedestrian lane, the bike lane.

Reza (10:47)
Okay.

Seyi Fabode (11:05)
some flora and fauna between those and the main roads and that repeats itself on the other side. absolutely makes sense that the pedestrian zone benefit is closely tied to the bicycle zone. And this one, the

Reza (11:05)
Yes.

Yes.

Seyi Fabode (11:27)
pedestrianization movement as it's framed gained significant momentum in European cities. No surprises there if you've lived there during the 1990s as urban planners started to recognize the negative impacts of car-centric developments on city centers. We've talked about this human centered versus car centered.

And Copenhagen's transformation of Stragel or Straget, I think it's pronounced into a pedestrian street in 1962 was the early model, but it didn't gain prominence until the 1990s when Madrid converted entire districts of the city into car-free zones with pedestrian only zones being the prominent replacement. Comes up again.

resistance from business owners who weren't sure how it would impact their business across Europe and very quickly realized it actually makes their businesses more of a

of a draw for people when they can safely walk from their homes to the stores without having to drive. And while it's picked up a lot in Europe, some North American cities are trying to revitalize their downtown areas with this pedestrian-only zone idea. And we saw a little bit of that during COVID as well, where some streets were closed off and they became pedestrian-only zones.

That being said, today, over 200 cities worldwide have pedestrian-only zones. Some are single zones, single streets closed off to traffic during certain hours. Some are just parts of main roads carved off for pedestrians and emergency vehicle entry at certain points just to ensure that cars can still get to some parts that have been

demarcated as pedestrian only zones, but a real, and then some have movable barriers that come up when there's a need to make it safe for people to walk on these streets. And the benefit here, unintended benefit here is just the economic increases that have happened. The ecological.

Remember that this idea our listeners, the ecological paying attention to what the people in your city want, the ability to walk safely led to revenue increases of up to between 10 to 30 percent in the cities that have studied this, where more social interaction, more micro interactions, community building, eye contact and conversations.

Reza (13:53)
Yeah.

Seyi Fabode (14:16)
without having to compete with vehicular traffic. And businesses actually now like to have pedestrian only zones close to their places of business, especially retail outlets, because it absolutely enables more people to come in and walk around in your shop. believe we talked about the experience of walking into the shops in...

I'm forgetting the episode number now, but we discussed this. so pedestrian only zones increase business is maybe the line here, even though that was not the intention. Yeah.

Reza (14:52)
Yeah,

this is a really good one, Seyi. And I have felt these effects. Like I was in New York City last summer, you know, and there's a pedestrian only zone, sort of this Broadway area. And I remember sort of going from, you know, I don't know, was like Sixth Avenue to this pedestrian. And it just sort of totally changed the feel of the city as you went there and you felt like you could breathe in the city, the, you know, the oppressive traffic and

Seyi Fabode (15:12)
Yep.

Reza (15:19)
know, buzz of the city kind of slowed down and you could just enjoy being in this area. And yeah, mean, cities need that variety, that texture change, you know, going from something busy to something a little calm. So I think pedestrian only zones are fantastic idea. Unintended consequences really beneficial. I'll segue to the fourth one that we have over here, which is accessible public restrooms, a slightly different angle.

You know, this really began with the American with Disabilities Act in 1990. And it established, so there was a regulation that established these minimum standards for accessibility in public accommodations. And these early restrooms really focused primarily on wheelchair accessibility, know, wider doorways, grab bars, appropriate toilet heights. But the disability advocates kept pushing for more comprehensive features for accessibility.

And they recognize that disability, the community includes people with a wide range of needs besides mobility impairments. And so the movement really gained momentum as families of individuals with severe disabilities advocated for adult changing tables and other specialized equipment. And so it really led to a gradual expansion of accessibility requirements and voluntary adoption of enhanced features by these forward thinking municipalities. And so, you know, today, what you see is the modern

public restroom incorporates a very comprehensive understanding of diverse needs for accessibility. The adult changing tables for individuals with severe disabilities, multiple height options for sinks and dispensers, spacious layouts that accommodate wheelchairs. Many facilities also include features like automatic door openers, hand-free fixtures, emergency call buttons, adjustable lighting. And so cities are really increasingly recognizing

these restrooms as essential infrastructure, not as something special, but essential. With some municipalities, they have conducted these audits and upgrades of existing facilities, and they require these enhanced features in new construction projects that go beyond this ADA requirement that was a regulation. So the unintended benefit here is we have much nicer, spacious, well-designed layouts with these restrooms.

Seyi Fabode (17:17)
Yeah.

Reza (17:39)
They provide significant benefits for many users beyond those with disabilities. So elderly individuals, they need more space, more grab bars, stability, maneuvering. Parents with young children, they appreciate that extra room. You and I have experienced this as we had younger kids. We needed room for strollers. We needed room for diaper changing. People recovering from temporary injuries like broken bones or surgery find that these features

Seyi Fabode (17:56)
I'm

Reza (18:06)
help them get around during their recovery period, if I'm on crutches or what have you. And so these higher quality fixtures as well, they have higher maintenance standards. And so you get better, these better benefits, these hands free sinks, the emergency call buttons, it makes someone feel safe when they're isolated in public facility. So you've gotten all these really interesting benefits that came out of what was

Seyi Fabode (18:10)
Yeah.

Reza (18:29)
just a regulation to help disabled people.

Seyi Fabode (18:32)
Yeah, no, thanks for that. And the final one we have here is also from a benefit from the disabled differently abled people, which again, we probably don't fully recognize even as we benefit from it. And this one is audible pedestrian signals. The funny anecdote I have here is that my younger

son, he likes to press the button when we're crossing some of these streets where there's an audible countdown telling you when you can go or not. it's, it's such a

Reza (19:06)
Yeah.

Seyi Fabode (19:13)
a delight for him, but this came about again in 1980s when disability rights advocated for infrastructure modifications, allowing people with visual impairments to still cross roads safely. And so the first systems were simple beeping sounds and different sounds became necessary. Advocates realized different sounds were necessary to indicate different directions, complex intersections and

chirping patterns, voice announcements, volume adjustment capabilities, all these things to enable the community, blind community in this case, to better navigate our cities and made involved traffic engineers realizing that, there's a lot we can do for differently abled people in our communities here.

in places like San Francisco and Seattle, who were the early adopters of this, where the advocacy really started. Nowadays, it's sophisticated technology, clear, understandable crossing information, modern systems with multiple audio cues, like the chirping patterns that indicate walk faces, like faces like I mentioned earlier.

starts to speed up as your time reduces so you can get across quickly. And over 50 % of urban intersections now feature some form of audible signals. I didn't realize it was that high until I noticed that. Yeah. And it's a lot of, it's available a lot around schools, senior centers and transit stops a lot because of the vehicular transportation and the walking that happens in those areas.

Reza (20:32)
Mm-mm.

That's amazing.

Seyi Fabode (20:57)
And there's the activation button and even vibration on the surfaces of the activation buttons that allow while not fully audible, it's still a different sensory approach to indicating what's going on. And we all we all benefit from this today, unintended for the rest of us, but benefiting all of us. You've seen the jogger with their earphones on.

Reza (21:24)
Mm-hmm.

Seyi Fabode (21:24)
needing to stop because the sound is ensuring that they can hear and move before it's too late. And then the traffic signals, audio signals, helping all pedestrians better understand their cities as they cross. And it even helps doing things like heavy rain or fog as well. So again, that's the last one.

Reza (21:47)
Yeah.

Seyi Fabode (21:50)
all related to certain differently abled groups across the spectrum of city dwellers.

Reza (21:57)
Yeah, this is such a good selection, Seyi. It was really fun to do kind of a different episode talking about systems and their unintended consequences when we implement some of these things. You know, we also, you know, as we always have, we have mailbag and I think it'd be great to segue into this. We have two really good mailbags this week. One was responding to, I think both of these are responding to the

Seyi Fabode (22:04)
Yeah.

Reza (22:23)
AI episode that we did, AI and power episode that we did, the hidden cost of AI to cities. And the first mailbag comes from Ravioli, their YouTube handle is Ravioli I30. And he says, AI isn't turning power into knowledge, it turns power into text generation to respond to a prompt.

it can be wrong and it doesn't teach people. It's extremely charitable to say it turns power into knowledge. And this is a response to what we said in the episode, is, know, AI is turning power into knowledge. And while I acknowledge that, you know, yes, you know, AI is basically, you know, literally tech's generation to respond to a prompt, there are benefits that we see. There is knowledge that comes from that. I mean, you and I,

Seyi Fabode (22:46)
No.

Reza (23:03)
benefit directly from using AI. We use AI to research the shows that we do here. So it extends our ability to share with our listeners things that we're trying to become experts on and follow our curiosity on. I know I use AI daily in my job to extend myself in being a better product manager and understanding my industry and understanding the dynamics of what we're trying to do with AI for the construction industry.

And so I find it very beneficial. so it's like, you know, it's like, it gives me a little extra knowledge that makes me more effective. So while, yeah, I agree with Ravioli, you know, I think there's more to it than, you know, just a prompt and a response.

Seyi Fabode (23:47)
Yeah, I have nothing to add beyond yes, I also benefit immensely from it. And I'll dive into the next mailbag here from someone who's not becoming a regular listener, Vulkan Z2V. Thank you for your comment. And he says policy wise, and this again was to hitting cost of AI on cities, policy wise, it sounds negative towards the companies, but I think you can flip it around to

positivity from regional governments. Data centers take from the grid.

Reframed to we can upgrade our data networks with IROI once completed. Data centers greedily have their own batteries and generators. We can invest in the batteries ourselves and attract them as it will lower the cost to build them. So the point he's making here is that you can benefit from the power that the data centers themselves put on their data center locations for flexibility on

Reza (24:45)
Hmm.

Seyi Fabode (24:49)
I totally agree with that. It's a really good point he makes. So thanks for that reframing, Volkan. We appreciate you constantly reaching out with very thoughtful comments.

Reza (24:51)
Yeah.

Yeah,

it's great to have a repeat commenter, Seyi.

Seyi Fabode (25:03)
Yeah.

Reza (25:03)
⁓ And

we encourage all of you to send in your mail bags. We're on YouTube, we're on LinkedIn. We're also at hello at futureforward.fm. We're welcome to send us an email. As we always say, please like and subscribe, rate and review, help others in our community find Future Forward. Share this with a friend that would find this show interesting. This was a great episode, Shae. You did some great research and I really enjoyed talking

through these examples and I love that we had mailbags to talk about in response to our last episode as well. So yeah, great. It was lovely.

Seyi Fabode (25:35)
Yeah.

Pretty good. Thanks everyone and we'll be back again in a week exactly. That's how we try to do it and we hope you can like, share and subscribe as we always ask. Till next time, bye. Bye.

Reza (25:54)
Thank you, bye.