Digital Handshake
The arrival of digital communication systems had foreshadowed – to some sociologists in the 1980s – the progressive dissolution of the city. The last two decades, however, have shown the exact opposite with a progressive concentration of humanity in urban areas. In this sense what is happening in Silicon Valley seems emblematic, where organisations such as Google, Apple and Facebook are progressively concentrating their growing number of employees.
Until recently the "digital handshake" – that is the ability to replace the processes of direct personal iteration through digital connectivity – seemed to be unfeasible and for this reason vis a vis meetings were considered essential. Now, however, new technologies are appearing on the horizon – they are technologies that bring communication to a more sophisticated, more emotional iteration. The gaming industry seems to go in that direction, the iteration is guaranteed by a gaming console which is already incredibly superior to those we normally use in our conference calls.
In this regard we can remember the Sangre Y Arena exhibition held at the Prada Foundation about 2 years ago. Thanks to a very sophisticated immersive technology, the creator of the exhibition Alejandro Iñárritu (Birdman and The Revenant’s film director among others) digitally transported us to the border between Mexico and the United States to witness the brutal police treatment of migrants trying to cross the border illegally. An extraordinary experience that gives us the feel of the real possibilities of "emotional" iterations that digital platforms guarantee us.
New Technologies
The transport system is evolving, the arrival of digital connectivity has opened the possibility to new services and new practices – these practices as described above – even if so far it has not produced a real systemic change in the transport business. The last real systemic change we have experienced was the arrival of the mass car in Italy in the 1960s.
Today we are witnessing a progressive electrification of vehicles, the development of sharing systems and above all – in the medium/long term – the development of autonomous driving systems. It will be precisely the autonomous driving that will allow us to imagine a possible radical change in the way we move, with a drastic reduction in maintenance costs guaranteed by electric systems together with a reduction in operating costs due to the elimination of travelling personnel.
This solution will allow us to imagine a system of public vehicles that will increase mobility in areas of widespread demand. How will these vehicles be configured? What are the possible options for micro mobility and freight transport? These are the questions to be answered in the coming years.