Cities on the Move: Envisioning Cityscape in the Autonomous Vehicle Era

Abstract

As cities have developed in response to a rapidly changing environment since the industrial revolution, a variety of circumstances and issues have arisen. In cities, technology development and the rise of private automobiles have been related to urban sprawl, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and mobility inequalities. Currently, autonomous vehicles are bringing a paradigm shift in mobility as technological innovations accompany the fourth industrial revolution. As cities undergo renewal through new mobility, recent developments in driverless technologies should be considered for their long-term impact on the built environment. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a design, along with a set of scenarios, for a transportation hub in the era of autonomous vehicles to address complex mobility requirements. Through bringing together existing case studies, research on autonomous vehicles, and drawing conclusions regarding the relationship between mobility and urban landscapes, this thesis explores how autonomous vehicles will affect the future built environment in a set of timelines. Considering the future transportation hub will require programs and infrastructure to support autonomous vehicles, this thesis also provides a vision of the future of transportation modes and how they interact. Finally, a transportation hub design model and automation city model for the AV era will be proposed.