Metro 2.0
Metro 2.0
smart crowds in the metro
Working in close collaboration with the French public transportation authority (RATP), we want to creatively re-imagine the Metro as an information and communication ecosystem.
The goal of Metro 2.0 is to creatively rethink the travelers’ crowd as smart mob, connected with the urban environment as well as to imagine emerging economical models that new information and communication technologies allow. Working in close collaboration with the French public transportation authority (RATP), we want to creatively re-imagine the Metro as an information and communication ecosystem.
Design Process →
Brief
We focus on three aspects
Crowd: What if individuals can be intelligently connected to others?
Space: How can connections between the city and the transportation system become more fluid and transparent?
Exchange: What new forms of exchange and economic models could generate social and financial benefit?
Students work in multidisciplinary teams and create scenarios to rethink the Parisian Metro. Part of the seminar is a visit of Paris at the beginning of the course in order to explore the public transportation system, the city and its inhabitants.
The course is taught within Design without Boundaries MAS.967 in collaboration with RATP, Paris and the kind support of the MIT-France program.
Concept Generation
During the brainstorming phase, we identified three emerging topics:
1. Smart Crowds
Metro and RER transport about 10 millions passengers per day; this crowd is now wirelessly connected and informed in real time. What are the emerging activities and passengers‘ behaviors?
2. Economic Models
Which are the new economical models that characterize the activities of passengers? Can we imagine services and forms of exchange that take into account the increased ad-hoc connectivity?
3. Territory
How are the flow of people traveling in the metro connected with the urban territory and with the local business?
To address these topics, we proposed the following four solutions:
Sociable Spaces: Games – promotion of social interaction between passengers
Cultural Spaces: The metro as a stage – micro-performance spaces
Learning Spaces: Collective and individual knowledge and customized information
Commercial Spaces: Dynamic space – services for everyday needs
Please consult the reports for detailed descriptions of each solution.
