The upcoming Rights of Way: Mobility and the City exhibit at the BSA Space in Boston, Massachusetts will cut across media types to explore how mobility influences the broader urban environment. Photo by Trevor Dykstra.
If you’re a fan of sustainable transport and will be passing through Boston, Massachusetts between December 5 and May 26, keep an eye out for the upcoming Rights of Way: Mobility and the City exhibit at the Boston Society of Architects’ BSA Space. The exhibit will be a global exploration of mobility and transportation in cities – excellent fodder for TheCityFix readers!
Opening in about two weeks, Rights of Way will demonstrate how cities are shaped by the ways people move through them. The exhibit cuts across media types to portray the multiple ways mobility interacts with the broader urban environment.
Access to mobility equals access to opportunity
The exhibit pays testament to the fact that urban environments are the direct result of “constant negotiation among designers, policy makers, the private sector, and individual residents.” In claiming that access to mobility is access to opportunity for urban residents – a theme that intrigues us at TheCityFix – the exhibit aims to advocate that every urban resident has the right to their own “right of way.”
A glimpse into the future of urban mobility
Although Rights of Way will feature some contemporary examples of innovative urban design, including three projects from the 2012 Audi Urban Future Award regarding the megaregions of the Pearl River Delta in China, São Paulo, and the Boston-Washington, D.C. (BosWash) Corridor, the exhibit will largely focus on exploring the future of urban mobility, from new transport modes to paradigm shifts in urban design. Large-scale urban futures will be imagined through renderings, drawings, photography, videos, infographics, a media library, and a rotating gallery of “digital residencies” where designers, artists, and thinkers from around the world will share their vision of urban mobility.
What’s your “right of way?”
The upcoming Rights of Way exhibit got TheCityFix team thinking about each individual’s experience of mobility in their city. Although some experiences are shared with others – like the inconvenient delays on the DC Metrorail’s red line many of us here endured last week – everyone’s daily experience navigating urban landscapes is unique. Maybe you’re cycling in São Paulo, riding one of the over 300 bus rapid transit (BRT) or busways systems, ridesharing, or getting in your daily exercise by walking to work. We want to hear from you – tell us your mobility story in the comment section!
