Title: Testing the Social Sustainability of Transportation Infrastructure Before it is Built
Product name: Triple Sustain Solutions (TSS)
Topic/problem description: The latest findings suggest that transportation is the largest contributor to United States greenhouse gas emissions, with over two thirds of these emissions derived from passenger vehicles. Despite efforts to reduce vehicle emissions, the infrastructure in American cities has been designed to promote passenger vehicles over public transportation, bicycle or pedestrian traffic. We see this in the number of elevated highways that have been built in cities in the United States as a result of Dwight D Eisenhower’s Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
One such example of an elevated highway that has been a topic of discussion for years in Syracuse is I-81. For over half a century, Interstate 81 has passed through the center of economically disadvantaged Syracuse, New York, emitting vehicle emissions on the Southside area, which is predominantly inhabited by Black and low-income residents.
A comprehensive case study suggests that there are extensive solutions in development to solve this problem, yet very few quantitative metrics to determine the viability of such solutions from a user perspective. A key reason for this is the lack of emphasis placed on quantifying social sustainability, as most analyses focus on economic and environmental sustainability.
As industrial designers, one of our main jobs is to perform user testing to ensure the market viability of our creations. If we do so with products and systems, why don’t we apply the same concept to our infrastructure? In the case of I-81, we have a chance to revitalize the city and lower income communities, but only if we do it right.
Which led me to my main question, how can we employ extended reality technology as a medium to test the social, environmental, and economic viability of sustainable transportation solutions before they are built?
Solution: Triple Sustain Solutions is a concept for a business that specializes in testing the social, environmental and economic sustainability of transportation infrastructure proposals.
It was inspired by the controversy surrounding Interstate 81 in Syracuse, New York. A highway that was built during the 50s and 60s through a predominantly black neighborhood, which has disadvantaged minority groups in Syracuse for decades.
The business proposal aims to test transportation infrastructure using extended reality technology. In creating immersive simulation rooms run using a controlled experiment, TSS can quantitatively measure the sustainability of infrastructure, thus squashing debates surrounding proposals and shortening time to build.
