Q3.How might we move around?

In a world where there are storms all the time, we have to have an online presence and we value productivity.

By Natalie Harney

If there are storms all the time, our travel patterns will likely have to change. We'll be less able to plan big trips in advance, every flight will be as tentatively booked as a hot air balloon trip, and we'll likely spend more time in and around our homes.

When we do travel, we'll need vehicles that can stand up to more treacherous weather. Right now when there are floods those with boats, tractors and other more sturdy machinery are the ones to help. In this world, we'd need to be prepared with more of these kinds of vehicles. Perhaps there will be vehicles that can work across water and unsteady ground. Even with these vehicles, trips are likely to be dangerous, so we'll need to organise them well and share where possible. Given that we'll all have social media presences this information could be aggregated from our profiles. Sharing vehicles would also allow those not driving to do other things while in transit, whatever in this world is considered to be "productive".

If the frequent storms become a permanent fixture of our lives, our infrastructure not just our vehicles would need to change. Our houses would need to adapt. In this world that means they're storm proofed but also connected so that when we're not able to take long trips we can still travel to one another. These paths between places would have to be storm proofed too. I'm imagining airport style walkways that are weatherproof tubes suspended from the ground. The reduction in need for navigation would allow for people to do more walking and talking or walking and working making that time more productive. 

The 'smarter' and more connected these vehicles and walkways are the more able they'll be to gather data about our movements, and what we're doing while we're moving, feeding into our online presences. 

I do fear what the purpose of these online presences would be, who would use them, and what the data on our travels might mean for our safety. But perhaps it could be used for good to ensure our storm ridden world assigns support where it's needed, fixes leaky walkways and stays connected while people can't travel.

Imagining Future Spaces is a project by Natalie Harney designed to support and inspire conversations about what alternative worlds might look and feel like.

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