We definitely need to transition from a car-centric to a person-centric urban landscape. Free public storage (parking) of personal property is a blight, and it'

We definitely need to transition from a car-centric to a person-centric urban landscape. Free public storage (parking) of personal property is a blight, and it's reprehensible that polluting and environmentally damaging personal vehicles are given primary consideration in hundreds of cities. I do agree that it's ethically questionable that many of the wonderful commercial districts give up 10-20% of their land to park cars for a handful of citizens. Let's get solutions in the here and now to these car-centric nightmares. However, let's also build for technology coming down the pipeline. Urban planners today need to think about the coming tsunami of driverless vehicles, as well as the steadily increasing trends of cycling, scootering, e-bikes, and other electric last-mile solutions. These technologies may not make a huge impact like the car, but if they do, our policy-makers should be planning for these potential game-changers. For instance, with self driving cars, we must ask what will be their effects on institutions like city buses? Does it make sense to have massive often under-utilized buses which don't drop you at your desired location, or does it make better sense to have smaller, 5-10 person self driving vans which can dynamically adjust routes, dropping off riders at much more desirable locations? What about cycling, scooters, and such - will these become increasingly popular as self driving vehicles start to penetrate? I know I'd bike a lot more places if I didn't have to deal with very unskilled and inattentive drivers all over my narrow-streeted city. Does this mean, somewhat paradoxically, that self driving vehicles will actually reduce the number of vehicle trips in a city, while increasing other modes of transit? Will self driving vehicles in non-urban settings actually increase vehicle miles traveled, as couples in expensive metropolis areas realize they can commute twice as far if they get to kick back and relax during the journey? The implications of these technologies, and others we haven't seen yet, are potentially massive. We need to bring these transport modalities into the discussion whenever we talk about reshaping our urban landscapes.