by Carolina Aguirre-Xiomara Armijo-Carlo Caltabiano
The Area of the Port of Barcelona has developed as an ecosystem of different networks. Networks of transportation, infrastructures (metro, vehicles, trains, ships) and telecommunication systems. On the other hand, the social layer has been left aside from it. These networks play a strategic role to redesign the city of the future. Finding the relationship between them is possible, to rethink the city, as a smartest one, and more efficient.
The project consists in the optimization of the main transportation system that we vision in the future urban scenario of Barcelona. Electric cars, driverless transit systems, flying boats, will be connected to the Ronda del Litoral, and a Hub Network will distribute all around. A Sensor Network will gather information about the flows and demand of different mobility systems in real time. According with that data, it will be possible the greatest flexibility of the spaces and the use of public transportation systems. In a single day the function of the street may change several times between pedestrian, vehicular and even recreational functions.
The pavement is transformed into a reprogrammable surface, placing a flexible hub inside a round area, and by adding a thin layer of solar powered sensors within the surface of the road, we vision a future where the tissue of the street provides the energy to the vehicles.
The photovoltaic modules that cover the mesh absorb the solar energy and transform it into electrical energy by releasing it into the distributive power network, recharging all the vehicles at the hub. This energy will be used also for the cruisers in an alternative maritime power system called Cold Ironing, which allows emergency equipment, refrigeration, cooling, heating, lighting and other equipment to receive continuous electrical power while the ship loads or unloads.
The goal is to be able to move on into new mobility systems through the use of renewable energies in a strategic part of the city, and to give back to the city a public space for the residents and tourists to develop their future.