Audi 2012 Annual Report Download - page 63

“The networking of people and mobility systems is
becoming increasingly important. It is only a
matter of time before cars, buildings and roads
communicate with one another.” Prof. Rupert Stadler
A house with a garden
near Church Street
on Long Island,
outside of New York.
It sounds like the
American dream, but there are some
problems with the idyll. The daily drive
to work or into the heart of the Big
Apple isn’t just long, it’s also nerve-
wracking. The highways are bustling
with compact cars, light trucks and
pickups with large engines. Trac in
metropolitan areas is extremely dense.
The solution is a familiar one: multi-
lane roads, often hours of stop-and-
go trac and a large thermos or cup
of coee on the way in to the oce.
Isn’t there another way? Are there any
ideas as to how the mobility needs of
Americans can be organized better and
more eciently?
Professors Mark Wigley and Rupert
Stadler are both hard at work on
con cepts for livable metropolitan areas
of the future. As Dean of Columbia
University’s Graduate School of
Archi tecture, Planning and Preservation
in New York, Wigley is one of the
forward thinkers of the American archi-
tectural scene. His focus is on ideas
for tomor row’s urban living. Rupert
Stadler, Chairman of the Board of
Management of AUDI AG, would like
to ensure the individual mobility of
his customers far
into the future.
Mobility that is also fun.
Rupert Stadler knows what he is
talking about. Three years ago, Audi
launched the Audi Urban Future
Initiative, a project delivering innovative
ideas and concepts addressing gridlock,
lack of space and pollution. “It may
seem unusual at first for a carmaker to
be pondering the future of cities and
urban structures. But we have to start
looking beyond the horizon of our own
product world,” says the Audi CEO.
More people already live in cities
than in rural areas. “If I walk 100 meters
in the countryside, I’ll bump into one,
maybe two people,” says Professor
Wigley in describing the situation. “But
in a city, hundreds of people throng
past me, thousands drive by and count-
less more are in the buildings above
me.” These numbers are expected to
increase dramatically. In 2030, more
than 60 percent of the world’s population
will live in metropolitan areas with
more than eight million residents.
And by 2050, the world’s population is
expected to reach nine billion. In Asia
alone, the number of cities with at
least one million residents will triple to
roughly 650.
Today’s cities are already overcrowded,
however, resulting in a lot of wasted
time. “In São Paulo, commuters spend
on average 30 days a year stuck in
trac. That is time that could be put
to better use,” says Stadler. “Even in
London, I’d rather take the Tube than
drive.” The average speed on the streets
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