“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need . . . roads.” So says Dr. Emmett Brown at the end of 1985’s Back to the Future, just before he and Marty McFly blast to the then-distant year 2015, a world where flying cars are powered by do-it-yourself nuclear fusion kits.

Sadly, most of our space-age fantasies about cars remain unrealized. Today’s car is still a terrestrial creature, surrounded by buildings, plants, animals and people, rumbling over deteriorating and clogged roadways, powered by increasingly scarce fuel. In many ways, today’s car is a beast at odds with the world around it.

In lieu of flying cars, then, we must consider more pragmatic ways of using vehicles. This presentation looks at one possible solution along these lines—the system of car sharing. Embodied most prominently today by companies such as ZipCar, car sharing systems aim to address many of the problems endemic to private automobiles. Car sharing can significantly reduce the number of vehicles needed to serve a population and make more efficient use of resources such as fuel, materials, and space, yet requires new industrial, economic, and behavioral models to succeed.

Based on findings from John’s master’s thesis, “Car Sharing: Applications and Implications,” this presentation highlights both the potential advantages and drawbacks of present-day car sharing. It considers how car sharing could affect the way we use and design cars, automotive infrastructure, and cities in the future.
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The School of Visual Arts MFA Design Criticism Department presented “Crossing the Line: The 2010 D-Crit Conference" organized by graduating D-Crit students at the SVA Theatre in New York City on Friday, April 30 2010.