Make the existing model obsolete

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Radical changes are happening to encourage more cycling in the City of London

Today I want to use the example of shifting journeys in London away from private motor vehicle use to cycling and pedestrians to illustrate the opportunities and challenges inherent in human behaviour, as illustrated by this quote:

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Buckminster Fuller

As a society we are gradually recognising the need for radical change in how we look at transportation, driven by the climate crisis. As Kathryn Sheridan pointed noted on a recent #WhatComesNext.Live show, what comes next is “we fry”. Incremental change isn’t enough, yet change has been incremental over the last decade as the modern world is so wedded to the car.

In London, the pandemic has forced rapid acceleration of this shift in transportation and due to necessity. Before the pandemic and lockdown London was still a city with massive amounts of private cars driving in and through it. As a resident of the centre of London, it was such a pleasure to breathe cleaner air and have more quiet during lockdown, but what comes next now we seek…