We’ve officially made it halfway through 2021. Whether you’ve found the year has zoom-ed by or travelled at a snail’s pace, it’s safe to say that the tempo of the city has been on a steady incline as we inch back to normalcy. Our June was similarly energising thanks to a number of successful events and some exciting developments to grow the DG Cities team. So, today on the blog we’re rounding up the highlights that made this an especially memorable month.
Project Endeavour has arrived in Birmingham! The project - which aims to accelerate and scale the deployment of autonomous vehicle (AV) services on public roads in cities across the country - has kicked off the next phase of trials in the UK’s second largest city. To mark the occasion, the Project Endeavour partners hosted a two-day showcase to share updates about the project and exciting developments. This is the second in a series of three showcases for Endeavour, with the third and final event being held in our neck of the woods later this summer, when the Greenwich trials begin.
The past year and a half has been rife with challenges and uncertainty, causing untold suffering the world over. While it’s been important to reflect on and acknowledge these hardships, I’ve also found solace in focusing on the small yet meaningful positives that have emerged in my own life. Some of the most important shifts have been the opportunity to spend more time at home with my children during the weekdays and being able to walk my dog every single day, rather than only on the weekend.
Good research is reliant on good data sets. An obvious statement, perhaps, but in our line of work it’s an important sentiment to emphasise. Not only is it impossible to draw useful conclusions from bad data sets, but at worst, it can be harmful and even dangerous to use data which is skewed. It’s therefore critical that we always strive to create high quality data sets that are as closely representative of the groups we're studying as possible. Of course, there will always be some degree of error in using a sample (or smaller sub-group of people) to represent a full group or population, but with the right techniques we can reduce these errors so that they have minimal effect.
Despite this May being one of the wettest on record, we didn’t let the gloomy skies bring us down. We had a bright month at DG Cities, which included experimenting with virtual reality technology, submitting an exciting new bid and meeting with the team (in person!) to visit our new office. But before we wave goodbye to this soggy month and welcome what looks to be a much sunnier June, we’re rounding up the biggest developments and achievements from our May at DG Cities.
Our cities are facing acute environmental and social challenges that require immediate action. And while there is an urgency to address these issues right now, this work should not be interpreted as a short-term undertaking. Building more resilient, accessible and smarter cities will require sustained action and passion, which means that those who come after us will need to continue carrying out this critical work.
One of the defining features of DG Cities is our multidisciplinary approach to tackling the changes and challenges faced by urban areas. Our team is made up of experts with backgrounds cutting across sectors, ranging from architects and engineers to technologists and transport planners. These unique and wide-ranging perspectives allow for a whole-city approach to urban innovation…
One of the key challenges for organisations when electrifying their fleets is to install an adequate charging network to support their new vehicles. This charging happens at depot sites, where vehicles park out-of-use, mostly overnight. This approach, however, only works well if the depot has a power supply capacity that matches the needs of an electric fleet. Whilst it is usually possible to install a few charge points to support a couple of electric vehicles, most depots need a large power supply upgrade before meeting the demands of a large electric fleet. This is very costly, and there has not seemed to be a good alternative, until now.
As another Earth Day has come and gone, the world is again reminded of the urgency of the climate crisis. It is one of the most pressing priorities of our lifetime, and this decade in particular will be critical for tackling the emergency. Energy plays an enormous role in contributing to climate change, as do urban areas, with over two-thirds of the world’s energy being consumed by cities…
