Micromobility: What the Future May Hold
Crack Shack Little Italy - San Diego, CA
It’s Friday afternoon on G Street. The weekend is finally here. At the light, cars and trucks line up to head home from the city. In the afternoon chill, exhaust fumes softly billow by. Through the windshields, I note that most of the vehicles have only one person in them. Nobody seems particularly jazzed about the drive home.
As day turns to night and the Gaslamp Quarter comes to life, scores of Lyfts and Ubers laden with partiers crawl in bumper-to-bumper traffic towards Fifth Avenue. A group of young men on electric scooters whizzes by, oblivious to the gridlock. While the people in cars look bored and frustrated, young men on scooters are skidding the rear tires, laughing, and yelling.
The night grows old, the parties ebb and people start to head home. Down the street, flashing blue and red lights announce the capture of a drunk driver. As police deal with the offender and his parked car, a flock of more highly intoxicated people on scooters holler as they swerve past. One of these scooters bears a couple. He’s steering and beaming ear to ear. She’s wearing heels and hanging on for life.
Each weekend these scenes play over and over again on my street. It looks like the scooters are here to stay. Why is micromobility catching on so fiercely?
The Rise of Micromobility Devices
Micromobility devices are self-propelled electric vehicles that are smaller than an automobile. They take a variety of different shapes including scooters, mopeds, skateboards, and even single-wheels that a user can straddle. Worldwide, these devices are providing a convenient alternative to automobiles for the task of relocating people short distances within urban environments.
The case for micromobility is quite strong, partially because the case for automobiles is so weak. Car buyers typically take on tens of thousands of dollars of debt to assume responsibility for a complex machine that depreciates precipitously and is ravaged by entropy. On top of that, we don’t actually use our cars all that much.
According to mobility guru Donald Shoup in his famous piece “The High Cost of Free Parking,” the average private automobile sits unused for 95% of its life.
There have been attempts to spread liability and maximize utilization among many people, as seen with Zipcar and Car2Go. However, these have ultimately floundered when compared to the meteoric rise of micromobility.
Ownership is not the problem, it’s the automobile itself that is troublesome. The kind of dense urban setting that would seem apt for a car-sharing service is the same kind of landscape that simply does not have many options to park the automobile once rented. The task of tracking down, navigating, and parking a shared automobile in a city is a terribly inconvenient way to get some errands done. Micromobility vehicles address this by being small, easy to park, and easy to maintain. They are perfectly suited for short trips across town. According to the US Department of Transportation, three quarters of private vehicle trips are under ten miles. In fact, a 2017 study showed that 60% of trips were less than six miles. Most of the time, we drive alone as well. This makes car ownership seem like a waste. We address our need to travel short distances alone with large, expensive machines that can carry a family hundreds of miles at breathtaking speed. Considering this wasted capability at tremendous expense, it’s not hard to see why micromobility makes practical sense.
Without the burden of ownership, having to know what a timing belt is, or having to find the next Supercharger, micromobility vehicles are helping people get from point A to point B, in an enjoyable way. Industry analyst Horace Dediu asserts that micromobility’s strength stems chiefly from the combination of affordability, convenience, and the fun it provides. Contrast this with the expense, inconvenience, and gridlock experienced in an automobile, and the picture becomes even clearer. As evidenced by the proliferation of micromobility vehicles throughout the world, a major change in how we move is underfoot.
Visualizing the Future of Transportation With Micromobility
Currently, there are still strides to be made to address the accessibility of these vehicles for all people. The majority of vehicle options available require kinetic skill: managing balance, acceleration, and braking with the body. There are a few companies, such as Nimbus, attempting to address this with vehicles that are used in a seated, enclosed cabin. These have roughly the dimensions of a motorcycle but operate much in the way a car does. It remains to be seen if this type of vehicle will catch on. Until they do, there is no safe option out there for those of us who have limited reflexes or physical abilities. As populations age, the demand for such options is destined to increase.
One trend to keep an eye out for is private ownership versus shared fleets. Most people are being exposed to micromobility for the first time through electric bike and scooter sharing services such as Bird and Lime. While it is convenient to use these services intermittently, the fees add up quickly through habitual use. A growing number of people are choosing to save money over the long term by owning a device outright instead. Not only do owners save money, they can count on availability, safety, and cleanliness. Additionally, many of the micromobility vehicles available for private ownership are equipped to go faster and farther than their shared-fleet counterparts. Companies such as Raido are positioning themselves to offer universally swappable batteries to micromobility owners. That means a user can use up the full charge on their device, stop at a station, and pay to have a fresh battery swapped in. This is a hint of the upcoming ecosystem of players that will rise to meet the demands of a new transportation paradigm.
Just as automobiles spurred the creation of everything from drive-thrus to Jiffy Lubes, privately owned micromobility will bring with it a world of ancillary businesses.
Remodeling the 21st-Century Built Environment
The automobile’s extensive reshaping of our business landscape in the 20th century went hand in hand with a reshaping of our built environment. If we expect micromobility to trigger a similar transformation, what will its effects be on the cities around us?
A few years ago, when electric scooter fleets first hit the streets en masse, there was simultaneous exultation and outcry. There was a certain NIMBY-ish backlash about the scooters’ intrusion into the flow of traffic, riders’ threatening presence on sidewalks, and the careless way that users left them parked in front of homes and businesses. Negotiations and regulations paved the way towards the tenuous peace that we have now. Many cities began fining reckless riders and sidewalk surfers, and automobile parking spots were repurposed as parking corrals for the scooters. As a result of these moves, shared micromobility has entered a stage of stable growth and mainstream acceptance. Covid-19 has bolstered that by engendering a fear of human exposure through public transit, and micromobility has the benefit of being intrinsically socially-distanced.
We should expect micromobility to garner public spending on the same kind of infrastructure that bicycle advocates have spent decades lobbying for. This will be a tide that lifts both boats. Along prominent circulation corridors, we will see a proliferation of dedicated lanes for all vehicles smaller than automobiles. Additionally, a more interesting development is the current coalescence between the increasing pedestrianization of urban areas due to Covid-19 along with the boom in micromobility. This trend, extended over the long term, should yield fascinating results. We might see automobiles pushed to the edges of downtown districts, relegated to circulating at the periphery of green zones where pedestrians, cyclists, and scooter pilots get full rein of the right-of-way.
During the rediscovery of cities in the last 20 years, inner ring neighborhoods have received a fair share of attention and gentrification. However, due to restrictive parking minimums, many of these neighborhoods have failed to densify to keep pace with demand. In San Diego, parking requirements kept a stranglehold on redevelopment in neighborhoods such as Bankers Hill, Golden Hill, and North Park. Micromobility is already an influential force in guiding policies that have lifted parking requirements in some neighborhoods, enabling the construction of much needed housing stock. We should expect to see this trend continue.
How will micromobility affect architecture?
Hopefully not at all. It does not make sense to re-envision buildings to accommodate micromobility. Shared fleets can occupy street parking. Privately owned vehicles can be stowed and charged within the owner’s home. Many of the mistakes in planning and architecture in the 20th century arose from the great lengths we went to accommodate cars.
Luckily, micromobility vehicles are small enough that we should not need to make sacrifices in our buildings and cities to give them a home. They exist to serve us.
This is a liberating change from the subservience to automobiles that has led design criteria in the past. Architects can get back to making buildings for humans without worrying so much about how to hide a parking garage. The challenge for architects will hopefully shift to finding solutions for the vast amounts of leftover parking.
This is not to say that the automobile is going to disappear; its promise is fading, and its prominence will diminish. Less demand for daily auto use could have drastically positive effects for urban municipalities. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley estimated that there are 3.4 parking spaces for every car in the United States. That is, a spot at home, a spot at work, a spot at the grocery store, etcetera. The elimination of this kind of waste will open vast swaths of the country for higher and better use. The downtown surface lots that plague American cities can turn into places for people to live, increasing the urban tax base and combating the extraction of resources and capital from city to suburb.
Again, the automobile is certainly here to stay in the US. It is our parlor on wheels. Our vacation mothership. Our home on the freeway. However, the convenience, affordability, and fun of micromobility options means our automobiles are going to be used less and less. Before we know it, they’ll be relegated to a weekend distraction, a pleasure vehicle, while our scooters and e-bikes act as the workhorses of the day-to-day. As Horace Dediu concluded in an MIT Sloan School of Management lecture, the peak year for horse ownership in the United States was not 1820, but 1920, when the Ford Model T was already ubiquitous. In other words, the future is already here, we just need the present to get out of the way.
Benjamin Arcia, M.U.D.
Senior Associate
Client of the Month:
The Society of Master Craftsmen
Orchid - San Diego, CA
We are thrilled to feature Benjamin Longwell and The Society of Master Craftsmen as our June Client of the Month. Benjamin Longwell, a passionate developer and builder, began The Society of Master Craftsmen in 2018 to focus on human-centered design and development of urban infill projects. The company is highlighted by a highly intentional approach to the craft, weaving a depth of meaning into everything they do. Benjamin’s vision for the company is truly unique: to approach work in the spirit of the pre-industrial revolutionary craftsmen, with originality, refined skill, hand-crafted quality, and purpose.
San Diego’s built environment has an undercurrent of something special happening that is likely unrecognized within the community at-large. About 15 years ago, San Diego’s own Woodbury University started graduating young architects from a program called “MRED” (AKA Master of Science in Architecture in Real Estate Development). At that time, many of these young architects were taking what they studied in this program and building socially responsible and creative mixed-use projects in underserved neighborhoods. Previously, the more traditional developers were focused on sprawling rural developments in San Diego’s undeveloped lands. As a result of this shift, some of San Diego’s older neighborhoods received significant, tasteful, and very creative new makeovers. A few early adopters to this local trend were people such as Andrew Malick of Malick Infill Development; Craig Abenilla and Mike Burnett of Foundation for Form; Dominique Houriet of [oo-d-a] studio; and Jeff Svitak of Jeff Svitak, Inc. It’s no surprise that Benjamin Longwell of The Society of Master Craftsmen is among those on this list.
Benjamin got his start working for a retail development company, and did so for 10 years, gaining a wide range of project experience as well as great relationships with industry partners. For The Society of Master Craftsmen, he wanted to take things a step further – to approach each project with a renewed dedication to the art and craft – thus building soulful, meaningful places for people to experience.
He looked to history, recalling time before the industrial revolution, when artists and craftsmen created everything by hand and techniques were passed from generation to generation. Families brought up children to learn the craft, and people worked hard for many years to master their techniques, progressing from Apprentice, to Journeyman, and finally to Master Craftsman. Everything produced, from the simple to the complex, took time, thought, and care. As technology progressed and the world entered the industrial revolution, products began being mass-produced by machines in factories and lost that human element. With The Society of Master Craftsmen, Benjamin intends to bring a focus on quality and purpose back to the built environment.
Only taking on projects local to San Diego, as the sole developer and builder, Benjamin spends most of his time on-site and focuses on one project at a time. He is personally invested, pouring all of himself into every project he takes on – blood, sweat, and tears – to ensure the highest standard of quality. Starting as a solo venture, the company now includes Benjamin’s mother, Tara Longwell, who handles accounting; sister, Chelsea Longwell, who does property management; and colleague, Nick Scales for construction. Just as the craftsmen of pre-industrial time, it is genuinely a family business.
Benjamin strives to pull together project teams that are masters of their craft to produce the best possible outcome for each project. “The Society,” which can be found on his website, is made up of individuals that Benjamin has experience working with – his chosen partners who he considers trusted masters of each of their crafts. Among them is McCullough’s Principal, David McCullough.
McCullough first partnered with Benjamin while he was working as a partner at his previous development company in 2014. The project was Benjamin’s first experience with urban infill, a luxury apartment complex on El Cajon Boulevard in North Park, known as Exotic Gardens. Benjamin selected McCullough for the project after interviewing David McCullough among several other landscape architects. David and Senior Associate Ben Arcia worked closely with Benjamin to successfully complete the 21-unit Exotic Gardens development.
With one successful, collaborative project under their belts, Benjamin was eager to work with McCullough for another urban infill project. Orchid is a recently completed 15-unit micro-housing development in San Diego’s Normal Heights that includes a small retail space within a preserved historic building. It was the first project for The Society of Master Craftsmen and one of the first micro-housing developments for San Diego. For Orchid, Benjamin paired with a notable local architect, James (Jim) Brown of Public Architecture. Jim is known for attention to detail in his work, which is just the type of craftsman that Benjamin needed for the job. Combined with McCullough’s contextual consideration for the site and landscape, Orchid is exemplary of masterful, human-centered design.
Benjamin’s interest in art is evident throughout Orchid. He saw the landscape as a form of art expression, which led him to hire local artist Tatiana Ortiz Rubio to paint three-story-high murals on the building façades. In the rear courtyard, he repurposed old windows from the original structure into abstract stained-glass art pieces, reconstructed to show the stages of development of an orchid flower. The project is filled with discoverable moments, found antiquities, play on light and shadow, and textural combinations of materials – all of which create a wholly incredible site experience.
Units at Orchid are now almost fully leased. Benjamin is deeply gratified by the response when he gives tours to potential tenants, “People say, ‘Wow! We can feel the incredible thought and passion that went into this, heart and soul.’”
Daffodil
The Society of Master Craftsmen is currently working alongside McCullough and Architect Jim Brown once again on another micro-housing urban infill project, Daffodil (see left). This mixed-use project in San Diego’s Logan Heights will include 16 apartments, a five-room boutique hotel, and a restaurant. With 22 total units, Daffodil is the company’s largest project to-date. Planning is currently underway, and construction is scheduled to begin later this year.
McCullough and The Society of Master Craftsmen continue to partner successfully on projects out of our shared grit, soul, and style - approaching every project with creative passion and a focus on creating the best possible outcome for the community. We are honored to partner with The Society of Master Craftsmen to carve the way for the future of housing in San Diego. McCullough is dedicated to pushing the envelope, helping residents of these new micro-housing spaces have access to and balance with Mother Nature. We look forward to the completion of Daffodil as well as many future projects together. To learn more about The Society of Master Craftsmen and Benjamin Longwell, visit www.thesocietyofmastercraftsmen.com.
Nikki Holloway
Marketing + Creative Manager
Maha Balachandran Advances to Senior Associate
It is our great pleasure to announce the promotion of Maha Balachandran to Senior Associate Landscape Designer. Her promotion coincides with her ninth anniversary at McCullough as well as the firm’s 22nd anniversary in business!
After working as a Junior Architect for Mancini Enterprises Ltd in Chennai, India, Maha made her way to the United States and began working as an Associate with McCullough in 2012 — the first new hire for McCullough following the recession. She continued to work with McCullough after moving to a new home in Northern California in 2015 and is currently our Northern California Project Manager and firm representative for the Bay Area. Maha enjoys project work throughout the State of California and will always consider San Diego her second home.
Throughout her career at McCullough, Maha has consistently proven herself to be a leader for the firm. Her wealth of technical knowledge has brought many innovations to our programs and processes, by keeping staff up-to-date on software trends and new features.
Adaptability is one of Maha’s greatest strengths, and not just with technology. She is always ready to take on challenges that each new project brings, applying her unique perspectives to deliver beautiful, innovative work for our clients and communities.
Principal David McCullough commented, “Maha is even-keeled and passionate about her projects. She is extremely thorough, quick to come up with creative solutions, and has developed great relationships by being dedicated and responsive with clients. That, along with her positive attitude, has made her a valuable leader to our team for many years.”
Maha’s project involvement includes design development, quality control, client meetings, and document development. We are excited to see Maha take on additional opportunities to manage larger projects independently in her position as Senior Associate. Please join us in congratulating her on her well-deserved new role!