This short case for public transportation in The Atlantic is notable for both its impact and conciseness, and is in my view a model for effective communication.
Why does this have any relevance to BIM? One of the main issues that we face is not the engineering design, but in communicating and engaging the people who are going to be affected by transportation and other infrastructure projects around the benefits and impacts that they will see. That’s best done through presenting information in a way that people understand and that generates a positive emotional response, supported by the facts and data of the proposal.
Complexity simplified. Things like this GIF help explain some of the complexity of multi-modal transportation by presenting a comparison of methods. It is still the equivalent of a “sound bite” – it doesn’t, for example, highlight that light rail follows fixed routes and therefore lacks the flexibility of the car for certain journeys – although it highlights the opportunity of choice: that is, “if this many people choose to use public transportation (or cycle or walk), look at the impact it has on traffic”.
It’s not just wheels that spin. It’s noticeable that the title of the article is “the case against cars” rather than my take as “the case for public transportation”. Much of the debate around multi-modality has become as partisan as seemingly any other issue, which often overwhelms the importance of presenting proposals as a choice for the traveling public. People will resist things they feel are being imposed on them, so presenting a project as enabling choice with positive benefits gains greater traction and approval that something that is construed as implicitly or explicitly critical of the traveling public.
Choices are the core of engagement. In many places, particularly in the US, people have had few desirable transit options but their cars. Cars represent freedom, control, individuality. Public transport is regarded as slow, dirty, even dangerous. These often are emotional reactions rather than logical ones. Shifting that mindset is therefore about communicating the experience as much as - if not more than - the facts.
To help achieve this, Autodesk continues to make infrastructure engineering more tangible for stakeholders and the public, as illustrated by this Autodesk Showreel for Transportation (2012) and is a central element of Autodesk Infraworks, Creating compelling communications of proposals by using the conceptual and detailed BIM models and representing them in a way that is more easily consumed helps engage communities and smooth the approvals process earlier in the project lifecycle – something that benefits everyone.
(Thanks to Adam Hyland for highlighting the originating article.)
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