%0 Journal Article %T Smart and sustainable: collecting urban transport and mobility innovation in the 2020s %A Meredith Greiling %D 2022 %V %N Spring 2022 %K active travel %K cargo bikes %K connected autonomous vehicles %K contemporary collecting %K cycling %K intelligent mobility %K Scotland %K Sustainable transport %K urbanism %X How can museums collect transport objects to reflect the changes that we can see happening on the streets around us today? Much of what is changing relates to behaviour and integrated transport systems, both of which lack material ‘objects’ to collect. Some transport changes might be more easily acquired for the historic collection – the arrival of on-street hire bikes, for example – but much of what is different with the emerging systems is about attitudes, behaviour and the use of smart technology. Scotland’s cities are experiencing a revolution in smart, sustainable transport and active travel. City centre transformation schemes, already several years in the planning, have been radically accelerated by the response to Covid-19. During lockdown in 2020 cities prioritised pedestrians and cyclists over motor vehicles as part of the public health emergency. At the same time electric vehicles, cargo bike delivery collectives, bike and scooter hire schemes, extended tram network and hydrogen-powered public buses are all making an impact on how Scottish cities operate. This article explores the changes we see today to vehicles, systems and infrastructure on the streets of Scotland’s cities as a microcosm of the wider global transport revolution and provides two case studies of recent acquisitions made by National Museums Scotland to illustrate how museums might capture this moment. By considering the Lutz Pathfinder pod, a prototype fully autonomous vehicle, and items relating to Edinburgh’s Cargo Bike Movement, this article brings together two ends of the sustainable transport technology spectrum: futuristic driverless cars and low-tech bicycle deliveries. Furthermore, this article suggests approaches to how museums might collect other areas of change in transport systems and infrastructure. %Z See Edinburgh Napier University’s Transport Research Institute publications such as Downey, L, Fonzone, A, Fountas, G and Semple, T, April 2021, ‘Impact of COVID-19 on travel behaviour, transport, lifestyles and residential location choices in Scotland’, Cornell University arXiv [https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.10440v1 accessed 16 June 2021] and Motherwell, S, February 2018 ‘Are We Nearly There Yet? Exploring Gender and Active Travel’, Sustrans Research and Monitoring Unit publication [https://www.sustrans.org.uk/media/2879/2879.pdf] accessed 12 June 2021. Also, Scottish Transport Studies Group, Scottish Transport Review, August 2021: Is Scotland Setting an Example on Transport for COP 26? John Yellowlees, and August 2016 https://stsg.org/when-will-there-be-autonomous-vehicles-on-scotlands-roads, accessed 12 September 2021. %Z The Museum didn’t acquire a full-sized aircraft until the Supermarine Spitfire was donated by the Ministry of Defence in 1971 and became the foundation of the National Museum of Flight’s collection. %Z A 314 Class Electric Train, ex-Scotrail, 314209, built 1979, used extensively by Scottish operators, scrapped 2019, is being converted to hydrogen fuel by SPRS/Arcola Energy 2021 for COP26 and tests in northern Scotland. See press including: https://www.theengineer.co.uk/scottish-hydrogen-train-debut-glasgow-cop26/ %Z Multiple major car manufacturers now include self-driving technologies in their ranges typically for assisted parking, lane-keeping, and cruise control, see https://www.cars.com/articles/which-cars-have-self-driving-features-for-2021-433821/ %Z Multiple studies on the public perceptions of self-driving technologies have been published, such as Hewitt, Politis, Amanatidis, and Sarkar, 2019, ‘Assessing public perception of self-driving cars: the autonomous vehicle acceptance model’, in Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI '19). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 518–527. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3301275.3302268, and Richardson, E and Davies, P, ‘The changing public’s perception of self-driving cars’, Bournemouth University, Researchgate, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34641.02402 %I The Science Museum Group %@ 2054-5770 %B eng %U https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/smart-and-sustainable-collecting-urban-transport-and-mobility-innovation-in-the-2020s/ %J Science Museum Group Journal