How do you get to the city of the future? Seven cities spent six months racing to answer that question. They were competing for a $40 million start-up prize from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which asked them to juggle three big ideas: automation, climate change and urban inequality. Columbus eventually took the crown . But even without the federal cash, city officials say big changes are coming faster than people realize.

The Cities Columbus San Francisco Austin Kansas City Portland Pittsburgh Denver

Columbus The problem People in poor communities such as Linden have worse access to jobs, doctors and data. They’re being “left out of the great recovery,” the city says. Many don’t have the resources, or even the credit needed, to sign up for Uber or a cheaper iteration of ride-hailing. By the numbers There are tens of thousands of unfilled jobs that company reps say people aren’t equipped to take. At the same time, tens of thousands of people have been looking for work for at least a year. Infant mortality is three times higher in Linden than in the rest of Franklin County (25.7 per 1,000 vs. 8.5 per 1,000). The idea Tackle the inconveniences and impediments of daily travel by tying together neighborhoods and connecting people to higher education and health care, as well as to training and job opportunities. How? Run an autonomous circulator in one of Ohio’s largest job centers, Easton, which is adjacent to Linden and which proponents say would make access easier for people in both communities. Distribute a smart card and app that cover everything from bus fares to ride and car-sharing services and could be used by those who are dependent on cash. With its mix of blue-collar, white-collar and older workers, and its diversity, firms such as McDonald’s and brands such as Victoria’s Secret have seen Columbus as the “test marketing capital of the world,” the city’s mayor says. Now they want to test-market tricked-out road networks. Their slogan: “Becoming the Silicon Valley of intelligent transportation systems.” “Some people say, ‘What the heck does infant mortality have to do with transportation?’ I say, ‘Everything.’...That’s a reflection of the quality of life in the neighborhood. Poverty is rampant. Violence is disproportionate.” Fixing those “social determinants of health” depends on having physical access to opportunities. – Columbus mayor Andrew J. Ginther

San Francisco The problem Too many cars jammed in a tight space, leading to horrendous traffic, pollution, greenhouse gases, noise and crashes. By the numbers Just over half of all trips are taken in roughly 5,000 trains, buses, taxis or car shares – or on foot or bike, the city says. The other half of trips are in an estimated 450,000 cars. The idea Let city residents choose neighborhoods to test out strategies to slash that car total. And once that happens, replace unneeded parking garages and even some intersections with affordable housing. How? They are proposing a massive behavioral experiment: How do you get people to change their habits? The pilot would try to lure people from their own cars to shared, clean-running electric vehicles, either with drivers or without (if robot cars prove cheap and trusty enough). The carrot? Ease and relative speed. Those in shared rides can use new dedicated carpool lanes (either marked on the pavement or drawn virtually using navigation apps such as Waze) to speed trips. One possible location: side streets near entrances to the gummed up Bay Bridge, where shared-only lanes could shave crucial, aggravating minutes off trips. Officials see a fat market: A lot of people can afford more than the current cost of transit, but less than an Uber or Lyft on every trip. They want to figure out how government policy and technology can speed development of that market. Drawing in bigger vehicles, with, say, six-passenger vans, might help cut costs. “We can move the same amount of people with a tenth of the vehicles...It’s really going to open up our minds. We’re not going to need to have all that excess road space. It could be open space, gardens or playgrounds.” – Timothy Papandreou, chief innovation officer, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

Austin The problem Epically plugged-up roadways are exacerbating soaring property prices downtown, as people crowd in for jobs and manageable commutes. Musicians and others that make the city sing are being forced out, and music venues are getting replaced. By the numbers Austin’s population soared from 790,000 in 2010 to 932,000 in 2015, a jump of nearly 20 percent. It has been one of the fastest-growing major cities in the United States, and has the most congested highway in Texas, Interstate 35. The idea Create transportation hubs largely around the city’s edge to prevent downtown from being crushed by cars. Ultimately, “a strategic network of these hubs could eliminate the need for human-driven vehicles in the urban core altogether,” the city says. How? Give the supercharged “park and ride” lots – they’re calling them Smart Stations – some style. Officials want them to be a “cool space . . . kind of like a critical mass of convenience,” the mayor says, with walk-in medical clinics and groceries waiting to be picked up from locked refrigerators. They want people pouring into the hubs using shared vehicles or transit, rather than their own cars. People can then head out on electric buses, trains, automated bikes or driverless cars. Among the likely locations: the neighboring city of Pflugerville, where many African American residents have moved, and the green-leaning Mueller neighborhood, a former airport. There’d be a station in the underserved Rundberg area, and a more central station downtown. Once passengers arrive in the city center, they might use a driverless-car service to bop around. “We are in danger of losing the spirit and soul of this city...Our growth is outstripping our capacity. For Austin, Texas, figuring out the mobility challenge is existential.” – Mayor Steve Adler.

Kansas City The problem Swaths of the city are isolated, by geography and an information void. Much of the population on the eastern side of the city does not routinely connect to the web. By the numbers Nearly 20 percent of people live below the poverty line, and most of the poor live on the city’s east side. The idea Expand an ambitious but limited tech blitz surrounding a just-opened streetcar line to include struggling neighborhoods. How? Advanced technologies have been flipped on in a few places, things like red lights that make timing decisions on the fly, depending on traffic, and streetlights that switch on when people are around. Free high-speed Wi-Fi and public internet kiosks are live in some areas. They want to expand those projects, starting along an eight-mile bus line on Prospect Ave. near the Jazz District and a major education and employment agency for the blind. There would also be gunshot-detection equipment that can talk to nearby patrol cars and tech tools to guide the blind and aid the unemployed by combining transportation and job search data. “The people who need the jobs often don’t even know the jobs are there, so by connecting transportation with digital infrastructure, we’re able to marry the two things people need to have most in order to have productive lives...It’s transportation to enhance people’s lives, not just getting them from home to the ice cream parlor.” – Mayor Sylvester “Sly” James, Jr.

Portland The problem There are big parts of Portland that are nothing like the Portland of Portlandia, the pedestrian-and-bike friendly, transit-oriented, green-leaning city held up by local officials as “the proto-typer for the nation.” Beyond the city’s center and away from the fingers of transit jutting outward, some areas have no rail, no sidewalks, and dangerous roads. These areas are often where poorer families and immigrants live. And citywide, soaring plans to slash emissions need a tech boost to become reality. By the numbers People are much more likely to be killed on city roads east of 82nd Avenue than elsewhere in Portland, the city says. Portland is seeking zero emissions from its city fleet. The idea Tap road-safety and electric-vehicle technologies and feed residents data to shift their behavior. How? Robot cars or delivery vans, or other vehicles wirelessly linked to roadways, could slow traffic behind them at dangerous times and places. They’d be sort of like a drafting car in a NASCAR race, the city says. A navigation and payment app would tie together transit, ride-sharing, walking and other ways people get around, with info piped back to customers on the calories burned or the greenhouse gases saved – or dumped into the atmosphere. Allow electric vehicles to plug in to the streetlight and parking meter network, and explore wireless charging and possible new lanes for juicing up while rolling. “The traffic violence here, and we don’t use that term lightly, is significant. We actually had more people die on our streets than we had murdered last year.” – Maurice Henderson, assistant transportation director

Pittsburgh The problem Mountains and rivers are beautiful impediments to getting around easily. Public transit’s reach is limited, and driving can be nightmarish. The city’s post-industrial decline stranded many, and its revival bypassed others. Neighborhoods are marked by stark inequality. Dirty-burning coal is still plentiful. By the numbers The city’s population dropped by more than half since 1950, to 304,391 last year, according to Census figures. The idea Recycle an old steel mill site, revive a long-struggling neighborhood and tie both to a tech-augmented transportation network stretching across the city. How? Push existing plans to power up the old steel site, known as Almono, using a “microgrid” fueled by solar and geothermal power. The foundations that own the land say such localized power production would be cleaner, cheaper and more efficient, and would serve the poor Hazelwood community. Officials want to use the coming arrival of Uber’s driverless-car test course at the steel site to draw more transportation technology jobs. They would link the development to universities and tech companies in nearby Oakland using an autonomous shuttle. A city parking lot would be draped in solar panels to charge electric vehicles, and the city would expand its network of traffic signals that make judgments based on what’s happening on the ground. “We can take an area that hasn’t seen any development since the 19th century [and make it] the model of a sustainable development for a new economy...Transportation, energy and technology can be used to create a 21st-century city.” – Mayor William Peduto

Denver The problem The soaring population has led to crushing congestion, sapping the spirits of people with and without means and putting a sour asterisk on life in the Western boom town. By the numbers The population has jumped by nearly 25 percent in 15 years, to 683,000. The city swells by 200,000 a day, with most trips starting or ending outside the city. Roughly a third of people live in poor neighborhoods with high unemployment. Building a single, mile-long lane along jammed Federal Boulevard cost $30 million. The idea Marry carpool services such as Lyft Line with light rail, commuter rail and bus lines, so people can more easily get to and from stations and drive less. In poorer areas in particular, the city plans to partner with Lyft and potentially others to promote “on-demand transit.” How? Since residents in disadvantaged northern neighborhoods and elsewhere lack the bank accounts and resources needed to sign up for ride-hailing services, the city will try to play matchmaker. Officials would help poor residents pay for Lyft trips that start or stop along transit lines. The ride-hailing company could then guarantee rates to encourage drivers to make more pickups in underserved areas. Along the way, the city would gather data on where the holes in service are and test the economics of driverless cars. Officials also want to set up wireless connections with trucks moving through poorer communities such as Globeville and Elyria Swansea, with coordinated red lights cutting travel times and pollution. “We’re trying to make sure folks don’t feel the only way to get around is in a car. Being a Western city, that is how a lot of folks feel...The transportation system is a finite system. There’s only so much room on the road.” – Crissy Fanganello, director of transportation and mobility

Design and development by Lazaro Gamio and Katherine Lee