A number of the stories in this issue speak to the need for aligned intentions -- the need in this case for the development and deployment of new technologies to take place in the context of the values and desired goals of the systems into which they are released. Three articles look at the experiments we’ve seen in mobility over the past 10 years -- how the results differed from the projections and prognostications and how to think about the next wave of “disruptive” new technologies and the possible impacts they could have. New tech makes possible new products and services and new products and services designed for individuals have -- as they scale -- systemic consequences. 

As Congress asks the big tech CEOs about how to design better barn doors now that so many horses have escaped, it’s worth remembering that we’re in the early stages of major technology-driven transformations in energy, mobility, food and -- if you listen to Facebook’s plans -- how humans connect with one another. Shira Ovide, in the article we share below, seeks to apply recent lessons learned by recommending that early guardrails be established. We’d take that a step further and argue for the need for a more proactive alignment of intentions across the public and private sector. Identifying the harms we wish to avoid is necessary and valuable, but we should also identify the systems-level goals and benefits we seek from these transformations, then work to align efforts in their direction. 

On to this week’s stories.

- Steve & Thomas

How Much Weight Did We Gain During Lockdowns? 2 Pounds a Month, Study Hints
The Quarantine 15 might be real, it turns out. A small study looked at weight before and after the lockdowns began and found a two-pound-per-month gain on average. The study was not particularly representative, but given that all participants were tracking their weight regularly (and most were actually losing weight prior to the lockdowns), the results might represent, as one of the researchers put it, “the tip of the iceberg.” Read more.

Redefining What a Map Can Be With New Information and AI
Google has announced a whole slew of new features for Maps, based on incorporating AI techniques. Most interestingly -- and a positive development for health -- they’re starting to move away from speed being the default optimization and enabling more tailoring based on values and preferences. They’ll default to the most eco-friendly route if the ETA is comparable and will learn a user’s preferences to start defaulting to transport modes that reflect habits (no more defaulting to driving directions for that short walk to the coffee shop). Read more.

Post-Covid, Ride-Hail Users May Spurn Shared Trips
The way that autonomous vehicles play out in cities might depend on the degree to which they are shared or used for single passengers. (Robin Chase’s Heaven or Hell scenario illustrates a pair of alternative futures based on this uncertainty.) Lyft and Uber even signed on to principles that included only offering shared AV rides in cities, but, as David Zipper writes in CityLab, post-Covid wariness, combined with a less than enthusiastic response to pooled rides before the pandemic, spells trouble for the shared AV scenario. Read more.

“Prescribing” Fruits and Veggies Would Save $100 Billion in Medical Costs
In a simulation study published in PLoS Medicine, Tufts University researchers calculated the benefits that could come from providing a 30% subsidy on fruits and vegetables, or a subsidy to an even wider array of healthy foods, to the 82 million adults on Medicare and/or Medicaid. They’re quite substantial: up to $100 billion in avoided health care costs, to say nothing of preventing 120,000 cases of diabetes and 620,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease. Read more.

What We Got Wrong About Uber and Lyft
In her "On Tech" column for the Times, Shira Ovide digs into the question of why, when Uber and Lyft were supposed to reduce traffic congestion, have they actually done the opposite -- and led to decreased use of public transportation. She comes out with three key lessons: make sure companies share data with cities; steer people toward helpful behaviors and away from destructive ones; and new tech needs guardrails -- earlier than we think. Read more.

What is the Dining Table Really For?
Inspired by her mom’s difficulty selling their old dining room table (at which she rarely ate), Melinda Fakuade traces the social history of the dining table: from its ancient Greek origin and its time as a status symbol of the Victorian era to its slow decline in the eras of modern kitchen appliances; conversation pits; GrubHub and DoorDash; and pandemic work-at-home desks. Along the way, she ponders the power dynamics and what we’ve lost as we’ve gradually moved away from the cultural experience of the sit-down family dinner. Read more.

Facebook Finally Explains Its Mysterious Wrist Wearable
Facebook continues to reveal more about its vision for the future of computing. The latest set of hints comes from this Lauren Goode story in WIRED about a wrist-worn device that will capture gestures (and apparently even intentions of gestures) and serve as a basis for communicating with our computer resources of the future. Read more.

Is Coffee Good for Us? Maybe Machine Learning Can Help Figure It Out
This story is not about coffee. Or it is. Sort of. It’s about the challenge of complexity (and time lags) in nutrition science and how machine learning offers opportunities to generate hypotheses amidst vast piles of data. (Coffee, apparently, might or might not be good for us, but it (for now) doesn’t seem bad.) Read more.

You Can't Disrupt the City
Ian Dull (from ReD Associates, a strategy consultancy) and Jeff Risom (of the design and urban planning firm Gehl) decry what they call the ‘move fast and break things’ approach to urban transport, noting the chaos some cities are experiencing in the wake of the would be disrupters. “To appeal to both the user and the city,” they argue, “mobility disrupters don’t just need better brands or software: they need to understand how to truly fill the gaps in today’s mobility, connecting their innovations to where cities need it. That starts with understanding the cultures of how, where, and why people move.” Read more.

How to End the War Over the Future of the Suburbs
After getting into the uncomfortable politics of suburban zoning laws and public housing, George Mason University research fellow Salim Furth offers a third way: opening the suburbs up to more apartments. Read more.

The Suburbs Aren't What They Used to Be. These 6 Strategies Can Make Them Even Better
Speaking of the suburbs, Nate Berg profiles a new book, Case Studies in Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Strategies for Urgent Challenges, by architects June Williamson and Ellen Dunham-Jones. The book consists of case studies of suburban areas that are morphing in ways that tackle six important issues: car dependence; public health; aging population; equity; jobs; and water and energy resilience. Read more.

Mark Bittman Cooked Everything. Now He Wants to Change Everything.
For his podcast, Ezra Klein has a terrific conversation with Bittman about his new book, Animal, Vegetable, Junk, which is a scathing indictment of the modern food system. Listen. 

Building H is a project to build health into everyday life, led by Steve Downs and Thomas Goetz. We believe that we need to reimagine the fundamentals of everyday life — how we eat, sleep, get from place to place, socialize and entertain ourselves — with health and well-being as explicit goals. We call attention to the need and the opportunity: Shining a light on the doers who are building health into everyday life; creating a community of thinkers and doers who believe in the #healthpositive vision; and creating tools to help companies assess the impacts of their products on the health of their customers.

Please visit our website to learn more.