At Design Miami 2011, Denmark-based BIG Architects and Kollision + Schmidhuber & Partner have collaborated to show us something quite futuristic, and that’s actually a city paved with a digital interactive surface for mobility. The new urban design aims to liberate streets from existing pedestrian and vehicular boundaries, so as to improve flexibility in public spaces. During the Design Miami 2011, what we saw was only a very small part of the future urban, which is a 185 square meter LED installation with 3D cameras to track the movements of passer-by. The data was processed, after which colorful patterns would appear on the LED screen, along with an arrow that indicates the right way of the vehicle.

Designer: BIG architects, Kollision & Schmidhuber

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Thanva Tivawong wants to lead the traffic in a different way, with the help of the sand hour glass. Compared with the current traffic lights, the new design not only changes color but shows the time left to indicate the statement. So no more numbers but still good order.

Designer: Thanva Tivawong

Having noticed that people seldom walk straight through regular pedestrian crossings, Korean designer Jae Min Lim designed the ‘Ergo Crosswalk’ that features an arc shape to help the pedestrians take a much faster shortcut.

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The following information is from the designer:

“When people cross roads, they tend to take the fastest shortcut. They sometimes do it intentionally, but mostly it is an unconscious act. This kind of action violates the traffic regulations and sometimes threatens the safety of the pedestrians. The ‘ergo crosswalk’ is a design that makes people follow the law, as well as consider their habits or unconscious actions. It will encourage pedestrians to follow the lines of the cross walk and protect them from any potential danger. If regulations cannot force people to follow the law, wouldn’t it be more reasonable to change the law and fulfill the main purpose of keeping the safety and convenience of the pedestrian?”

Designer: Jae Min Lim

Seemingly the metro trains are always crowded, no matter at what time and from which platform we get on them. Fortunately the “Comfort Zone Display” can help you out of that bustling crowd, by showing you the passenger density of the next train on those redesigned display boards at stations. With that information, you can not only know clearly where to stand on the platform to board the train, but no longer suffer from overcrowding.

Designer: 4-id Creative Network

The pedestrians’ street crossings always dress in white, reminding people to abide by the traffic regulations. But the zebra crossings we’re to argue today are totally different: they come in various colors, shapes, and their tasks also include decorating the streets and cities. You like them? Come in and view them all…

Surely no one would mind bumping into the other person if they fortuitously found their Mr. Right or Ms. Right. But who knows whether or not the God is playing a trick on you? So my suggestion is: you should be careful enough when rushing around the corner, or simply pay attention to the Corner’s Communication Warning Sign. Designed by Sanghoon Lee, the corner sign could sense the sound emitted by someone approaching around and then light up to warn the other guys. That’s especially ideal for public places like the hospitals, restaurants and offices, where a large number of people walk around frequently.

Designer: Sanghoon Lee

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The newly launched electric vehicle is aimed at big cities and other places where the streets are always congested. To meet the urban commute requirements, the electric scooter not only features a compact shape, but promises an easy storage. When not in use, the vehicle could be conveniently folded up in five steps. The design also speaks of green promises, as it is powered by super charging lithium batteries (they could be full charged in merely five minutes) and won’t lead to exhaust gas pollution. Besides, the vehicle also features an LED blue halo headlight for night riding.

Designer: Stuart Emmerson

Hey, is there any policeman in front of the screen? As the product we’re to introduce today is something that may annoy the policemen. Then what are we to argue? It’s the ‘Car Plate Blocker’, a type of spray that makes your license plate ‘invisible’  to the traffic camera so that you won’t get the ticket even if you run through the red light. Mainly using the low observable technology, the spray works by reflecting the flash back to the camera so as to make your license plate over-exposed. Not only the cameras, but naked human eyes could nothing on your car plate due to the high quality stealth material contained in the spray.

Well, that’s really a clever way to get rid of tickets, but do think twice before you decide to use it. At least in my mind, it’s ignoble to escape a deserved punishment.

Selling Price: $29.26

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I’m sure some of you already had this idea but designer Martin Angelov beat you all to it with a detailed and seemingly practical concept. It is an elevated bike lane hailed as ‘Kolelinia’. Apart from the track to support your tires, there’s also a guy wire to attach your bicycle at the handlebar level, so as to ensure you a safer riding.

But there’s no more information about how many bikes the lane could bear at one time or how the user could get on to the track. So it is an exciting concept still needing to be further tested and improved.

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Can you imagine a bike could draw a lane on the road automatically as you ride it? With the help of a laser beam projector, this bike by Evan Gant and Alex Tee could form a highlighting laser lane so that car drivers will notice your existence and therefore avoid possible accidents. Apart from working effectively, isn’t that also a cool design? I mean, it seems as if you’re riding on your exclusive lane!

Designer: Evan Gant & Alex Tee

Whenever asked what road humps are designed for, we will refer to its important functions in reducing traffic accidents by requiring the drivers to slow down. But how do they work in the night? I mean, there’s only dim light on the road and the drivers couldn’t always notice the road humps from far away, and as a result these speed breakers won’t work that effective as we’ve expected.

Fortunately some designers have thought of that question earlier and they’ve teamed up with the ‘Self-powered Safe Hump’ which is equipped with LED bulbs and therefore gives off light in the dark. Moreover, all the energy needed by the system is converted from the mechanical energy generated when the car passes by.

Designer: Zhang Yakun, He Siqian, Zhu Ningning, Chen Chen & Mu Zhiwei

Have you ever seen any crosswalks built in the air? I mean, that’s really a crazy idea, as it’s not safe at all. However, designers in Art Lebedev Studio do have brought an Air Crosswalk into reality, not for you to walk on, but to help the drivers notice the pedestrians who are crossing the road (on the ground of course), by illuminating above the road. It’s not merely a concept, as the Russian government has decided to install the first Air Crosswalk in Tumen. If you don’t believe it, please wait and see.

Designer: Art Lebedev Studio

If you’re like us then you hate the terrible traffic which is not safe enough for either drivers or pedestrians. That’s why we love the Innovative Laser Crosswalk Concept and its gigantic laser images that appear whenever the traffic light turns red. The virtual wall ensures a safer crosswalk! Obviously that makes you question why no one thought of it before.

Designer: Hanyoung Lee

Are you lost again? Turn to the nearest manhole for help then. I’m not kidding as we’re showing you an innovative design here, the ‘Eco Sign’. It is a digital manhole that provides information about location of public transportation. Simply put your left or right foot on it for 2 seconds, the manhole will then refer you to the nearest train station or bus stop. More amazingly, it is powered by rainwater.

Designer: Cheolyeon Jo & Youngsun Lee

If you want to deliver information to the car behind you, this product will be a good choice. You can use the remote to control the sign, accordingly express your opinion. I bet the guy will got it.

Price: $40

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Red light means you have to stop to wait for walkers. However, there always been some evil drivers intending to run a red light. But this ratio will sure decrease if this virtual wall is installed.

It is made up of plasma laser beams which can depict pedestrians and hence to give more warning.

Designer: Hanyoung Lee

In order to warn drivers about the potential dangerous in winter, especially when the surface temperature of the road is below freezing, a company named Eurovia launched a new road varnish. This innovative product can change its color from white to pink (or any other indicative color) when the surface temperature is perilous.

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This is brilliant idea from Dutch designer Anke Weiss. He uses circular stickers with heart-shaped cutouts to turn a red stop light into a love light. While you are stop in the crossroad, you will feel the love, especially in Valentine’s Day.

Designer: Anke Weiss

In order to be safer when driving in dark, we need turning light for bike. Here’s a good alternatives of normal turning light. You could wear it just like a watch and raise your arm while in turning. The light gonna start to blink by detecting the position of your arm.

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Drowsy driving is fairly dangerous, thus, there’re more and more safety systems in vehicles. However, I bet you haven’t seen a system like this.

This innovative system from Toyota comes with a camera located on dashboard. It can judge whether a driver need a rest by measuring whether a driver’s eyes are properly open. It could issuing a warning to the driver when you feel drowsy.

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If you’re not sensitive to the color changing and the remaining time of the crossing light, you gotta like this. The green man in the light will run faster as the timer counts down. It’s pretty funny.

Video after the break

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Do you believe that a road could play music? This road in Japan which is cut into several places is a melody road. While you driving your car at a certain speed, you could heard the music played by the road.

Video demonstration after the jump

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Scott Brusaw, a American electrical engineer have developed a system which could generate power by the built-in solar panel in the middle. However, it might very difficult to make a road hard enough.

You feel bad in traffic jam? This car jeep gonna give you broader view with the help of a lifter.

Different from other traffic cone, this one is self-inflating, self-lighting. Therefore, it’s more convenient and more effective.

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