Microcarros Europeus: Design e Mobilidade Sustentável

• Main Author: dos Santos Gabriel, Maria João Tavares
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2019
• Subjects: Automobile shows; Design; Designers; Smart cities
• ISBN: 9798480602333

The theme of this dissertation is "European Microcars - Design and sustainable Mobility". The main objective of this work is the construction of a systematized reading of the project and implementation of European microcars throughout the twentieth century, in order not only to clarify/define the concept itself but also to understand its current and future role in sustainable urban mobility. In this sense, we go through dimensions such as the specific design of the vehicles, predecessors, authors and companies involved, as well as the inherent socio-economic context. As a methodology, exhaustive research was conducted in bibliographic and online sources, as well as direct contacts with collectors and subject matter experts, through discussion forums and participation in national meetings and exhibitions.Microcars consist of motor vehicles which emerged in Europe after World War II, in a context of scarcity of economic resources, energy and production materials. These vehicles had three or four wheels, showing particular characteristics, namely lightness, small dimensions and low fuel consumption. It will be precisely these specificities to drive the development of innovative technology and design solutions in order to reduce the number of materials used and maximize the space of the passenger compartment. The history of microcars is parallel to the history of the automobile itself. Widely regarded as the precursors of microcars, cyclecars emerged in the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries, quickly becoming popular in Europe immediately after World War I. These vehicles laid the foundation for the implementation and development of microcars, based on the lightness of construction, use of motorcycle technology and simplicity of design.Although microcars have been in decline since the 1960s, at a time of more significant economic recovery coupled with the emergence of other popular utility cars such as Issigonis' Mini or Ferdinand Porsche's Beetle, currently there is a growing interest in these small vehicles.The increasing popularity of microcars today and the expectation of their potential in the future is linked to the combination of two key factors: ecological awareness (use of clean energy with low fuel consumption) and urban mobility (ease of movement and parking in congested cities; possibility of use in carsharing and autonomous driving systems).