Welcome to a journey that may be unlike any other – a journey into transport futures. When I first talked to Professor Enoch, Marcus, I was fascinated. What a possibility to step away from traditional conventions and disrupt the status quo of academia. What an opportunity to open imaginations to the endless possibilities that lie ahead for how we move through our world.

Transport, at its core, is about connection – between places, people and ideas. But as technology evolves, so too does the nature of these connections. Roads, rails and skies once confined us to predictable patterns of movement, yet now, we stand at a critical inflection point in the transport profession – where transformations have the potential to challenge ideas we have had for over a century. From autonomous vehicles and flying cars to decentralized urban systems, the future holds scenarios we are only beginning to imagine. And I believe the idea of futuristic fiction can help us better understand and plan for these scenarios.

The concept of exploring transport futures in such an unconventional way may seem unorthodox, but it’s through this creative lens that we can help probe deeply into the heart of change. In this book, Professor Enoch weaves narratives not merely based on data or projections, but through storytelling, speculative scenarios and thought experiments. Here, the lines between science fiction and future studies blur – because why should the future of transport be anything less than visionary?

My hope in encouraging this project was that these stories inspire, challenge and provoke – and I believe they do just that. They push us out of our comfort zones and established ways of thinking, and into a space where the unexpected becomes plausible. And while this is not a forecast, it is a reflection of what could be.