INVESTIGATION – On-demand delivery applications are multiplying, with risks for public space, but also for mental health and life in society.
One of the Little Prince’s first contacts, when he arrived on earth, is this pill merchant “Which quench thirst” and allow their designer to save “Fifty-three minutes a week”. Insatiable but dubious, the Little Prince wonders: “And what do we do with those fifty-three minutes?”
The question could now be referred to the inhabitants of the big cities. “Uberized”, where streaming platforms save travel time to the cinema and apps avoid queuing at restaurants. Better, for six months, city dwellers can have their groceries delivered in ten or fifteen minutes, without moving from their sofa, thanks to a myriad of dedicated applications. To paraphrase the candid Prince de Saint-Exupéry, what do we gain by honoring these invitations to idleness?
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“YOUR RACES DELIVERED IN 15 MINUTES”. In the corridors of the Paris metro, this promise of a new urban utopia is displayed everywhere, in capital letters
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