Mobi, the service for sustainable mobility

Abstract

Context
The topic of this graduation project is sustainable mobility. Sustainable mobility in urban areas can be achieved by using active transport. Cycling and walking is called active transport and is sustainable due to the lack of emissions. Passive transport such as cars and pedal bicycles produce a lot of emissions, which are bad for people’s health and the climate.

Advier, the client of this project, is a consultancy working on innovative and sustainable mobility. Together, we looked at the future of mobility inside the city. How to make a green world in 2040.

Aim of the project
To design for the year of 2040, first I researched what the future will look like. A future that is as green as possible through technological but also behavioural developments. To eventually move towards this green world, the following research goal was drawn up: Design a service to encourage more sustainable mobility in and around urban areas in 2040.

To accomplish this goal, the research through design method was applied. For the three different phases, this design method was applied in an exploratory way. As a result of the analytical, conceptual, and conclusion phases, a service was designed. This service, called Mobi, will motivate people to use more sustainable mobility and inspire sustainable mobility projects.

Analysis
Throughout the project, I built on a strong foundation of background knowledge. This knowledge was built from literature research and was built up from three topics.

Mobility
This chapter has looked at present and future mobility. The impact of mobility on behaviour, rearranging mobility inside the city by giving priority to cyclists. By looking at this development of mobility, means such as electric vehicles and low-traffic cities seem to be the solution, but I believe the solution lies mainly in changing people’s behaviour.

City
The city adapts to mobility and vice versa. How differently a city functions when a 15-minute city philosophy is applied. It is important to take the city into account when designing for it. How communities emerge and streetscapes change will influence the criteria for designing a future-proof service.

Future visions
What the future will look like no one knows, but by looking at the extremes of future worlds, design possibilities will emerge. By taking a green world as a starting point, the service created within will lead to a more sustainable world. Thus, this project is focused on making a green world a reality.

Concept
To come up with the broadest possible solutions for the project, behavioural change was researched. To practice sustainable behaviour, you do need to know how sustainable behaviour looks like and, more importantly, what it does not look like. There is demand for more knowledge around mobility emissions, research has shown. To create a green world, it has to be clear how we get there. That is why Mobi has been devised that will ensure a green world for the future.

Conclusion
The Mobi service consists of three elements: bike, car and overview. For each element, I looked at providing the necessary information on sustainability and investigated what the appropriate form of communication would be. In this way, Mobi primarily offers a form of information to the user. The communication is in a playful way to keep the user motivated and make more use of active transport.

Towards the end of the project, the designed service proved to be most suitable for an application for the smartphone and a implementation of an existing mobility provider. It will be deployed in combination with vehicles and technologies. The service was also tested among users and experts in the field of mobility and MaaS; Gaiyo, Advier and SJEES. This evaluated the service as an inspiring resource for future mobility and possibilities for implementation.