Mobilities Design: towards a research agenda for applied mobilities research

In this paper, we identify the nexus between design (architecture,
urban design, service design, etc.) and mobilities as a new and
emerging research field. In this paper, we apply a “situational
mobilities” perspective and take point of departure in the pragmatist
question: “What design decisions and interventions affords this
particular mobile situation?” The paper presents the contours of an
emerging research agenda within mobilities research. The advent of
“mobilities design” as an emerging research field points towards a
critical interest in the material as well as practical consequences of
contemporary sites of mobilities and technology. Furthermore, the
paper argues that heightened material sensitivity with an acute focus
on situations and the multi-sensorial dimensions of human mobilities
is largely under-prioritised within much contemporary city planning
and transport planning as well as policy-making. The paper proposes
that increased understanding of the material affordances facilitated
through design provides important insight to planning and policymaking
that at times might be in risk of becoming too detached from
the everyday life of the mobile subject within contemporary mobilities
landscapes.