DESIGNING FOR SUSTAINABLE CITIES: A COURSE ON USER EXPERIENCE AND URBAN MOBILITY

Sustainable urban mobility is crucial for fostering environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socially inclusive cities. The transportation sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, making it imperative to develop sustainable mobility solutions that minimize environmental impact while meeting the needs of urban residents. Smart mobility solutions and digital platforms are critical tools in the transition toward sustainable urban environments. For instance, mobile applications can encourage citizens to choose public transportation or active modes of transportation like walking and cycling. Services like BlaBlaCar promote car-pooling by providing a trustworthy, user-friendly service. Over the past two decades, digital interventions aimed at reducing the ecological footprint of mobility practices have proliferated globally. Digital “shared mobility” and emerging, more sophisticated “mobility-as-a-service” platforms which integrate multiple services into a single portal, have become prominent in reworking everyday urban transport in cities. As these technologies become part of urban life, designing seamless interactions with them is essential for smoother sustainability transitions. Equipping future designers with the tools to address complex urban mobility challenges is crucial to pave the way for cities prioritizing sustainability and inclusivity in their transportation systems. This paper presents a User Experience course designed to equip students with skills and insights to create innovative digital solutions that enhance urban mobility while promoting sustainability. Focused on a metropolitan city in Eastern Europe, the course explored the intersection of design education and sustainable transportation, emphasizing the critical role of digital platforms in reshaping urban mobility. The course followed a project-based learning approach and adopted design thinking methodology. Students were introduced to key concepts related to sustainability, urban mobility and the latest digital technologies facilitating sustainable mobility systems. Through exploratory user research, discussions and collaborative brainstorming, they identified specific mobility issues in the city, laying the groundwork for their projects. They developed interactive prototypes of their solutions to gather feedback from prospective users. In this paper, we present the course design and structure, along with two standout projects that exemplify innovative thinking and practical application of sustainable urban mobility solutions. The first project focused on developing a digital platform offering personalized route planning based on users input such as regular routes they used, preferred transportation mediums, priorities (comfort vs. time) and suggestions from friends and family. This project aimed to provide a trustworthy and personalized route planning experience in a city with diverse mobility options. The second project targeted short-distance taxi usage, addressing commuters’ tendency to opt for taxis instead of walking, cycling, or ridesharing for short distances. The students developed a mobile app, allowing users to see ‘other’ transportation options while calling for a taxi. By comparing different transportation options based on pre-selected criteria such as price and time, students aimed to discourage taxi usage. The presentation of the course design, selected projects and our reflections on the design process and the outcomes can inspire other design educators in planning and executing project-based design courses that empower students to become innovative problem solvers capable of contributing to more sustainable and resilient urban environments.