top of page
Beyond Flying Cars_Landscape2.png

Beyond Flying Cars

The Masterclass on Co-Imagining Urban Mobility Futures
Last edition: March 2023 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

For many people mobility futures are still about flying cars, an idea that has been around for over 100 years. It is time to move beyond those old-fashioned, tech-driven imaginaries. Using speculative design tools and transition management, this Masterclass will focus on exploring different scenarios and strategies for change in the field of urban mobility, providing you with innovative and hands-on tools to create mobility futures that are realistic and worth living. Are you ready to imagine how we'll move in the future? Join us!

IMG_7325.jpg
Day 1: Checking into the Future:

The first day focuses on transition management theory and the drivers needed to create and accelerate urban change. Through a mix of theory and practice, participants will learn the basics of the transition management approach and will put in practice the framework on practical case-studies. The program of this day is created in partnersip with DRIFT for transition.

Day 2: Exploring alternative futures

The second day will be about ‘futuring’ using a combination of speculative design and co-creation. This approach is not concerned with predicting the future, but exploring different scenarios and their consequences. The program on this day is lead by Design researcher Pedro Gil Farias.

Day 3: Connecting the dots

After two in-depth sessions over the previous days, the last day will focus on how to connect and apply the results of applied transition management, trend scanning, futuring and co-creation to  real-life, practical scenarios. The future is not written nor owned by anyone, so having frameworks and concrete tools is key to be part of the shaping of it. The program for this day features external practitioners. 

Thinking about the future is less an exercise of predicting what’s next than a creative approach to dealing with uncertainty. Unfortunately, most images of the future tend to be in the hands of a very limited group of people, which leads to a poor creative process missing out on the opportunities of what democratising the future can offer.

What you can expect

IMG_7770.jpg
Why is this course relevant for me?
  • Understand key trends influencing urban mobility 

  • Build a database of reference best practices in mobility from around the world

  • Learn how to apply transition management and speculative design to urbanism and mobility

  • Learn to use future thinking to develop and present mobility proposals 

  • Identify key bottle-necks in the mobility transition, and how to address them

  • Gain knowledge in stakeholder management and co-creation 

  • Connect with professionals from the automotive, urbanism and public and private mobility sectors

Methodology and activities
  • Short lectures to introduce key concepts and contextualise

  • Keynote lectures featuring guest speakers from key organisations and academic institutions

  • Several guided workshops in a variety of formats

  • Use of speculative design tools such as scenario matrix and speculative prototyping

  • Design thinking applied to urban mobility: Ideation, Prototyping and Testing sessions, with the objective of testing the group’s conclusions and findings

  • Site visits and guided tours in Rotterdam and surroundings

IMG_8193.jpg

Meet the guest speakers

March 2023 edition:

Robin Chase 2021.tiff

Robin Chase, transportation entrepreneur, co-founder of Zipcar, Veniam and NUMO

Robin is co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the world’s leading car-sharing network; co-founder of Veniam, a network company that moves terabytes of data between vehicles and the cloud, and co-founder of NUMO, a global alliance to channel the opportunities of new urban mobility technologies to build sustainable and just cities. She is Chair of the public company Tucows, and serves on the Dutch multinational DSM’s Sustainability Advisory Board. She wrote the book Peers Inc: How People and Platforms are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism (2016). 

*Robin will join digitally.

martinguitd (1)_edited.jpg

Martin Guit, Strategic Advisor for Mobility and Urban Development at Rebel Group

Martin works in collaboration with the Dutch National, Regional and local Governments for funding and development of urban infrastructure. He worked over 20 years at Gemeente Rotterdam, where along with his colleagues and Danish architect Jan Gehl, he developed “Citylounge”, a project to create high quality public space in the heart of Rotterdam. He now works on the next mobility strategy for the city, focusing on how new mobility can contribute to an attractive city, economically stronger, more densified and healthier.

Alice-Haugh-Alice-Haugh-photo.jpg

Alice Haugh, Built Environment Programme Manager at Laudes Foundation

Alice is an architect, urban designer and strategist specialised in the future of cities. She focuses on decarbonisation and the climate transition from a systemic level. She believes innovation, reform and collaboration can create a regenerative and inclusive built environment that prioritises decarbonisation and wellbeing for all. Next to her work at Laudes Foundation she co-runs In-Between Economies, an urban think-tank focusing on how technology affects city-making.

GeorgeLiu_Picture (1).jpg

George Liu, Urban Mobility Futures Lecturer at University of Amsterdam

George educates professionals and the public about how ideas from urban design can guide the creation of attractive environments that encourage cycling. In collaboration with the European Institute of Technology and Urban Cycling Institute, George has produced and hosted the video series "City Unboxed" and "Urban Mobility Book Reviews" that aim to share the best urban mobility practices in cities around the world. He has also authored numerous online courses.

Derk-Loorbach-2-scaled-e1592915603365-1024x701.jpg

Derk Loorbach, Director at DRIFT and Professor of Socio-economic Transitions at the Faculty of Social Science, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Derk is one of the founders of the transition management approach as a new form of governance for sustainable development. He has over one hundred publications in this area and has been involved as an action researcher in numerous transition processes with government, business, civil society and science.

Mariana Mirabile_edited.jpg

Mariana Mirabile, Economist at the Environment Directorate of OECD

Mariana is an economist with a passion to improve systems based at the OECD Environment Directorate. She has over 10 years of experience in policy analysis on climate change, and an expertise on economics, communication, and systems thinking. She has co-developed with OECD colleagues the process Systems Innovation for Net Zero, designed to help countries identify transformative policies able to shape systems that work for people and the planet. 

She is a partner of Systems Innovation, and prior to OECD she worked at the World Food Programme supporting the implementation of school feeding programs in developing countries.

Marjolein Stamsnijder_edited.jpg

Marjolein Stamsnijder, Senior Strategy and Innovation Advisor, Nederlandse Spoorwegen

Marjolein is an experienced strategic advisor with extensive experience in mobility and spatial planning. She has worked as a consultant, trainer and political advisor, bringing parties with different standpoints, interests and backgrounds together and getting them to move forward. She is a published author and has written about the governance of regional cooperation and spatial planning. She currently works as a Senior Advisor for Strategy and Innovation at NS, and she formerly worked for almost a decade as an Advisor for Gemeente Amsterdam. 

Sigrid de Vries_edited.jpg

Sigrid de Vries,  Director General of the European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA)

Trained as a journalist, she has long-standing experience working for strategic EU industry sectors – from automobile manufacturers and suppliers, to the construction equipment sector, having held various external affairs and leadership roles. Prior to ACEA, she was Secretary General of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA). She also led the Association of the European Construction Equipment Industry (CECE), and headed the external relations and communications department at CNH Industrial.

Participation Fees:​

Regular registration: € 1,250 (excl. VAT)

Non-for-profit organisations : € 1,000 (excl. VAT, limited spaces)

Students : € 800 (excl. VAT, limited spaces)

The price includes materials, and lunch for all three days.

Accommodation is not included.

Brought to you by

Combination EU1 horizontal_1.png
Humankind_logo_highres.png
Want to know more?

Would you like us to run a version of this Masterclass specific for your field, company or team?

Are you interested on a tour or tailor-made workshop on any of these topics?

Contact Mario.
mario.png

Mario Raimondi Pruss

Partner / Urban Change Specialist

mario@humankind.city

  • LinkedIn - Black Circle

This training is supported by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

bottom of page