As a market research company that works digitally through and through, we like to rely on artificial intelligence and digital tools – yes, we develop them ourselves if necessary. And yet we know that there are questions that are best answered by analog methods. By simply sitting down together at one table, for example, and then shaping the future face-to-face. This is what happened in December 2018 in the Popup Store Mobility on the Markt 1, Aachen.
In Aachen, we are lucky to have the unique opportunity having many experts on the subject of mobility on site. Whether university, city or business enterprise: A total of 22 partners have joined forces in the “Erlebniswelt Mobilität Aachen” – EMA for short – to join forces and successfully set milestones for the mobility of the future. Dialego is one of the partners.
One Popup Store, 22 Partners, 4,000 Visitors
“My city – my mobility – my future” was the motto of the Popup Store: Shaping the future of mobility. Initiated by the economic development agency of the city of Aachen, we had a large shop at our disposal in a central location. Over a period of three weeks we were able to present prototypes, concepts and ideas as well as offer numerous events on the subject of mobility. Read more in the press release of the city of Aachen
“Aachen’s research and development landscape puts us one step ahead of the competition in the field of intelligent mobility,” Lord Mayor Marcel Philipp summarized in his speech at the closing event. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have to make an effort. That’s why it’s great when good and innovative concepts such as the Erlebniswelt Mobilität Aachen work.”
Three citizen and expert workshops
In the three weeks of the Popup Store we conducted three citizen and expert workshops with Dialego, in which we explored the wishes and needs of the people of Aachen in terms of mobility and developed recommendations for the decision-makers. Because one thing is clear: If it is about moving people, then we also have to move the people, mobilize them to participate in the design process.
And this claim succeeded. We focused on the following questions: What should an inner city look like that is not dominated by traffic, by streets and traffic lights, by cars and buses? How can the planning of a stress-free and more flexible traffic for all involved succeed? In joint work, concepts such as mobility hubs, mobility on demand or “bicycle highways” were developed – and were assessed positively by experts for the future.
“Mobility will change fundamentally in the coming years,” said Dieter Begaß, Head of the Department of Economics, Science and Europe at the City of Aachen. “That is why our approach is the right one: to bring the technologies ‘made in Aachen’ onto the streets here as well and to involve the citizens consistently in the developments.”
A project that we were happy to implement. Finally, we presented the city with a visual summary of the workshop results for further work:
A visual summary of the results of our three citizen and expert workshops