EG505A: INTELLIGENT MOBILITY: PEOPLE AND PLANNING (2023-2024)

This course introduces the concept of Intelligent Mobility (IM). It begins with a focus on the origins of and antecedents to IM. There is then focus on one of the most important current manifestations of IM, the notion of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Current progress towards the delivery of MaaS will be explored by reference to available research evidence and relevant case studies from around the world.

The emphasis on ‘people and planning’ in IM in this course renders it very important to appreciate the links between prevailing social trends and behaviour and the technological opportunities to be realised through IM. In this context, the role of transport in the sharing economy (and indeed the gig economy) will be explored. 

Meeting user needs in the design and delivery of transport solutions will be a key determinant of success in achieving IM. This will involve consideration of virtual mobility as an evolving social practice ranging from classic definitions of teleworking to varied spatial-temporal working and nomadic location-independent living. This course will evaluate how such practices relate to travel behaviour at the individual, household and more aggregate level. Evolving public attitudes towards technology will critically influence the uptake of IM. This involves issues such as adoption and adaptation of technologies and varying attitudes amongst different social and demographic groups. Attitudes to autonomous vehicles as a key identifier of IM will receive particular attention.

Staff also have a critical and often neglected role to play in delivering IM. Ensuring that our transport systems and services have the required staffing in terms of capacity and skills is integral to realising IM in practice.

Emphasising the intelligence in IM there will be focus upon transport and smart cities – what has been achieved? What are the opportunities and barriers?  In recent times there has been a growing appreciation that to avoid acute social and spatial divides there is a need to enable smart environments outside urban areas. The recent and ongoing EU investment into Smart Villages has heralded an emerging focus on smart rural transport areas and this will also be covered in the course.

The course will conclude with a focus on future ‘people centred’ visions for IM. This will involve a series of workshops involving training and practice in SWOT and PESTEL analysis and Scenario Planning methodologies. The approach used sits within the ‘Intuitive Logics School’ of scenario planning. The focus is on the insights and learning that arise from the process and developing scenarios as qualitative narratives rather than quantifiable matrices of future conditions that could be retrospectively verified. The findings will be presented in storyboarding format alongside a scenario report.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

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There are no assessments for this course.