Democratic urban mobility, created by the people for the people.

2022 - WITH MANYONE AND FH JOANNEUM

Mutual is a toolkit and case study for democratising urban mobility. This project explores how to apply collaborative methodology in order to design vehicles for micromobility.

CC-BY-CA-4.0

SUPERVISORS

Guillermo Callau
Magnus Feil

RESPONSIBILITIES

Business model
Methodology
Workshop facilitation
Ideation
CAD modelling
Documentation and open-sourcing

FINDINGS

Ever-adapting plans instead of a rigid process.
The role of designers changes from creators to facilitators.
Engaging the right number and kind of people is key.

The three-part process started with a service design that activates urban communities. An intermediate design then explores co-creation methods. And a case study applies these tools to a product.

During the workshops participants were asked for their ideal vehicle for Copenhagen. With this input the design challenge turned from co-creating a vehicle to coming up with an add-on for their own bikes.

A sidecar meets many requirements people in cities have when transporting luggage or passengers. It takes little space when stored in an urban furniture and can be easily attached to different types of bicycles.

Designed to be manufactured locally the Mutual sidecar add-on uses simple components that are easy to produce, to assemble but also to maintain and to be taken apart again.

The documented process and case study results were open-sourced on the platform Wikifactory marking the open call, the end of the master's thesis but the beginning of further input and development by the community.

© 2025 Tillmann Toben and respective copyright holders