Ole B. Jensen
Urban design for mobilities – towards material pragmatism Urban Development Issues, vol. 56, 5–11. DOI: 10.2478/udi-2018-0012
Keywords: urban design, mobilities design, material pragmatism
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ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to present a critique of mainstream transport thinking based on the so-called ‘mobilities turn’, and secondly to connect this to a design perspective. The aim is thus to establish this reflection based upon a theoretically informed discussion. In this paper, we shall explore the potential for a better understanding of contemporary urban challenges through the cross-disciplinary approach of ‘mobilities design’. The paper investigates how this notion is based on an understanding of materialities and social action that is framed under the heading of ‘material pragmatism’. The paper critically discusses transport versus mobilities and uses the combination of urban design and mobilities not just to argue for a pragmatic approach to urban transformation, but also to illustrate how such a different frame of understanding is better suitable for the ‘kind of a problem a city is’ to paraphrase the well-known urban scholar Jane Jacobs.
The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to present a critique of mainstream transport thinking based on the so-called ‘mobilities turn’, and secondly to connect this to a design perspective. The aim is thus to establish this reflection based upon a theoretically informed discussion. In this paper, we shall explore the potential for a better understanding of contemporary urban challenges through the cross-disciplinary approach of ‘mobilities design’. The paper investigates how this notion is based on an understanding of materialities and social action that is framed under the heading of ‘material pragmatism’. The paper critically discusses transport versus mobilities and uses the combination of urban design and mobilities not just to argue for a pragmatic approach to urban transformation, but also to illustrate how such a different frame of understanding is better suitable for the ‘kind of a problem a city is’ to paraphrase the well-known urban scholar Jane Jacobs.
REFERENCES
Adey, P., Bissell, D., Hannam, K., Merriman, P. & Sheller, M., eds., (2014) The Routledge Handbook of Mobilities, Routledge, London.
Anderson, B. & Wylie, J. (2009) On geography and materiality, Environment & Planning A, 41, 318–335.
Augé, M. (1995) Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Verso, London.
Bannister, D. (2008) The Sustainable mobility paradigm, Transport Policy, 15, 73–80.
Bennett, J. (2010) Vibrant Matter. A political Ecology of Things, Duke University Press, Durham.
Buchanan, C. (1964) Traffic in Towns, Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Chase, J., Crawford, M. & Kaliski, J., eds., (1999) Everyday Urbanism, The Monacelli Press, New York.
Cresswell, T. & Merriman, P., eds., (2011) Geographies of Mobilities: Practices, Spaces, Subjects, Ashgate, Aldershod.
Cresswell, T. (2006) On the move: mobility in the modern western world, Routledge, London.
Gehl, J. (2010) Cities for People, Island Press, Washington DC.
Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Penguin, New York.
Greico, M. & Urry, J., eds., (2011) Mobilities: New Perspectives on Transport and Society, Ashgate, Farnham.
Hajer, M. & Reijndorp, A. (2001) In Search of New Public Domain, NAI Publishers, Rotterdam.
Haraway, D. (2016) Staying With the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene, Duke University Press, Durham.
Ingold, T. (1996) Situating Action VI: A Comment on the Distinction between the Material and the Social, Ecological Psychology, 8(2), 183–187.
Ingold, T. (2011) Being Alive. Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description, Routledge, London.
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Jensen, O. B. (2013) Staging Mobilities, Routledge, London.
Jensen, O. B. (2014) Designing Mobilities, Aalborg University Press, Aalborg.
Jensen, O. B. (2015) More than A to B: Cultures of mobilities and travel, [in:] R. Hickman, M. Givoni, D. Bonilla & D. Banister, eds., Handbook on Transportation and Development, Edgar Elgar, Cheltenham, 479–490.
Jensen, O. B. (2016) Of ‘other’ materialities: why (mobilities) design is central to the future of mobilities research, Mobilities, 11 (4), 587–597. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2016.1211826.
Jensen, O. B., M. Sheller & S. Wind (2014) Together and Apart: Ambiences and Negotiation in Families’ Everyday Life and Mobility, Mobilities 10(3) 2015 [paper published online 21.01.2014], 363–382. DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2013.868158.
Jensen, O. B., S. Wind & D. B. Lanng (2015) Mobilitetsforskning. Byen, bevægelsen og planlægning, BYPLAN, 4/15, 34–39 [in Danish].
Jensen, O.B. & Lanng, D.B. (2017) Mobilities Design: Urban designs for mobile situations, Routledge, New York.
Krieger, A. & Saunders, W., eds., (2009) Urban Design, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Lanng, D. B., Wind, S. & Jensen, O. B. (2015) Meget mere end et parkeringshus. Mobilitetsdesign i praksis – et eksempel fra Vejle stationsområde, BYPLAN, 4/15, 40–46 [in Danish].
Larsen, J., Urry, J. & Axhausen, K. (2006) Mobilities, Networks, Geographies, Ashgate, Aldershot.
Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the social, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Lynch, K. (1981) Good City Form, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass.
Urry, J. (2000) Sociology Beyond Societies. Mobilities for the Twenty-First Century, Routledge, London.
Urry, J. (2007) Mobilities, Polity Press, Oxford.
Urry, J. (2016) What is the Future?, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Vannini, P. (ed.) (2015) Non-representational methodologies: Re-envisioning research, Routledge, London.
Whyte, W.H. (1988) City: Rediscovering the Centre, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
Yaneva, A. (2009) Border Crossings. Making the Social Hold: Towards ad Actor-Network Theory of Design, Design and Culture, 1(3), 273–288.
Adey, P., Bissell, D., Hannam, K., Merriman, P. & Sheller, M., eds., (2014) The Routledge Handbook of Mobilities, Routledge, London.
Anderson, B. & Wylie, J. (2009) On geography and materiality, Environment & Planning A, 41, 318–335.
Augé, M. (1995) Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Verso, London.
Bannister, D. (2008) The Sustainable mobility paradigm, Transport Policy, 15, 73–80.
Bennett, J. (2010) Vibrant Matter. A political Ecology of Things, Duke University Press, Durham.
Buchanan, C. (1964) Traffic in Towns, Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Chase, J., Crawford, M. & Kaliski, J., eds., (1999) Everyday Urbanism, The Monacelli Press, New York.
Cresswell, T. & Merriman, P., eds., (2011) Geographies of Mobilities: Practices, Spaces, Subjects, Ashgate, Aldershod.
Cresswell, T. (2006) On the move: mobility in the modern western world, Routledge, London.
Gehl, J. (2010) Cities for People, Island Press, Washington DC.
Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Penguin, New York.
Greico, M. & Urry, J., eds., (2011) Mobilities: New Perspectives on Transport and Society, Ashgate, Farnham.
Hajer, M. & Reijndorp, A. (2001) In Search of New Public Domain, NAI Publishers, Rotterdam.
Haraway, D. (2016) Staying With the Trouble. Making Kin in the Chthulucene, Duke University Press, Durham.
Ingold, T. (1996) Situating Action VI: A Comment on the Distinction between the Material and the Social, Ecological Psychology, 8(2), 183–187.
Ingold, T. (2011) Being Alive. Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description, Routledge, London.
Jacobs, J. (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House, New York.
Jensen, O. B. (2013) Staging Mobilities, Routledge, London.
Jensen, O. B. (2014) Designing Mobilities, Aalborg University Press, Aalborg.
Jensen, O. B. (2015) More than A to B: Cultures of mobilities and travel, [in:] R. Hickman, M. Givoni, D. Bonilla & D. Banister, eds., Handbook on Transportation and Development, Edgar Elgar, Cheltenham, 479–490.
Jensen, O. B. (2016) Of ‘other’ materialities: why (mobilities) design is central to the future of mobilities research, Mobilities, 11 (4), 587–597. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2016.1211826.
Jensen, O. B., M. Sheller & S. Wind (2014) Together and Apart: Ambiences and Negotiation in Families’ Everyday Life and Mobility, Mobilities 10(3) 2015 [paper published online 21.01.2014], 363–382. DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2013.868158.
Jensen, O. B., S. Wind & D. B. Lanng (2015) Mobilitetsforskning. Byen, bevægelsen og planlægning, BYPLAN, 4/15, 34–39 [in Danish].
Jensen, O.B. & Lanng, D.B. (2017) Mobilities Design: Urban designs for mobile situations, Routledge, New York.
Krieger, A. & Saunders, W., eds., (2009) Urban Design, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Lanng, D. B., Wind, S. & Jensen, O. B. (2015) Meget mere end et parkeringshus. Mobilitetsdesign i praksis – et eksempel fra Vejle stationsområde, BYPLAN, 4/15, 40–46 [in Danish].
Larsen, J., Urry, J. & Axhausen, K. (2006) Mobilities, Networks, Geographies, Ashgate, Aldershot.
Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the social, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Lynch, K. (1981) Good City Form, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass.
Urry, J. (2000) Sociology Beyond Societies. Mobilities for the Twenty-First Century, Routledge, London.
Urry, J. (2007) Mobilities, Polity Press, Oxford.
Urry, J. (2016) What is the Future?, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Vannini, P. (ed.) (2015) Non-representational methodologies: Re-envisioning research, Routledge, London.
Whyte, W.H. (1988) City: Rediscovering the Centre, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
Yaneva, A. (2009) Border Crossings. Making the Social Hold: Towards ad Actor-Network Theory of Design, Design and Culture, 1(3), 273–288.