Summer of Mobility

Rethinking mobility together

How will we get around cities and rural areas in the future? With this question in mind, the city of Burgwedel, together with research partners, urban planners, and the public, launched an extraordinary project. The goal was to develop a vision of mobility for 2035 – one that is concrete, tangible, and created in collaboration with local residents.

Through workshops and a series of dialogues involving over 200 discussions, the idea of mobility hubs emerged: small, multifunctional spaces that bring together sustainable forms of transport while also serving as everyday gathering places. Our contribution was to make this future tangible: Instead of difficult-to-understand construction plans, Summer of Mobility offers an intuitive Virtual Reality tour in which citizens can explore future locations and designs for mobility hubs in their actual size:

https://vr.mobil-ans-werk.de

An interactive map of the region serves as an entry point and allows users to select individual locations. Each site is accompanied by a detailed profile providing information on its situation, use, and design. This allows residents to easily and intuitively get a sense of the area – whether using a VR headset, a laptop, or a smartphone.

Thanks to the WebXR standard, the application works directly in the browser without the need for installation. This accessible approach was important to us: technological innovation should make participation easier – not harder. In several guided on-site workshops, all citizens – even those who didn’t have a VR headset at home – were able to try out the VR application. In this way, Virtual Reality became not just a gimmick, but a tool for participation: the technology encouraged dialogue, understanding, and active involvement.