In the Active Cities project, the Aalborg University team are investigating mobility hubs in various guises across Northern Europe. Four partner cities in the consortium (Lille, Aarhus, Bergen and Mechelen) are currently experimenting with different typologies of hubs and ways of combining modalities to ensure local people have the opportunity to actively learn about and choose sustainable modes of moving.
Tina Vestermann Olsen, Associate professor, Ph.D. and MSc Urban Design
Andrea Victoria Hernandez Bueno, Assistant professor, Ph.D. and MSc Urban Design
Daniel Knud Hermansen, Research Assistant, MSc Urban Design
Aalborg University, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology
Research Group UTM: Urban Transformation and Mobilities
More than transit
Mobility hubs are places within urban landscapes which facilitate shifts between human modalities. The multiplicities of how this can take place is however extremely important. The urban landscape covers environments in rural areas as well as the dense urban environments within highly populated cities. By extension, mobility hubs may create links to various modalities, for example some link train and bus stations while others link bicycles, e-scooters and walking. The combinations between different modalities are endless. However, with sustainability and the creation of liveable environments as goalposts, the links to non-motorised modalities are extremely important. With these variations in mind, mobility hubs come in various sizes and take root in different contexts while linking multiple modalities to facilitate sustainable journeys such as walking and cycling. By extension, mobility hubs are a potential tool aiding the transition towards more sustainable ways of moving.
Mobility hubs are more than nodes facilitating sustainable mobility choices. They are valuable public urban spaces for everyday life, whose design and conditioning has agency in relation to the situations which may occur. Are people able to linger, enjoy each other’s company, and interact there? Are the spaces accessible for all? do they feel safe? Do they integrate other functions relevant for people on the move? While easy transit and the smoothness of the journey itself is important in mobility hubs, as nodes in the urban landscape supporting everyday life, they are always also more than technical and functional pieces of mobility infrastructure. They are potential sites for meaningful interactions in the mundane rhythms of everyday life.
JFK Square, Aalborg
On the lookout
In the Active Cities project, the Aalborg University team are investigating mobility hubs in various guises across Northern Europe. Four partner cities in the consortium (Lille, Aarhus, Bergen and Mechelen) are currently experimenting with different typologies of hubs and ways of combining modalities to ensure local people have the opportunity to actively learn about and choose sustainable modes of moving.
In addition to the four pilots within the Actives Cities project, the Aalborg University team has conducted desk research into other mobility hubs in combination with a systematic literature study on potential design parameters and performance criteria, as well as in-depth qualitative case research for selected Danish mobility hubs. One study has investigated mobility hubs along the PLUS BUS (bus-rapid-transit) line in Aalborg, Denmark, while another study unpacked the temporary re-design of a public square in Aarhus, Denmark, which serves as a local node linking pedestrians, bicycles and public transport in a dense and bustling urban neighbourhood.
With these studies we are looking for insights into how the mobility hub transforms public space, how people interact with the hub and whether it is possible to identify parameters for the design of hubs, which can be disseminated to a wider public working with similar initiatives. As a result, we are developing an evaluation model of active mobility hubs to provide an understanding of relevant aspects that facilitate active mobility choices.
Lille's Sustainable Mobility House
Initial insights
Each mobility hub has a specific and unique locale with geographical and political conditions that affect and determine how it can offer sustainable opportunities for the travellers there.
This calls for multi-scalar awareness spanning mobility networks across a regional scale, the city scale (with its different neighbourhoods including internal connections in between), down to the scale of the urban public space and the way human bodies as sensorial and experiential beings (considering here also the diversity of bodies in terms of capacities and skills to navigate in urban environments and subjective preferences) are invited to enter, linger, experience and eventually venture onwards. This multi-scalar awareness could meaningfully include perspectives on the type of users and their lifestyles, the diverse and multiple journeys entangled via the node (from destination to destination, e.g., home, work, other), as well as the temporalities and seasonality of journeys and activities. Considering for instance the following questions: are they affording possibilities to stay, social interactions, and recreation? Are they becoming urban landmarks for social meetings and places of community appropriation? Are they affording physical and digital accessibility for multiple bodies? Is their location responding to and addressing important destinations within the urban fabric? Are they part and parcel of people’s everyday life journeys and activities? would give rise to reflections on the potential of mobility hubs to offer synergetic opportunities rather than only movement, thus aligning with ongoing research showing that people’s movements are much more than A to B displacements.
In addition to these important on-site sensitivities, the mobility hubs and their use are influenced by conditions beyond their physical boundary. While decision-making favouring active mobility may happen on the move (depending on physical accessibility through the affordance of human movements), much decision making is influenced by aspects such as digital accessibility, mobility culture and habitual behaviour prior to moving. As an example, deciding which mode to use sometimes takes place before people leave home. So, when gazing beyond the physical attributes of the mobility hub itself, also the accessibility of competing modalities such as the private car does challenge the adoption of sustainable mobility measures. Thus, strategic and legislative support from the local political system - what could be termed overall systemic conditions - is paramount for increasing awareness and the accessibility of active mobility. Providing fixed categories of specific design parameters, spatial typologies and even performance indicators as stand-alone tools does not ensure the success of mobility hubs when it comes to aiding more sustainable mobility behaviour.
Active mobility is essential to the future of just mobility in our cities. As we envision the cities of tomorrow, public spaces should be designed considering people’s diverse journeys, experiences, bodies, life conditions, capacities, and motivations to move and dwell in the city. Mobility Hubs supports car-free travel and enable people to move actively, sustainably, and potentially seamlessly, but achieving this requires thoughtful urban design to maintain strong connectivity for all