Mobilizing Publics Reconsidering digital design as a catalyst in co-creation processes

Digital design has developed methods to address complex urban planning issues like the transformation of mobility using analytical tools and urban data. Simultaneously, such wicked problems require negotiation among involved stakeholders and situated knowledge. Even though contemporary City Digital Twin and urban data initiatives acknowledge this sociotechnical aspect (1&2), linking data analysis and participatory negotiations remains unresolved. In this paper, we bridge this gap by reconsidering digital design as a hybrid practice mediating between quantitative and qualitative approaches, between different stakeholders’ perspectives, and urban strategies (3). We explore this approach in the EU-funded New-European-Bauhaus initiative project “NEBourhoods”. Our action within this project addresses the mobility transformation of a car-centered late modernist housing estate in Munich. This initiative involves a digitally supported co-creation process, including a participatory platform, workshops, and two physical demonstrators for multifunctional mobility stations. Building upon earlier research in the context of design-decision support, collaborative design, and gamification, we discuss how these elements can be articulated as a hybrid strategy, mediating between heterogeneous aspects of urban mobility and different stakeholders’ perspectives. Firstly, we introduce spatial data analysis tools in participatory workshops with local experts and multipliers. Hence, the participants contextualize geospatial data and augment analytical data with situated knowledge. Successively we define possible locations and functions for the prototypical demonstrators. Consecutively we delve into these selected areas: Using a gamified mobile phone app, we gather information on local mobility practices and facilitate a co-creation process on the configuration of the demonstrators. Finally, the participatory app allows discussing and monitoring the implemented demonstrators and thus fosters a broader discussion on mobility transformation. In conclusion, we discuss how digital design assembles and mediates this strategy for mobility transformation. Thus, we focus on how digital tools gather and reconfigure relevant perspectives, interactions, and elements in this hybrid co-creation process.