Designing micromobility for equitable and responsible use

Overview

https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/

Shared electric micromobility (e.g., e-bike, e-scooter) schemes are common in Australian cities, and all over the world. Despite their rapid growth in recent years, there are many challenges faced by operators and local jurisdictions. This includes Illegal and antisocial behaviours, inconveniences caused by vehicle placement, inequitable access, and narrow rider demographics (i.e., gendered activity with predominantly young male users).

Electric micromobility is positioned as an important transport modality as urban populations expand and there is increasing strain placed on existing transport networks. Therefore, it is important that the design of these devices and their systems encourage broad and equitable use, whilst mitigating misuse.

Research activities

The purpose of this research is to explore issues around shared electric micromobility schemes and work toward approaches to designing future systems for equitable and responsible use.

The objectives of this project are:

• to understand barriers that current micromobility shared schemes present to diverse user groups and determine opportunities for innovation of the device and system components
• to develop design-led approaches that address key issues and encourage equitable and responsible use of shared micromobility schemes.

Scholarships

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Keywords

• micromobility
• urban transport
• e-mobility
• transport design
• universal design

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.