Make/Move: Experiments in Urban Mobility

DES OB 4030 001
Faculty: Jim TerMeer

Mobile computing and internet of things connectedness are remaking urban life and specifically consumer service economies. Cities are growing and individual car ownership is in decline as people shift towards mobility as a service (Uber/Lyft/Zipcar etc.). This two semester experimental research and making studio, takes Chicago as an exemplar and focuses on the future of urban mobility and what data-driven, technological systems it will require. In addition to examining specific urban mobility behaviors within a city in order to identify new opportunities, students expand and rethink mobility by designing, making and deploying objects, tools, devices (possibly internet connected) and events, for creating greater insight into how and why people and things move around the city. Partnering with a global technology company, students will learn how big data can be leveraged to provide new value for people in the form of new products and services. Students will develop technical skills in prototyping electronic objects, both as tools for research, and as finished prototypes. This funded research studio will culminate in an exhibition of new proposals for the future of urban mobility at a major design event.