From Unlock15
15min-City online Maps
The map shows how close services are if one lives in different areas of the city: in red areas the time needed to access the closest services is on average higher than 15 minutes, while the blue are 15-minute areas. We consider the average time of accessibility to the closest 20 POIs.
Art Spin bike tour
The aim of the tour is to challenge traditional contexts of exhibiting art by producing new creative content in unconventional locations, while at the same time promoting urban cycling and sustainable communities. See also RAD performance in Vienna as an example.
Centralized participation plattform
"Mitgestalten.wien" is an example for a centralized participation plattform. We used it to run a survey for Unlock15 in Vienna about the future development of a street. "decidim.org" and "govocal.com" are plattforms that can help you set up a centralised participation plattform.
Community mapping
Collaboratively mapping maps about a neighbourhood can shed light on factors that influence everyday transport-related decisions.
crosswalk action
During their campaign for a safer city, the initiative "Platz für Wien" temporarily rolled out crosswalks. Places were chosen where crosswalks would make a big difference for the safness of pedestrians.
Crowd Funding
Crowdfunding — and specifically civic crowdfunding — is an approach where communities, individuals, and organizations collectively finance local public projects through online platforms, often in combination with contributions from municipalities, foundations, or companies.
Developing a convincing story for your campaign
The framework of "Story-Based Strategy" helps you figure out your campaign’s narrative strategy. It’s composed of tools or worksheets that you can use to analyze the opposition’s story, the current popular narrative about your issue, and develop a way of pitching or talking about your issue that will win over the folks you need to win!
Gamification of climate friendly behaviour
Gamification is the application of game-design mechanics — such as points, rewards, competitions, challenges, and progress tracking — to non-game contexts in order to motivate behaviour change. In the context of urban sustainability and mobility, it turns everyday choices like taking public transport, cycling, or saving energy into visible, rewarding actions that feel meaningful and fun rather than obligatory.
Getting to the core of human behaviour
The Five Whys is a simple yet powerful research method from human-centered design. Starting with a broad question about a person's habits or behaviours, you ask "why" five times in a row — not horizontally ("why else?") but vertically, going deeper with each answer until you uncover the emotional and human roots of a problem. The method takes only about 15 minutes, requires nothing more than pens and paper, and is designed to get to the core of a person's beliefs and motivations.
Headlines from the future
A participatory activity to support aspirational goal setting, by imagining a more positive future.
Joint Survey between initiatives and district politics
A joint survey between district politics and initiatives has potential to drive change. A survey means to ask inhabitants of an area what they like or don't like about status quo and what they want to change. The initiative has local knowledge of the area and knows what is important to ask. The survey results give politicans guidance what kind of change is backed up by the inhabitants. From our experience a joint survey is possible when
- all involved people are amicable towards each other
- there is a third neutral party (for example science project or neighbourhood management) that coordinates the process
Learning public participation hub
The Vienna Climate Team is a participatory initiative in Vienna that brings residents, local stakeholders, and the city administration together to co-develop and implement climate protection measures at the district level. It enables citizens to submit ideas, collaborate with experts, and take part in decision-making processes related to urban sustainability.
Make your city bloom! Before/After Visualization
An AI-based tool for demonstrating and visualizing street redesigns.
Newspaper of Tomorrow
When different stakeholders come together, they bring different perspectives. This is of great value for participatory and collaborative work. However, there is a risk that objectives and goals are different and difficult to combine. Creating a shared vision in the group becomes then an essential part of a project. This tool can be very helpful to reach this objective in a creative way.
Placemobil - Tactical Urbanism
The Place Mobil is a cargo bike that takes up two parking spaces when unfolded. However, as it is officially classified as a bicycle, it can be parked anywhere in public spaces (including parking lots) free of charge and legally.
Platform for free meeting spaces
A simple, user-friendly tool for overview and booking of free spaces for use by initiatives.
Presswork to spread your vision
Presswork helps you to spread your vision of change. With a little preperation and a good idea, your work could be covered in the local news by tomorrow. Attached you will find a guide in english and german for successful presswork.
Streetdesign table
By setting up a table in the street, a big print of the layout of your street and pens you can provide a fun way to develop ideas for greening, traffic calming and street furniture. You could discuss with passers-by what uses they would like to see, what space is needed for them, and what ideas they can come up with. From a simple cycle path to a vibrant street park! If you live in Vienna, the platform WirMachenWien can assist and do the workshop with you.
Streetgames
How your neighbourhood should look like should be a concern of everybody living there, right? In reality it can be hard getting in touch with people about this topic. Especially if they have a different social or cultural background than you. The initiative "MeiMeidling" faced this challenge and had a breakthrough: They blocked an alley from cars and organised street games. Especially the big skipping rope was loved by the kids. In no time the parents joined. For the first time members of the initative talked to neighbours, that were strangers to them until this moment. Knowing your neighbours does not only increase life quality but also paves the way for better communication about how this neighbourhood should look like in the future.
Tree Budget Graz
Baumbudget Graz is an innovative financing model introduced by the City of Graz to systematically fund the planting and maintenance of urban trees. It draws from three sources: compensation fees collected under the city's tree protection ordinance (which requires replanting or financial compensation when trees are removed), voluntary tree sponsorships open to individuals and companies, and project-specific budget approvals by the city council. Together, these streams create a dedicated financial pool that ensures greening efforts are not dependent on a single, uncertain budget line.
Understanding your target groups
Card Sort is a simple yet powerful method for uncovering what matters most to your target audience. Participants rank a set of word or image cards by preference, quickly revealing key priorities and opening the door to deeper conversations about personal values and motivations.
Window Banner
Initiatives use window banners to communicate their demands to the public. This creates visibility and helps the initiative grow, encouraging more and more people to join the cause and the banner campaign.