From Unlock15
Welcome to the UNLOCK15-Toolbox - we are collecting tools to empower „agents of change“ from civil society as well as city officials to unlock existing lock-ins. We hope you will find some relevant tools to drive change towards mobility transition in your context!
From experience, three types of tools are need for real change: tools to create and communicate evidence, tools to envision possible futures and scenarios and participatory tools for on-site action.
Evidence
This type of tools help you to collect evidence, which supports the change you are aiming for. Some tools also allow crowd-based approaches to involve citizens in a broad manner. Evidence helps to convince decision makers to back-up change.
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.
Measuring the 15-min city: Flowers of Proximity
The flowers are a planning tool that invites participants to look beyond their current travel routines by imagining instead how they would like to get around. This perspective grounds accessibility planning in people's needs and desires, helping make cities more livable, sustainable, and fair.
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.
Vision
In this category you find tools that help you to create a vision of what you are aiming for. A strong vision is key for driving change because it helps you to grow as a movement and to shift public opinions. This category also includes tools that help you envision how you want to work together as a group.
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.
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.
Power Mapping
Power Mapping is a visual method for strategically analyzing actors, relationships, and dynamics of influence. It helps identify the right target individuals or institutions — those who actually have the authority to make or shape decisions — and reveals through which pathways and allies one can gain access to them or build pressure on them.
Action
Small steps towards the realisation of local change can help to make the vision tangible and also easier to be discussed. Tools for action help to make the impact of change tangible and involve local communities.
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.
Petition: Collect signatures to back up your local vision!
You have a very clear picture of the local change you want to achieve? You want to show decision makers how much support your vision locally has? Then a petition might be your cup of tea to drive change.
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.