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.
Mapping and analysing facades
"We need parking space otherwise our shops will die!" This is an argument often brought forward by opponents of street transformation. The urban design studio prostorož confronted this claim with evidence. They analysed the facades of the street by the following categories: Lively facade, active facade, monument, empty facade, unremarkable facade. They could show that a lot of the ground floor was at that point in time not occupied.
prostorož combined this analysis with analysing parking place occupancy and human behaviour to build an even stronger argument: A street full of cars is not helping shops at the moment. By combining all these analysis they managed to convince the decision makers to give that street a human friendly makeover!
Measuring the speed of public transport
We can’t reduce the speed limit on this road because the busses would loose time!“ This or similar arguments may come up in discussions about street transformations. Maybe with your local knowledge you think: „Because of the frequent stops, the local busses don’t go beyond 30 km/h anyways.“ In those situations, it can help to bring evidence for your argument into the discussion. For example by measuring the speed of busses. Think in advance how to make your data collection as valid as possible within your ressources. To produce solid evidence about the speed of public transport we suggest the following steps:
- Make a plan how you will collect your data: What do you want to measure (one busline in both directions between bus stop X and Y), when (on peak/off peak, which days) and how often (how many times per day)
- Install an App that collects GPX-Tracks (data that links speed with location)
- Ride the busses according to your data collection plan
- Find someone who knows how to use QGIS (open source program for making maps) and install the plug-in for GPX Segment importer (https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/GpxSegmentImporter/#plugin-about)
- If everything works out the result should be maps like the ones you see here.
- Think about how you want to communicate the data: In a confidential setting or rather to a bigger audience?
Collecting data about parking occupancy
Opponents of street transformation often claim, that there are to little parking possibilities. But is that true? Evidence in Ljubljana showed that the city has rather a problem with how parking space is unevenly occupied. The urban design studio prostorož suggested the following steps to collect data about parking space occupancy.
- define the area of observation (street / block / neighbourhood)
- prepare the site plan of all the parking spots you will observe / have access to, regardless of ownership
- set a hypothesis (e.g. parking is occupied by employees, not generating income for local shops)
- create an observation plan: check occupancy one Wednesday and Saturday; and granular occupancy of observed parking lots every 2 hours, starting from 5 AM to 12:00 PM
- graphically present data and interpret results
Understanding your target groups
Plenary for sharing emotions
A plenary for emotions is a structured group format that creates dedicated space for emotions and interpersonal dynamics within a collective or initiative — separate from task-oriented or decision-making meetings. Rather than pushing emotions to the margins of group life, the Emo-Plenum treats them as essential information: a signal about the health, motivation, and tensions within the group.
It is recommended to have a person that facilitates the plenary. This means guiding through the structure and keeping an eye on the time. This is how a Plenary of Emotions can be structured:
- Round: Each person expresses how they feel. In regards to the group but also in general. Resist the temptation to react to what has already been said and focus on yourself. The round is finished when everybody has shared something.
- Round: In the same order as before people can react to what has been said by others. The focus lies on validating and relating to emotions of others not jumping into problem solving mode right away. The round can go as long as people have to say something.
- Round: Collect next steps from what has been said. This can happen but doesn't have to.
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