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.
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.
"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!
"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.
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.
more tools for Evidence…
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.
The Futures Wheel is a visual foresight and brainstorming tool invented by American futurist Jerome C. Glenn in 1971, designed to graphically map the primary, secondary, and tertiary consequences of a specific event, trend, or change using a circular diagram with concentric rings radiating from a central hub.
The method works by placing a central change or issue at the core of the diagram — for example, a new policy, a social trend, or a strategic decision — and then working outward in layers. The first ring captures direct, first-order consequences; from each of those, a second ring of second-order consequences is generated, and so on — surfacing implications beyond the immediate and obvious, and helping develop an understanding of causality through ripple effects.
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!
There are several digital to do lists out there, that can help you as a group to organise projects, assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress collaboratively. Trello is free until ten collaborators, wekan and kanboard are completely open source.
more tools for Vision…
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.
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.
In this format district politics and initiatives meet up in a casual setting. This benefits everyone: On the one hand politicans can efficently update several initiatives at the same time and get wind of citizens troubles related to urban space at an early stage. Initiatives on the other hand get insights and can discuss their visions and potential future collaborations.
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.
more tools for Action…