Abstract
Transport is at the heart of some of today’s most significant societal grand challenges. It is a truly wicked problem. While advances in technology have simplified movement around the world, increased levels of commuting and aspirations of car ownership have impacted on economies, the environment and public health. It is estimated that transport problems cost the UK economy £45bn/year. The overdependence on personal, motorised forms of private transport is unsustainable and is fuelling ill health and obesity Addressing these issues requires a multidisciplinary, holistic approach – one that places people at the heart of the solution, that enables better transport systems to develop that can create new high-quality, better-connected living spaces and lives, and that can use technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the movement of goods and people. With the amount of research being conducted in this area, there is an urgent need to provide a framework which can organise activity and ensure that the outcomes from it are user centred and lead to the design of better, more inclusive vehicles and systems. This paper illustrates the way in which the Hexagon Spindle (H-S) model of ergonomics can be used to assess the territory covered by current, user focused transport research. The final section of the paper explores the importance of design led thinking in integrated transport.
Keywords
transport design research, Hexagon Spindle of ergonomics, user centred design
Citation
Woodcock, A. (2012) The Opportunity for Design-led Transport Futures, in Israsena, P., Tangsantikul, J. and Durling, D. (eds.), Research: Uncertainty Contradiction Value - DRS International Conference 2012, 1-4 July, Bangkok, Thailand. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2012/researchpapers/150
The Opportunity for Design-led Transport Futures
Transport is at the heart of some of today’s most significant societal grand challenges. It is a truly wicked problem. While advances in technology have simplified movement around the world, increased levels of commuting and aspirations of car ownership have impacted on economies, the environment and public health. It is estimated that transport problems cost the UK economy £45bn/year. The overdependence on personal, motorised forms of private transport is unsustainable and is fuelling ill health and obesity Addressing these issues requires a multidisciplinary, holistic approach – one that places people at the heart of the solution, that enables better transport systems to develop that can create new high-quality, better-connected living spaces and lives, and that can use technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the movement of goods and people. With the amount of research being conducted in this area, there is an urgent need to provide a framework which can organise activity and ensure that the outcomes from it are user centred and lead to the design of better, more inclusive vehicles and systems. This paper illustrates the way in which the Hexagon Spindle (H-S) model of ergonomics can be used to assess the territory covered by current, user focused transport research. The final section of the paper explores the importance of design led thinking in integrated transport.