The way we move in and between cities is in a process of transformation. Global trends and climate goals set new kind of frameworks for how mobility is organized and practiced in cities and beyond. Some of the key trends affecting mobility habits are the general electrification of vehicles, the increase of shared mobility services supporting traditional public transportation, and the general urbanization of the global population. What will these and other trends mean for urban mobility – in specific, how will urban mobility hubs, the nodal points of urban movements, transform in the near future, and how could we plan and design such hubs to take these transformative forces into a better consideration in advance?

SPARCS members City of Espoo, Kone, VTT and Plugit Finland organized an online workshop on this theme during the EU Mobility Week. Different organizations and companies working in the field of mobility, transportation and mobility services were invited to join the online workshop on 21 September 2021 to conceptualize e-mobility hubs, to identify the core elements that contribute to functional, easy-to-use, inviting, livable and accessible electrified mobility hubs of the (near) future. The workshops consisted of an invited expert panel – with Suvi Kajamaa (City of Espoo), Emilia Suomalainen (Finnish Environment Institute), and Marko Paakkinen (VTT) – that fueled the general discussion and a co-working session. 

One key notion in the workshop was that there will probably be no one-size-fits-all kind of an answer to what electrified and service-based mobility hubs will be like, but that we need to take into consideration the local context and the needs of both the hub’s users and service providers in a case-by-case form. The more detailed insights of the workshop will be further analyzed during the project. The workshop is part of a series of workshops in SPARCS that aim to further develop the e-mobility hub concept in Espoo together with different stakeholders.

Image source : City of Espoo