(Archive) I.AH

Mobility is an indispensable part of everyday life. Though, traffic is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in Germany. This circumstance calls our mobility behavior into question and demands a new idea of mobility solutions. Here, the concept of "The 15-minute city" describes a city in which all everyday journeys can be made in less than fifteen minutes. Sustainable means of transport should be used: the routes are covered on foot, by bicycle or by public transport. More and more cities around the world are pursuing this concept and are converting their cities accordingly. So how can such an idea be supported further, outside the context of urban planning, at the level of product design?

A vision fitting product design.

I.AH is based on the observation that shopping carts are often misused in urban areas. - They are stolen, altered and parked wildly in the area. - What can be understood as a deplorable state of affairs can also point to a specific, unsatisfied need of urban dwellers. The development of our well-known shopping carts comes along with the success of private cars, which was followed by a new practice of everyday consumerism. Its basic principle - bulk shopping with a basket on wheels until up to a trunk - has remained unchanged for more than 80 years. As an alternative to this, I.AH represents a design which aims to do justice to the variety of peoples mobility behaviors. Through a new business model in the form of a sharing concept, users should be empowered with more independence and self-determination in their daily life, and nudged at the end to a more social and ecologic-sustainable mobility behavior.