BEATA multidisciplinary research project addressing inclusive city-making with a novel approach
Funded by Dutch National Research Council (NWO), January 2026 – June 2031
PI: Dr. Hamed S. Alavi, University of Amsterdam
Everyday mobility is a fundamental necessity for active participation in society and for maintaining a healthy
lifestyle. However, for people with physical and cognitive diversities, daily travels are fraught with significant challenges, creating a ripple
effect of negative consequences that extend beyond mere inconvenience.
Why Informal Urban Mobility Barriers (IUMBs)?
Operating from the standpoint that mobility is essentially a subjective human experience, this project aims to
investigate urban mobility barriers as they unfold in the daily activities of people. Rather than
examining a specific mode of mobility or a single accessibility barrier, the focus
of this project is the holistic experience of urban mobility in the daily lives of individuals with physical and cognitive diversities. The point
of departure is "people"—their routines and travel behaviours, their daily frustrations with various mobility
obstacles, and the impact of these hindrances on their personal, social, and professional lives. This emphasis on
lived everyday experiences entails investigating a wide range of barriers that may be labelled as temporary or
even mundane. Examples of such temporary-but-everyday barriers include construction sites and road
works, improperly parked delivery
vehicles, poorly placed planters and bikes on the sidewalk, unauthorised market stalls, and so forth. While each
of these situations may be perceived as a temporary problem, collectively they form a permanent reality of
how we experience our cities. These barriers signify an “informal” layer of inaccessibility superimposed on more
structural or “formal” accessibility problems in the city.
Broad Objectives
The specific
objectives are two-fold: (1) to co-create a comprehensive and holistic understanding of informal urban mobility
barriers (IUMBs) and their impacts while co-identifying key priorities to address, and (2) to co-design and assess
innovative solutions using three levers: human-centred artificial intelligence, urban design, and policy. These solutions include interactive technologies, spatial interventions, and tactical urbanism, design and evaluation tools, as well as guidelines/strategies for policy change.
Strategy
Central to this approach is the establishment of a close, collaborative partnership with the target groups,
facilitated through the creation and development of a Living Lab. The BEAT Living Lab will serve as a platform
not only for the co-identification of problems but also for the co-design and iterative testing of solutions. The
objective is to address complex cross-sectoral challenges, which necessitate a multidisciplinary research
framework that integrates diverse academic and professional expertise from several fields. This integrated and
interdisciplinary approach is crucial for creating an effective impact pathway capable of driving meaningful
change