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Project Title

Designing Urban Futures: Sustainable Cities & Mobility

Project Overview

Cities are more than buildings and roads — they are lived experiences shaped by movement, access, culture, and inclusion.

In this project, you will work in intercultural teams to explore how design can improve urban mobility experiences through human-centered, socially responsible, and sustainable design thinking.

You will investigate real urban contexts (Saigon and Kuala Lumpur), focusing on how people move through cities — and where systems fail certain groups. Your outcomes will translate research, empathy, and cultural understanding into design concepts that create potential community impact.

Through research, observation, and design experimentation, you will develop human-centered design interventions that respond to real urban challenges in the city, aligned with sustainability, inclusivity, and community impact.

This project aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), particularly:

• Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities
• Goal 13: Climate Action
• Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals

What You Will Design

You are not designing buildings, transport infrastructure, or city masterplans.

You are designing design-led interventions, such as:

• Inclusive way-finding systems
• Urban micro-infrastructure
• Service or experience design
• Community engagement tools
• Digital services supporting mobility
• Behaviour-change or awareness systems

Your project should be grounded in the city’s urban reality, even if the final outcome is conceptual.

Urban Context: Kuala Lumpur

Your research and design should consider:

• Mixed pedestrian–vehicle environments
• Public transport interchanges (LRT, MRT, KTM, bus hubs)
• Last-mile mobility challenges
• Cultural and language diversity
• Climate (heat, rain, walkability)
• Accessibility for elderly, children, OKU, informal workers

Core Design Principles

Your project must demonstrate:

1. Empathy & Human-Centered Thinking

   Evidence of understanding lived urban experiences in city.

2. Intercultural Awareness

   Sensitivity to city’s multicultural users and behaviours.

3. Community Impact

   Clear benefit to a specific group or community.

4. Sustainable Thinking

   Environmentally, socially, or behaviourally responsible design.

5. Clear Communication

   Ideas expressed clearly through visuals, narrative, and presentation.

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Design Focus Areas (Suggested but not limited to)

You may focus on:

• Pedestrians (children, elderly, persons with disabilities)
• Cyclists or micro-mobility users
• Public transport users
• Delivery riders or informal workers
• Tourists, migrants, or non-native language speakers
• Low-income or underserved urban communities </aside>