Ready to rethink how you move?
Grab your copy of NonBoring Mobility 2025 today and discover the full "Placid-loop" essay.
🔗 thelabofthought.co/shop/p/nbmi3
#UrbanPlanning #FutureOfMobility #SlowMobility #MobilityAsPlay #NonBoringMobility #Urbanism
📖 Credits:
Curated by: Marco Te Brömmelstroet, Luca Bertolini, & Meredith Glaser
Edited by: Maria Paula Moreno Vivas & Raymond Berger
Support us in highlighting the next generation of rising urbanists! 💪
Adam's essay is just one of 15 bold ideas in the NonBoring Mobility 2025 collection.
We are imagining a world where mobility is fun, placid, and sustainable—not just fast.
The goal is to transform mobility from a chore into something:
✅ Playful
✅ Social
✅ Meaningful
What would change if we stopped seeing travel time as "wasted" and started seeing it as an opportunity for connection and discovery?
The Experiment: 🧪
Adam invites 25-50 people to switch to this "impractical" train for a week.
But it's not about sitting in silence. The journey features:
🗺️ Curated guides
🔍 Scavenger hunts
🧠 Sensory reflections
Adam proposes a radical alternative to the Hyperloop.
Enter: The "Placid-loop." 🐢
Instead of a vacuum tube, imagine the FEVE—a slow train in northern Spain.
⏱️ Time by car: 2.5 hours
⏱️ Time by FEVE: 7.5 hours
Why on earth would you take it?
"Mobility as Disutility" views travel time as waste—something to be minimized at all costs.
But the shocking truth?
As technology enables higher speeds, human settlements just disperse. We end up spending the same amount of time commuting, just over greater distances. 🏘️🚗
🤔 Could our obsession with getting places faster be a trap we can't escape?
In our latest Non-Boring Mobility student spotlight, Adam Gilleece dismantles the Hyperloop hype.
He exposes a flawed narrative we all buy into: "Mobility as Disutility."
🚄💨 The Hyperloop promises 600+ mph speeds, connecting NYC to DC in just 30 mins.
It sounds like the future. But here's the paradox: Research shows that when travel gets faster, we don't actually save time.
We just travel farther. 🧵👇
Merel’s essay + 14 other bold visions are in the new Non-Boring Mobility 2025 book.
Curated by Marco te Brömmelstroet, Luca Bertolini & Meredith Glaser
Support rising urbanist voices — grab your copy 🔥
thelabofthought.co/shop/p/nbmi3
#UrbanPlanning #SharedMobility
What if streets weren’t pipelines for cars… but living rooms for people? 👪
That’s the mindset flip we actually need.
#NonBoringMobility
One Friday a month: streets closed from sunset to midnight.
Outdoor dining, night markets, live music, workshops — pure community magic under the streetlights ✨
#PublicSpace
The real unlock? Stop treating mobility as a disutility to minimize.
Start seeing it as social glue.
Merel’s idea → “The Night Shift” in NYC’s Lower East Side
#StreetDesign
Merel Cassée drops a truth bomb in Non-Boring Mobility 2025:
We’re not disrupting car dependency — we’re optimizing it.
Zipcar still needs roads built for cars. Same paradigm, new paint. 🫠
#FutureOfMobility
🚗 Zipcar says it’ll kill car ownership… yet traffic is worse than ever.
Are even the “green” mobility apps just polishing the same car-centric system? 🤔
#Urbanism #SustainableCities
Let's design childhoods that aren't viewed from a backseat window.
💪 Support us in highlighting these rising voices by getting your copy today!
thelabofthought.co/shop/p/nbmi3
#SchoolStreets #UrbanDesign #Parenting #urbanism #urbanism+ #SustainableMobility #NonBoringMobility #UrbanPlanning
So, what would change if your local school valued kids' freedom over traffic flow?
It's a question we explore in our new book, "Non-Boring Mobility 2025," which features Paula's full essay and 14 other bold ideas from the next generation of urbanists.
She exposes how even well-meaning tech (like carpooling apps) can deepen car dependence and sideline kids.
The real solutions are simpler and more human:
✅ Tactical street closures that invite play
✅ "Walking school buses" led by parents
✅ Designing for childhood autonomy
The hard truth: Road traffic is the #1 killer of children worldwide.
In her essay for our new book, student Paula Buglio argues we’re looking at the problem all wrong. We're trying to make a car-centric system "efficient" when we should be dismantling it.
🚗 The chaotic 15-minute school drop-off. A sea of minivans, stressed parents, and idling engines.
What if this daily ritual is a design failure, not a necessity?
NOVEMBER 2025 | VOL. 42, NO. 11/ APA ZONING PRACTICE Unique Insights | Innovative Approaches | Practical Solutions Managing Pickleball Noise Through Zoning In this Issue: Why Pickleball Noise Is Different | The Role of Local Staff and Depart: ments | Tools for Mitigating Pickleball Noise | Designing the Zoning Amendment || Variances and Conditional Review | Conclusions
Zoning Practice magazine devotes an entire issue to *checks notes* pickleball noise
He'd be a great voice to have on the platform!
Read Nova Bernards' full essay + 14 other bold ideas in Non-Boring Mobility Innovations 2025.
Let's support the next generation of planners and build better cities together! 📚
dub.sh/nbmi3
#UrbanPlanning #SharedMobility #SustainableCities #CommunityLedDesign
The result of her proposed experiment?
✅ Less asphalt for parked cars
✅ More space for community
✅ A future where convenience doesn't mean isolation
This is what human-centered design looks like.
Featured in Non-Boring Mobility, Nova’s idea is simple yet profound:
👉 Close a street for 2 weeks.
👉 Give neighbors ONE shared EV.
👉 Empower them to co-create rules & schedules.
It’s about trust, not just transport.
What if one student’s vision could transform your entire street?
Meet Nova Bernards. She’s dismantling our “cars sit idle 95% of the time” problem with one radical experiment. (Thread 👇)
#FutureOfMobility #Urbanism #Urbanism+ #EVs