Mobility Moshpit 24

✨ Hello pioneering minds!

The Lab of Thought wants to challenge the way we think and act about mobility and the spaces we live in. We love to question the narratives that have shaped our motonormative mindset and explore alternative ways of seeing, thinking, and doing. Curious? Let's go!

Mastering the Art of Not Changing: The Status Quo-ing Programme

What if the real professional skill of our time isn’t driving change, but expertly delaying it? The Lab of Thought’s Status Quo-ing masterclass turns a familiar behaviour into a certified discipline.

This 90-day programme is designed for leaders and institutions who prefer continuity while appearing future-ready. Participants learn how to sound ambitious without committing, run transitions without outcomes, and keep bold plans safely non-operational — all with polished governance language and impressive pilot projects.

Know someone who qualifies as a true master of standing still while looking busy?

👉 Nominate them here

Crowdfunding Success: Car Supremacy Research Moves Forward

Thanks to the collective support of our community, the crowdfunding campaign for our new research on car supremacy has successfully reached its funding target. We are genuinely grateful to everyone who contributed and shared the project. Your support has turned an ambitious idea into a funded, active study.

The research, led by Marco te Brömmelstroet together with international partners including George Mason University, investigates whether car dominance is sustained not only by habits and policies, but by a deeper belief system. The study will use a large, representative survey to measure these attitudes and make the results openly available.

Work on the survey design and data collection is now underway. This milestone shows what is possible when many people contribute to better, fairer streets — together.

👉 If you want, have a look at our earlier study

Recognition for Contributions to Urban Planning

The Dutch professional association of urban planners and spatial designers, BNSP, marked its 25th anniversary by introducing a new professional award: the ROEP (Ruimtelijke Ordening Erkenning Penning). The prize recognises outstanding contributions to the development and public positioning of urban planning and spatial design.

This year’s awards went to our Marco te Brömmelstroet, the design office Urhahn, and Gemeente Tilburg. The jury’s motivation underscores something that has long been central to this work: cities and mobility systems are not neutral designs, but reflect values, behavior, and cultural choices. The question is not only how we move, but above all what kind of life those movements make possible.

👉 Full article here (Dutch)

New Crowdfunding: The Human Dimension of Road Violence

After the successful crowdfunding for our Car Supremacy research, we are launching a new campaign to strengthen the human-centred analysis of traffic violence. With this fundraiser, Lab of Thought aims to secure and expand RoadDanger — a platform that reveals how crashes are reported and framed in the media.

Road crashes kill around 1.3 million people each year, yet reporting often presents them as isolated, unavoidable events. RoadDanger helps uncover recurring language patterns, missing accountability, and systemic causes by analysing thousands of news articles uploaded by volunteers worldwide.

The new funding will improve public access to insights, enable batch article uploads, enhance linguistic analysis tools, and support journalist education. Even small contributions make a difference.

👉 You can support the project here

Creating Campus Together: Students Shaping Urban Space

The University of Amsterdam’s Create Your Campus challenge invites students to step off the sidelines and play a direct role in shaping urban environments. Rather than just theorising about change, participants are encouraged to propose bold street experiments that transform parts of the city — literally bringing ideas to life. The 2026 edition focuses on improving Roetersstraat, a key corridor near campus, by turning it into a more liveable, people-oriented street with space for community interaction, sustainable movement, and everyday life.

Students are asked to submit ideas that are both imaginative and feasible. Winning submissions will not only receive support and materials but also the opportunity to implement their concepts during a dedicated week of street-level experimentation. Experts from universities, neighbourhoods and the city will provide guidance, helping participants gain hands-on experience in urban design and civic engagement.

This initiative reflects a broader trend of collaborative projects involving students, researchers and cities, showing how academic insight and creative energy can contribute to real-world change.

👉 You can learn more and apply your experiment here