PhD Inclusive Urban Mobility

Join an ambitious, multidisciplinary project at the crossroads of urban design, inclusive mobilities and interaction design where your research can shape the vision of open and accessible cities! This position is part of the NWO-funded research project BEAT (Building Equitable Accessibility Together), which starts in January 2026.

Mobility is not only about infrastructure or transport modes, it is something people live and feel every day. BEAT studies how mobility barriers show up during daily routines for people with physical and cognitive diversities, and how those barriers affect social life, work, care, and wellbeing. 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. BEAT investigates 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 planned by municipalities, but also a variety of unplanned situations, such as 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 constitute an “informal” layer of inaccessibility superimposed on more structural or “formal” accessibility problems in the city. This informal layer is highly diverse, stems from many underlying causes and factors, and highlights a notable knowledge gap.

The specific objectives of the BEAT project are two-fold: (1) to co-create a comprehensive and holistic understanding of informal urban mobility barriers 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. The PhD candidate will study mobility barriers as part of people’s everyday practices, routines, and spatial experiences. They will do this by using a combination of qualitative and participatory methods (e.g., in-depth interviews, go-alongs interviews, travel diaries, wearable camera recordings, participatory mapping/PPGIS), to understand what barriers matter, to whom, when, and why. In addition, the PhD candidate will work with partners (e.g., communities, disability organisations, urban professionals) to identify priorities for change, ; and Contribute to co-designing and evaluating solutions via three “lever: 1) human-centred AI, 2) urban design, and 3) policy—ranging from interactive accessibility tools (e.g., real-time accessibility maps) to spatial interventions and guidelines for policy and planning.