Maxwell Woodward
Bachelor of Industrial Design, Honours, Final Year
I am a student of Industrial Design completing my Honours year at Western Sydney University. In my mind, the process of design and its eventual outcomes have the potential to solve many of the World’s most complex problems. Breaking down a task into manageable steps and producing a solution to the framed problem is both elegant and inspiring. If the design process is utilised to its near infinite potential, I believe there is nothing that cannot be solved.
Micro-Mobility, Commuting, and The Future of Urban Transportation
In much of the Westernised world, people have become overly reliant on the personal automobile for commuting to work and personal mobility. For example, in the US, more than 85% of the population drive to work, and in over 75% of cases, the driver is the sole occupant of the vehicle.
In Australia, if we compare Sydney with Melbourne or Brisbane we have a higher percentage using public transportation; however, approximately 65% still travelled to work by car. Given that transport accounts for 18% of emissions in Australia, our dependency and automatic use of today’s cars must change, and we must embrace more sustainable transportation solutions if we are to address the social and environmental challenges we are facing today.
The aim of this project was to design a compact, urban personal mobility solution with the potential to reduce our reliance on today’s outdated energy-inefficient automobiles and in doing so address key problems associated with the current state of transportation and mobility.
