The Art Center Summit 2008

Systems, Cities, and Sustainable Mobility

The day after the first Sustainable Mobility conference in 2007, held by Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, half a dozen people – mostly conference organizers – met and asked, “What did we see? What happened here? How did it go?” Conversations like this are usually called a debrief session, but this was different. It became about designing the future. One of the striking realizations from the first Summit was how many different disciplines were present. In many ways this was exciting; lots of concerned, committed people eager to change things up. But everyone didn’t speak the same language and certainly didn’t use the same work processes. Lot’s of shared inspiration, few shared tools.

The people in the “debrief” meeting were from different disciplines too. But we had one thing in common. We all knew how to create “never before seen” futures. Out of that meeting came an idea that went on to become the Mobility Vision Integration Process or mVIP. From that point on Lloyd Walker, Andy Ogden, Geoff Wardle and Dave Muyres developed the mVIP. It was introduced at this year’s Summit and was used during the break-out sessions in February, 2008 by small teams working to envision future mobility and transportation solutions.

The mVIP tool is a sophisticated deck of cards that lead groups through a scenario-based problem solving sequence using real world conditions and variables. It organizes groups, gathers knowledge and insight, frames in discussion, stimulates new ideas, and drives groups toward new solutions. Compared to most card games, this one is a sure bet.

Lloyd Walker introduced the mVIP tool to the Summit on Wednesday morning. Then people broke into small groups and tried it out. Based on feedback from that session, the development team made adjustments before the Thursday break-out session when the mVIP tool was again put to the test. They’d been working like that for a year; think/do, create and adjust, rapid prototyping. It was the same idea all the Summit speakers have been saying about sustainable mobility and the mVIP team was doing it.

At the end of the Summit, everyone left with an mVIP deck. It’s built to work with any group. It builds a common platform of language, process and outcomes. It allows people from wildly different disciplines to work together productively. During the Summit – with just two short sessions – it had already generated over a hundred new solution concepts for sustainable mobility dilemmas. And, it’s also beautifully designed. But then, aren’t all good tools?

The mVIP tool deck is available from the Art Center website.

Clark Kellogg is an architect and partner at Collective Invention where he focuses his work around design + communication.