(Un)clear boundaries between TD practices and professional consultancy – the case of the TD research project Co-Creating Mobility Hubs

Integrated site developments and mobility solutions contribute to the careful use of scarce land resources and create livable urban space. Specifically, the future development of railway stations into intermodal mobility hubs could improve the interface between different mobility practices, particularly in suburban areas and regional population centers. As a result, railway service providers, such as the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), are driving forward with integrated mobility and spatial planning. When considering mobility hubs, the usual perimeter of development is expanded, connecting inner-city and supra-regional modes of transportation and seeking a strengthened urban integration of railway stations. Accordingly, this perimeter expansion leads to the inclusion of additional stakeholders, thus transforming existing cooperation patterns. For this reason, the TD research project Co-Creating Mobility Hubs (CCMH) of SBB, together with ETH Zürich and EPF Lausanne, devises methods for collaborative development and for assessing societal demands at mobility hubs. Our real-time contribution aims to elicit, describe and discuss key elements to consider when setting up and running a TD project in an industry context to make it effective and impactful. Tracking and evaluating their effectiveness and impact is a challenge for TD practices. Attention will be given to how unclear boundaries to professional consultancy might reduce the perceived impact and effectiveness of TD practices. Unclear boundaries might lead to wrong (consultancy-like) expectations in TD contexts and negatively affect the approach’s quality. Although not always clear-cut, TD practices differ from professional consultancy regarding several aspects, such as problem framing, process outputs, and quality control. Further distinctions, for instance, between TD and applied research, intensify the challenge of defining clear boundaries. Professional consultancy services are widespread, and thus TD projects are confronted with expectations and working styles that probably hinder realizing the full potential of TD practices. As a result, unclear boundaries need to be addressed and actively approached.