The public online lecture series “Mobility Analysis and Planning for Human-Scale Cities” 2025 took place for the 4th time this year.
This year’s lecture series featured six experts – from spatial planners to a professor emeritus of transport planning – with a wide range of knowledge. All lectures are available for rewatch on our Youtube channel and website.
This year, 257 people registered for the lecture series. The most popular lecture during the live sessions was by Pille Metspalu, where she discussed recent comprehensive plans and the currently drafted Estonian national plan for 2050. YouTube replays have also gained momentum, and as of today, the most-watched lecture is by PhD Benjamin Büttner, who presented his research group’s innovative take on the 15-minute city concept, called Flowers of Proximity.
So, what can we take away from these lectures?
PhD Pille Metspalu
HendriksonDGE, University of Tartu, Estonian Association of Spatial Planners
“Approaches to cover mobility topics in comprehensive and national planning practices”
In her lecture Pille talked about what mobility and mobility planning mean at different planning levels and provided examples of comprehensive and national planning. She introduced the basic studies of national planning and four future scenarios: Estonia becomes the capital, Estonia of big cities, Estonia of small centers, and growing Estonia.
Kaidi Põldoja
Paco-Ernest Ulman
Tallinn Urban Planning Department
“Strategic development of the mobility environment in Tallinn: from data analysis to implementation”
In this lecture architects Kaidi Põldoja and Paco-Ernest Ulman from Tallinn’s Spatial Planning and Design Unit shared insights into the city’s latest urban developments and challenges. They highlighted both long-term trends that affect spatial planning and introduced specific projects currently being worked on to create more liveable, human-centred urban environments.
PhD Benjamin Büttner
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
“The story of how the Flowers of Proximity make the 15-minute City blossom”
Benjamin introduced the ideas forming the 15-minute city concept and focused on their research group’s innovative take on it called the Flowers of Proximity. The method sets the focus on the actual needs of individuals and the local context. He also shared inspiring case studies from Munich, where master’s students and locals have co-designed interventions to rethink how city streets function and feel.
Associate Professor Age Poom
University of Tartu
“How does our travel environment affect us?”
Age introduced how the different environments we encounter when walking and cycling can affect our health and well-being. Drawing on a range of research, including eye-tracking experiments, Age showed how people perceive and respond to different urban settings, and how urban greenery and birdsong are essential in creating pleasant environments. She also highlighted how spatial planning and policy decisions can shape healthier, more liveable cities for everyone.
Professor Emeritus Kay W. Axhausen
ETH Zürich
“The dilemma of transport planning: Is e–bike–city a possibility?”
Dr. Axhausen introduced the concept of the E-bike city — a vision of urban spaces where cycling, micromobility, walking, and public transport are given clear priority over cars. He also explored some of the radical ideas in urban and transport planning that have shaped the way we move today. Dr. Axhausen discussed innovative interventions underway in Zürich to make the E-bike city vision a reality.
Associate Professor Miloš N. Mladenović
Aalto University
“Towards a plangineering identity: Lessons from the Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering MSc programme”
Dr. Mladenović shared how Aalto University is reshaping its transport planning and engineering curriculum to reflect the paradigm shift toward sustainable mobility and more inclusive cities. He also discussed the challenges of the traditional approach to educating future planners and engineers and emphasised how our personal identities influence the way we perceive and shape urban space. Watch the lecture to find out about the skills and identity of 21st-century urban and mobility plangineers.
In addition to this year’s lectures, recordings from previous years are also available! Check the recordings of the 2024 lectures here, the 2023 lectures here, and the 2022 lectures here.
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See you next spring!
The Mobility Lab of the University of Tartu is an interdisciplinary research group that studies human mobility and its associations with society and the environment using mobile (big) data.