This year’s World Urban Forum (WUF) host city, Cairo, greeted its 23,000 participants with vibrant street life and dense traffic congestion, which made discussions around mobility, climate resilience, and social inclusion even more important at the conference.
In line with WUF’s mission to support the progress on SDG11, TUMI championed transformative mobility approaches with several events that explored innovative solutions, from a hands-on VR experience to forward-thinking workshops and a playful session on “Empathy in Motion”. . With urbanisation accelerating across the globe and African cities like Cairo showing the urgent need for sustainable transport options in fast-growing cities, the forum was vital for sharing strategies for building resilient, equitable cities.
Highlights of TUMI’s Activities at WUF12
A VR Journey
The TUMI Booth at the Urban Expo was very popular with lines of visitors asking to try out the Virtual Reality experience, some of them even trying VR glasses for the first time. Three pairs of VR glasses allowed them to experience mobility challenges through the eyes of three different transport users in different cities within just seven minutes.
The experience starts with the point of view of an elderly man in São Paulo, trying to get home by taking several confusing bus lines, traversing stairs, dead-ends, and spaces where sitting down and taking a break to eat a refreshing papaya are rare. The next scenario showed a woman cycling home in London at night, , capturing the fear that dark corners, unlit spaces and empty streets can create – all of that with an empty phone battery. Lastly, visitors experienced what it was like for a man going to work in Nairobi on a wheelchair, seeing the city from a new perspective filled with many stares, some helpful hands, and countless small and big barriers.
One of the most important aspects of the World Urban Forum is to learn from each other. TUMI works with empathy-based approaches and the VR experience did just that: It helped visitors to feel what transport users around the world might feel, showing their challenges, and hinting at solutions from digital connectedness to support for mobility challenges and safe lighting at night. Participants walked away with new perspectives, more respect for those who struggle to move around the city – and a healthy moment of disorientation.
Empathy in Motion
Together with UN-Habitat, TUMI hosted a Special Session with the premise that embedding empathy into urban planning, particularly in mobility, is essential for building a more just and inclusive city. After all, urban settlements house people with diverse mobility needs, such as 2.4 billion youth and children and nearly 800 million elderly people. Sixteen per cent of the global population lives with a disability, many of whom depend on transport systems to connect them to essential services and the bigger community. In cities that are unfriendly to mobility necessities, inequality is inescapable: fewer people can get to their jobs, shop, seek healthcare, or participate in daily life. This form of injustice often goes unnoticed by the able-bodied, which is why TUMI calls for a central role of empathy as a principle of urban planning.
In the Special Session, moderated by Ethan Kent (Placemaking X) and Maruxa Cardama (SLOCAT), speakers explored how adopting a life-stage approach can help cities meet the evolving needs of individuals from childhood through old age, fostering lifelong inclusivity. “Transportation is the biggest obstacle, but also the biggest opportunity in placemaking”, Ethan stated. “Love and empathy are limitless resources and a great way of turning the conversation upside down. We believe that people want to care for their city, and live it, by giving support to people that are disenfranchised or not accounted for. The lovable, empathetic city is the best way to make a city liveable.”
Most transport planners around the world are able-bodied, middle-aged men, which explains a lot of the inherent bias in transport planning. Following the life course approach, speakers explained how we experience transportation at different stages in life:
- Early childhood: Rushda Majeed, Chief Programme Officer at the Van Leer Foundation, explained that early experiences set the foundation for a child’s life and for how they will later think about cities and public spaces. “Babies and toddlers experience the city differently, as do their caregivers. They are living at a height of maybe 95 centimetres”. In cities like Bogotá, child-friendly urban design is taking off, for example with sidewalks that are lower in height and broader in width. Beyond accessibility, the goal is also to spark curiosity.
- Early adolescence: Reycel Hyacenth Bendaña, Youth Organizer and Coordinator at the Move as One Coalition, explained that for teenagers, mobility is key for unlocking independence and self-discovery. She is from the Philippines, where 88 per cent of the population are commuters, and only 12 per cent can afford a car, but over 70 per cent of road spaces are allocated to cars. This skews opportunities towards those who can afford to go to extracurricular activities by car. “Seeing the world through the lens of a windshield removes empathy from individuals and prevents them from connecting with other people”, she added.
- Young adults: Milagros Costabel Bionda from UN Habitat’s Youth Advisory Board explained how marginalised young adults, especially women, are often forced to make difficult choices when there is no safe, accessible transport. As a blind person, she was never able to explore the city in a way that she wanted. Getting to the conference venue in Cairo turned out to be a big challenge, as well. “Public transportation should empower people that cannot drive to explore the city the way they want”, she said, expressing her hope for cities as places where we all feel welcomed, where we belong and where we can develop our potential.
- Adulthood: As grown-ups, we enter an age of independence and responsibility, but there are also often daily struggles with mobility, said Luis Artieda from World Enabled. He advocates for accessible transport that includes every stakeholder from the first stage of discussions. “Let’s push local officials to reach across the aisle and find co-benefits in inclusive planning”, he urged.
- Later adulthood: Lastly, Dr Samar ElFeky, Advisor at the WHO, spoke about how to keep older people connected to the world through reliable and accessible transport. “This is more than just mobility, but a bridge to community, health care, running errands, and seeing family”, she emphasized. This way, it becomes easier to avoid social isolation with its sense of loneliness and higher risk for depression, dementia and other health problems.
“Imagine a future where empathy in motion is not only a guiding principle, but also a tangible outcome. A disconnection from each other and our places is the underlying crisis of our time, but empathy offers a way of fostering connection”, Ethan Kent summed up.
Futurist Literacy Workshop
In two workshops held at the TUMI booth, Riel Miller, head of Futures Literacy at UNESCO, explained ways of reimagining the future. “More than anything else, the future is emotional. It is not just an issue of finding solutions to a problem.” In his workshop, participants explored the multiple dimensions of future. Through participatory exercises, it quickly turned out that feelings like hope and despair can shape the way we see the future, making it highly relational.
But another aspect of the future, beyond fear, is hope. Participants expressed their ideas for a desirable future, before discussing probable and inclusive futures for the year 2050. Here, Cairo as the host city of the conference offered interesting insights. Based on this megacity’s urban development, it is probable that other cities with this kind of population growth – especially on the African continent, where urbanisation rates are highest – will have to rethink their transport systems by 2050. Cairo is building a third metro line, implementing new bus connections, and building a monorail to swiftly carry passengers out to the New Administrative Capital.
Conclusion: Shaping the Future with Empathy and Innovation
TUMI’s contributions at WUF12 showed how empathy and innovation can transform urban mobility. By placing people and their connections to each other at the heart of transport planning, more inclusive and resilient cities are within reach. By encouraging the lessons from WUF12, transport professionals can build cities that are not just liveable but also lovable.
Key lessons:
- Design with empathy: Cities must prioritize understanding diverse mobility experiences to create equitable systems.
- Integrate accessibility: Inclusive design benefits everyone, from families with strollers to elderly individuals.
- Leverage technology: Tools like VR can help planners and stakeholders empathize with mobility challenges.
- Emphasize proximity: Ensuring access to jobs, healthcare, and community spaces reduces inequality.
Learn more about TUMI’s initiatives and join the movement for equitable mobility by exploring resources, attending upcoming events, or engaging with the Hamburg Charter for Inclusive Mobility. Let’s create cities where everyone feels welcome.