Berlin CAV design sprint

The Design Sprint in Berlin at the Euref-Campus brought together 40 experts from government agencies, academia, non-profit organizations, planning and urban design firms, and the car and technology industry.

Germany is at the forefront of the transition towards clean energy. This also includes the transition from vehicles with gas engines to full electric vehicles. Thus, as the future will not only be autonomous and connected, but also green, we were keen to host one of our Sprints in Berlin. Fittingly, we hosted the Berlin Design Sprint at the EUREF Campus, Berlin’s urban laboratory for the energy transition (“Energiewende”).

The three sites explored in Berlin were: The Schlossstrasse in Steglitz, a main thoroughfare with retail malls on either side of the street; the Friedrichstrasse in Mitte, a major road that includes a tram line and is located in one of Berlin’s business districts; and the Hufelandstrasse, a residential neighbourhood characterized by side-street parking and cobblestones. The ideas for these sites ranged from the introduction of a road pricing mechanism that takes into account the socio-economic status of drivers to a system where street lanes are digitally opening and closing according to user demand.

Roger Nickells, CEO of Buro Happold, highlighted the interdisciplinary character of the event: When would you otherwise have the opportunity to meet with so many different creators of ideas in order to concentrate on one topic? Buro Happold is proud of the fact that so many of the invitations have been followed and we are looking forward to continually and collaboratively working together on inspiring solutions for our built environment.

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driverless cars