Tools – Reflective Questions

The Reflective Questions below have been developed in collaboration with the DecarboN8 SRG. They are in-tended to stimulate reflection, discussion and challenge taken-for-granted assumptions. They should be adapted to the specific innovation and contexts under assessment, as individual project variables unite in various, sometimes unexpected, ways:

• Who are the imagined users of the innovation? Who is excluded?
• Has the ‘useability’ of the innovation been considered? For example, relevance to specific places, specific groups, specific situations? Who does this exclude?
• Has the affordability of the innovation been discussed?
• How has accessibility been considered, for example, access to public services, in-frastructure? In relation to disabilities and other vectors of difference?
• How much do the carbon reductions contribute to the relevant carbon budget?
• Is the role of local and/or national government considered in the innovation? If so, how? What role might policy play in developing the innovation’s societal readi-ness?
• Which groups and communities are represented amongst participants? How have citizens and other stakeholders been involved in the innovation process, or how will they be involved?
• Does the discussion of technologies/solution(s) engage with issues of diversity, in-cluding gender, age, equity, income, education, sexuality, disability, class, ethnic-ity and other aspects of inequality?
• Are the existing mobility cultures in places part of the discussion of transfor-mation?
• Are the end uses that generate travel demand (and their weighting in specific places e.g., tourism, commuting) discussed alongside the innovation?
• How does the solution contribute to the public good?
• Are unanticipated consequences for society considered? (e.g., a fully digitised on-demand transport solution may be highly practical and fit for appropriation, but it may introduce societally unacceptable levels of surveillance).
• Have people had the opportunity to try out the innovation in their everyday lives?
• Have multiple iterations of the design been undertaken? If so, with whom? In situ or in a ‘test’ environment?
• Is the supply chain transparent? Is the supply chain ethical?