Working where creativity lives: Stefan Carsten on the future of urban working environments

08. November 2024 – Mandy Weinand

At the Work Culture Festival at Orgatec 2024, futurologist and urban geographer Stefan Carsten fascinated the audience with a ground-breaking presentation on ‘The immobile society: How metamobility will change our working environments’. In his presentation, Carsten impressively demonstrated how the topics of future, city and mobility are merging to critically scrutinise existing living spaces and open up sustainable perspectives for the society of tomorrow.

From car parks to logistics hubs: the transformation of urban spaces through metamobility

Stefan Carsten argued that the increasing interdependence of work, leisure and mobility is fundamentally changing our understanding of space. The term metamobility describes the merging of physical and virtual worlds into a new, flexible intersection. This development is revolutionising our access to everyday activities, be it shopping, working or attending conferences – in future, all of this will be accessible with just one click. The change in urban spaces is central to this: facilities such as doctors’ surgeries, supermarkets and public authorities will have to reorganise themselves in order to cope with the change.

Stefan Carsten used tangible examples to illustrate these upheavals: Car parks could be converted into logistics hubs, petrol stations into mobility hubs. Such developments mark the gradual but irreversible departure from conventional industrial ideas of work and prosperity. Public space will have to be redefined and redesigned, which will have a profound impact on the mobility world of the future.

Stefan Carsten: ‘The office is the place where creativity is born’

One remarkable aspect of Carsten’s presentation is the paradoxical reality of our mobility: despite a networked world, we are physically less mobile. Only 80 % of the working population still leave their homes every day. This poses new challenges for the design of workspaces. ‘The office is the place where creativity is born,’ emphasised Carsten. However, these places must adapt to flexible and hybrid forms of work that harmonise work and leisure.

The impact on the younger generation was also an important topic. On average, children spend five hours a day on social networks, which has serious consequences for their mental health. This development shows that the digital world is not only shaping our mobility, but also our social interaction.

In a subsequent Q&A session with Michael Trautmann, they explored these ideas in greater depth. Together, they discussed how cities and companies can adapt to the changes and what innovative ideas are needed to create a sustainable and future-proof society.

Would you like to find out more about Stefan Carsten or book him for a presentation on topics such as metamobility, the immobile society and new working environments? Please contact us: +1 (704) 804 1054 oder welcome@premium-speakers.com

Dr. Stefan Carsten

Futurologist & Urban Geographer - Expert on the Future of Mobility