Illustrating Just Mobility Futures in Cape Town, SA
Completed: March 2025
Illustrations for the paper “Constructing Just Mobility Futures” by Ruth Nelson, Trivik Verma, Martijn Warnier, BinBin Pearce (Delft University of Technology): Agata Smok
Supported by: TU Delft Global Initiative, Young Urbanists South Africa, City of Cape Town
A visual narrative for transport justice
How do you design a fairer future? That is one of the questions behind Just Mobility Futures, a research project led by Ruth Nelson at TU Delft. Rooted in Cape Town, South Africa—a city shaped by structural inequalities and spatial injustice—the project explores how mobility planning can either reinforce or dismantle access barriers.
Through a process of stakeholder engagement, data modelling, and ethical scenario testing, Ruth developed four contrasting visions for the city’s transport future. The aim: to make equity visible—and actionable—in transport policy.
Drawing futures, building understanding
My role was to illustrate these scenarios and help bring the research to life. Working closely with Ruth, we began with rough black-and-white sketches to establish each scenario’s core elements. Real-world references from Cape Town guided the design process, grounding the visuals in a recognizable and local context. From mini-bus taxis to urban landscapes, every detail was intentional.
Additionally I illustrated excerpts from interviews Ruth conducted with Cape Town residents—visuals that evoke voices and stories without relying on likeness. Though imagined, these portraits represent the very real diversity of experience behind the data.
The design approach focused on:
📌 Place-based storytelling – Hours spent in Cape Town’s digital street view helped shape graphics that feel rooted, familiar, and relevant to the communities being discussed.
📌 Scalable impact – All illustrations were created as flexible vector graphics, making them adaptable for campaigns, presentations, and future engagement work.
📌 Equity through design – By visualising who gains access—and who is left behind—these graphics reinforce the research’s central argument: justice must be part of the design process from the start.
More than a set of illustrations—this is a call to reimagine the system.
Ruth’s paper, grounded in stakeholder engagement and robust urban modelling, challenges a core assumption in transport planning: that equity is a secondary concern. Her work makes a powerful case that justice must be a design choice, not a side effect. Using ethical frameworks such as Rawlsian and Egalitarian theories, she doesn’t just ask how many people can access jobs, but who gets left behind—and why. This felt like an urgent and important story to help bring to life.
As a graphic designer, my role was to translate these four complex scenarios into clear, compelling visuals. The process began with quick black-and-white sketches to establish essential elements. Ruth provided real-life references from Cape Town, including the iconic GABS mini-bus taxis, helping to root the visuals in place and context. I spent many hours exploring Cape Town via Street View, capturing screenshots of local scenes that I would later interpret and draw as vector graphics.
These not only informed the scenario illustrations but also served as the basis for visualizing interview quotes—real words from real people in Cape Town, grappling with the everyday realities of inequitable mobility. Although I never met the interviewees, I used research and imagination to illustrate a diverse cast of characters—figures who represent the people most affected by the transport decisions being made.
What I valued most in this project was the spirit of co-creation. Ruth's work stands as a brilliant example of how research, policy, and design can come together to challenge the status quo.
It reminded me that being a graphic designer is about helping to see, understand, and imagine alternatives. Equity can’t be an afterthought. It has to be built in, illustrated clearly, and championed relentlessly.
