Story 05 · Systems thinking
Urban Delivery System
“What if we designed the system first, and the vehicles second?”
- Client
- Concept
- My role
- Design lead, system & mobility
- Year
- 2018 – 2021
- Type
- Concept
Design the system first. Then design the product.
Most delivery concepts start with a vehicle and try to fit it into the city. This one started with the city.
01
The problem wasn’t a missing vehicle.
Delivery in cities today is inefficient, congested, disconnected and hard to scale. Another clever van wouldn’t fix that.
The real challenge: how do we create a seamless, congestion-conscious delivery system that is scalable, affordable and sustainable?
Three layers. One connected system.
Every vehicle has one clear role, and they all work together.
Backbone
Moves goods between warehouse and city in bulk.
Instant layer
Small local pods for essentials, delivered in minutes.
Experience layer
Mobile vending and convenience where people gather.
Last metres: the pod recognises you and opens. No waiting, no missed deliveries.
Worked out as a whole, down to the workflows.
Operations, loading, hand-over, scale. Each layer was designed around how it would actually run in a real city, and whether it could make money doing it.
What I took away
Design is not about creating objects.
It is about creating systems that solve real problems. Seamless for users, scalable for the business, efficient for the city.
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