The LIN City - livable, smart and sustainable # 3 Sustainable mobility in urban space

After a short introduction of the iCity research partnership by Dr. Dirk Pietruschka, managing director and himself a researcher in the iCity partnership, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lutz Gaspers had the floor. In his lecture, he began by explaining the central concepts and interrelationships in mobility research before focusing on the current guiding principle of transport planning, sustainable mobility. With a look at surveys on developments in connection with urban mobility behavior, it was made clear that the efforts of transport and urban planning in the past have not yet achieved the hoped-for effects, particularly with regard to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In their own projects, the research team is therefore looking into the question of why these effects have not (yet) materialized and how, for example, municipalities can positively influence them in the future through their actions. Prof. Gaspers presented surveys and proposals for measures from a cooperation with the city of Tuttlingen on pedelec sharing. The central question, which was also taken up in the discussion, is in what form users of private cars can be offered a sustainable alternative.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bäumer followed with his team's research around the acceptance of sustainable mobility solutions. Their research revolves around central aspects of acceptance with regard to the use of different mobility offerings. In addition to surveys on mobility behavior at the HFT, factors influencing the personal choice of means of transport were presented in particular. It became apparent that reliability, travel time, flexibility and costs are the most important factors for users. This was followed by the finding that bicycles meet most of these key needs.

So why aren't people already using bicycles for many more trips, especially within the city?

Prof. Bäumer and his team dedicate their (technology) acceptance research especially to the subjective feeling of safety. Perceived insecurity on bicycles can be sustainably achieved, for example, through separate bike lanes, but these are only being implemented very slowly. The team has therefore developed the app "ROUTEMESAFE", an interactive routing app in which every user has the opportunity to enter danger spots, which can then be taken into account in future route calculations. In addition to providing safe routes for cyclists, the app is also intended to have a benefit for municipalities and planners, namely a database for targeted action in the future. In addition, the team is researching other factors that influence a switch to cycling: Emotional experience, which is measured through surveys and in a virtual lab environment, as well as social and personal norms that have an impact on personal mobility behavior.

Thus, further possibilities of influence as well as dependencies between the planning and demand of bicycle paths, (bicycle) sharing systems and public transport were also discussed in the concluding question and answer session. The event made it impressively clear that the topic of cycling in the city has a weighty influence on social sustainability goals, but that there is still a need for research into innovations in the area of mobility offers and systems as well as in the optimization of existing solutions in order to achieve them. The HFT is already well positioned for this with its researchers.

iCity and the Stuttgart Region Chamber of Industry and Commerce are pleased with the lively interest in HFT research and the great participation in the joint online events. We look forward to welcoming them to our next event as well.

So why don't people already use the bicycle for many more journeys, especially within the city?

Prof. Bäumer and his team devote their (technology) acceptance research in particular to the subjective feeling of safety. The perceived insecurity on bicycles can be sustainably achieved, for example, through separate bike lanes, which are, however, only implemented very slowly. The team has therefore developed the app "ROUTEMESAFE", an interactive routing app in which every user has the opportunity to enter danger spots, which can then be taken into account in future route calculations. In addition to safe routes for cyclists, the app should also have a benefit for local authorities and planners, namely a database for targeted action in the future. In addition, the team is researching other factors that influence a switch to cycling: The emotional experience, which is measured by means of surveys and in a virtual laboratory environment, as well as social and personal norms that have an influence on personal mobility behavior.

Thus, further possibilities of influence as well as interdependencies between the planning and demand of cycle paths, (bicycle) sharing systems and public transport were also discussed in the concluding Q&A session. The event made it impressively clear that the topic of cycling in the city has a weighty influence on social sustainability goals, but that there is still a need for research into innovations in the area of mobility offers and systems as well as in the optimisation of existing solutions in order to achieve them. With its researchers, the HFT is already well positioned for this.

iCity and the Stuttgart Region Chamber of Industry and Commerce are pleased about the lively interest in HFT research and the great participation in the joint online events. We look forward to welcoming them to our next event as well.