The Challenging Path to a Redistribution of Space – Renegotiating Urban Mobility

The (rapid) growth of cities and city populations in many regions of the world puts a focus on the question of accessibility (use and distribution) of urban space. In consequence, the long-prevailing hegemony of the principle of car-friendly cities is being challenged, and political as well as societal mindsets towards individually possessed cars seem to be changing. Nonetheless, more sustainable forms of mobility will need different legal and economic frameworks, and will need to be more demand-orientated and smarter in order to become a real alternative. From a technological perspective, new regulations on the reduction of (CO2), NOx and particulate matter have been passed by the European Parliament in 2015, while smart forms of mobility such as carsharing, e-mobility, and automated driving are being supported and subsidized by local and national governments. Both, regulations and incentives from the market are pushing companies to innovate. From a socio-political perspective, the (re-)distribution of the increasingly scarce resource urban space and the manner of its utilization is a challenge which affects all population groups, but in different ways. Questions arising in this context are: How to actually initiate a process of transformation towards a more sustainable urban mobility? What future quality(s) of life will we have in demographically changing societies and which forms of mobility are more adequate to future needs than individual possession of cars? This is exactly where our transdisciplinary project in Berlin/Germany takes off: place-based approaches promoting more sustainable forms of local mobility are being combined with iterative bottom-up approaches of discussion, information and playful testing of new forms of mobility for civil society, stakeholders, administrators and politicians. One and a half year into the project, it becomes obvious that urban mobility is a highly contested and emotionalized topic where fear of loss (of the individually possessed car and its parking space) clashes with misinformation, non-reflection of individual mobility behavior and demand, and different esthetic preferences on how public space should be designed. This contribution presents intermediary results from a research project in Berlin/ Germany (http://neue-mobilitaet.berlin/) where local actors together with administrators, politicians, mobility providers and researchers are about to develop and test adequate strategies towards more sustainable local mobility. These intermediary results can be summarized as follows: 1) In order to develop a truly different, and less emotional approach to (sustainable) mobility, intensive communication with different groups and across these groups is necessary. 2) Smartness in the mobility sector is not merely the introduction of innovative technology-based solutions but needs to be understood as a process of multilateral information, discussion, and exchange

Smart Mobility: Technologies and Daily Routines

The (rapid) growth of cities and city populations in many regions of the world puts a focus on the question on how people’s mobility can be organized in a smarter and more sustainable way. This paper argues that technologies can only be defined as ‘smart’ if they are demand-oriented, and if innovative political, legal and economic frameworks can be created. In the context of urban mobility, questions to be answered are: Inwhich way(s) do innovative technologies meet the demand of different population groups? What kind of knowledge do providers and users of mobility need in order to create responsable use of such technologies? The transdisciplinary project ‘Neue Mobilität Berlin’ (New Mobility Berlin, http://neue-mobilitaet.berlin/) addresses these questions: place-based approaches promoting smarter and more sustainable forms of local mobility are being combined with iterative bottom-up approaches of discussion, information and playfuleducation for civil society, stakeholders, administrators and politicians. Three years into the project, the team has developed several approaches to promote smarter and more sustainable forms of urban mobility and to deal with a highly contested and emotionalized topic (individual mobility) where fear of loss (of the individually possessed car and it’s parking space) clashes with misinformation, non-reflection of individual mobility behaviour and demand. Intermediary results can be summarized as follows: 1) Smartness in the mobility sector is not merely the introduction of innovative technical solutions but needs to be understood as a process of multilateral information, discussion, and exchange. 2) In order to develop a truly different, and less emotional, approach to (smart and sustainable) mobility, intensive communication with different groups and across these groups is necessary. Our contribution will present results from a four-week trial when 16 people abstained from their personal car and started using ‘smart technologies’ during their daily routines

Smart City: Zur Bedeutung des aktuellen Diskurses für die Arbeit am Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft

Seit 2013 befasst sich eine interdisziplinäre Arbeitsgruppe am Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft (ZTG) mit dem Thema Smart City. In diesem discussion paper werden die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zusammengefasst und diskutiert, um die ZTG-interne Diskussion und Meinungsbildung zum Thema zu unterstützen und unsere Perspektiven interessierten Dritten zugänglich zu machen. Kapitel 2 bietet ein Überblick über den Forschungs- und Diskussionsstand zum Thema Smart Cities sowie zu den vielfältigen Definitionen und Begriffsverständnissen. Die Smart City Strategien einiger Städte werden exemplarisch analysiert sowie eine Abgrenzung zu ähnlichen Konzepten vorgenommen. Des Weiteren werden kritische Aspekte des Smart City Konzepts dargestellt. In Kapitel 3 wird der Arbeitskreisinterne Diskussionsstand zusammenfasst (3.1) und berichten einzelne Forschungsbereiche des ZTG über ihre bisherigen Erfahrungen und die für diese relevanten Aspekte von Smart Cities (3.2). Im abschließenden 4. Kapitel wird der wissenschaftliche Diskussionsstand mit den ZTG-internen Perspektiven zusammengeführt und die Bedeutung für die zukünftige Arbeit am ZTG und darüber hinaus reflektiert. Eine wesentliche Erkenntnis lautet, dass Smart City Konzepte keine neuartigen Entwicklungsperspektiven repräsentieren, sondern existierende Leitvorstellungen ergänzen. Weiter sind Technologien dann smart, wenn sie den Interessen und Bedürfnissen der Menschen dienen und wenn sie soziale und politische Teilhabe und Inklusion sowie gerechte und demokratische Gesellschaftsstrukturen fördern. So können Smart Cities entstehen, die sich durch ihre hohe Lebensqualität auszeichnen.Since 2013, an interdisciplinary working group at the Center for Technology and Society (CTS) is dealing with the topic smart city. This discussion paper summarizes and discusses results of its activities. Thus, the CTS-internal discussion and opinion building on the topic shall be supported and the findings be made accessible to third parties. Chapter 2 of the paper looks at the state of research and discussion on smart cities and gives an overview of the diverse definitions and understandings of the term. Smart City strategies of selected examples are analysed. Furthermore, similarities and differences with related concepts are worked out and critical aspects of the smart city concept are outlined. Chapter 3 summarizes the working group's internal state of discussion (3.1) and CTS research areas describe their experiences and relevant aspects regarding smart city (3.2). The final chapter 4 merges the scientific discussion with the CTS-internal perspectives and reflects them towards their implications for the future work at the CTS and beyond. Major findings show that smart city concepts do not represent new development perspectives but complement existing conceptions. Furthermore they say that technology is smart when it serves the interests and needs of people, promotes social and political participation and inclusion as well as just and democratic social structures. In this way, cities characterized by a high quality of life will develop

Pioniervorteile durch umweltorientierte Produktinnovation

Summary in EnglishAvailable from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 66 (1994.18) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Forging future organizational leaders for sustainability science

Leaders of sustainability research organizations need to provide an environment where interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary science fourish. Developing the necessary leadership skills and attributes requires new, targeted training programmes.This work was supported by the National SocioEnvironmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) under funding received from the National Science Foundation DBI-1639145

Preparing interdisciplinary leadership for a sustainable future

Urgent sustainability challenges require effective leadership for inter- and trans-disciplinary (ITD) institutions. Based on the diverse experiences of 20 ITD institutional leaders and specific case studies, this article distills key lessons learned from multiple pathways to building successful programs. The lessons reflect both the successes and failures our group has experienced, to suggest how to cultivate appropriate and effective leadership, and generate the resources necessary for leading ITD programs. We present two contrasting pathways toward ITD organizations: one is to establish a new organization and the other is to merge existing organizations. We illustrate how both benefit from a real-world focus, with multiple examples of trajectories of ITD organizations. Our diverse international experiences demonstrate ways to cultivate appropriate leadership qualities and skills, especially the ability to create and foster vision beyond the status quo; collaborative leadership and partnerships; shared culture; communications to multiple audiences; appropriate monitoring and evaluation; and perseverance. We identified five kinds of resources for success: (1) intellectual resources; (2) institutional policies; (3) financial resources; (4) physical infrastructure; and (5) governing boards. We provide illustrations based on our extensive experience in supporting success and learning from failure, and provide a framework that articulates the major facets of leadership in inter- and trans-disciplinary organizations: learning, supporting, sharing, and training