Editorial

During the last 15 years most central and east european countries faced an era of institutional, economic and demographic transition. With the fall of the wall and the end of the Soviet Union, the former socialist countries transformed their political, economic and social institutions; today, some of them are already a member state of the European Union. The re- unificated Germany was not only affected by this process in its eastern part, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), where the political and institutional structures were entirely exchanged; with the end of the “Rheinische Bundesrepublik”, the incarnation of a welfare and growth oriented Fordist society, also former West Germany had to adapt to this transition and still is facing a process of institutional modernisation

Dimensions of urban mobility cultures – a comparison of German cities

In the context of the immense economic and social challenges urban transport faces in the near future, the analysis of city-specific differences in supply and usage of urban transport systems is a promising approach for identifying potential strategies for establishing more sustainable transport systems and mobility patterns. This study aims to address such differences by a comparative approach and is, to our best knowledge, the first one capturing the subjective dimension of urban mobility by integrating satisfaction and perception-related indicators at a city-level. Drawing on the socio-technical concept of urban mobility cultures, which combines socio-economic and urban form characteristics, mode-specific infrastructure supply, as well as the travel behaviour and underlying attitudes of a city’s inhabitants, we collected a set of 23 indicators from several sources, mainly from the early 2000s. These data have been applied to a sample of 44 German cities. As a result of a factor and cluster analysis we identified six groups of cities ranging from relatively mature and homogenous socio-technical settings, referred to as ‘cycling cities’ or ‘transit metropolises’, to rather less well-defined urban mobility cultures such as ‘transit cities with multimodal potential’, whose forthcoming development is not yet directed towards a specific future and, therefore, is open for political debate. The mismatch between objective and subjective indicators of urban mobility culture that has been shown for some city groups is another starting-point for changing urban mobility cultures in terms of taking people’s perceptions and evaluations of the local transport system more seriously

Sendy Farag*

Exploring the use of e-shopping and its impact on personal travel behaviour in the Netherland

On the road to sustainable urban and transport development in the automobile society? Traced narratives of car-reduced neighborhoods

Worldwide, academics and practitioners are developing ‘planning-oriented’ approaches to reduce the negative impacts of car traffic for more sustainable urban and transport development. One such example is the design of car-reduced neighborhoods, although these are controversial issues in the hegemonic ‘system’ of automobility. Despite the reduction of emissions and frequent recognition as ‘best practice examples’, ‘planning-critical’ research questions the underlying objectives and narratives of such sustainable developments. Our study contributes to this research perspective by improving the understanding of narratives that emerge along with car-reduced housing developments. For this purpose, we analyze two car-reduced neighborhoods in the City of Darmstadt (Germany) by conducting interviews with different actors involved in the planning and implementation processes. Our investigation reveals that the development of car-reduced neighborhoods (i) is consciously embedded in the context of sustainability, (ii) is characterized by power relations, (iii) follows normative indicators, and (iv) does not always correspond to lived realities. Altogether, the traced narratives of car-reduced neighborhoods are embedded in the overarching debate on sustainability, while at the same time revealing the dependence of society on the automobile. Thus, the hegemonic ‘system’ of automobility—although it is beginning to crack—continues to exist

Parking management for promoting sustainable transport in urban neighbourhoods. A review of existing policies and challenges from a German perspective

The organisation of parking is a key challenge to more sustainable mobility in urban areas, as its pricing and availability affect the rates of private car ownership and use. However, changing parking policies is a challenging issue for local politicians and planners because residents frequently oppose changes or restrictions to conditions they have taken for granted such as on-street parking in a public space. The aim of this paper is firstly to assess how the parking policy of an urban neighbourhood can be structured to contribute to more sustainable mobility and to increase liveability in the neighbourhood. The second aim is to apply the policies reviewed to an example neighbourhood. For this purpose, we systematically reviewed academic literature and identified five types of relevant parking policies: (i) maximum parking requirements, (ii) physical detachment of residence and parking space, (iii) residential parking permits and the limitation of available parking space, (iv) performance-based pricing and (v) parking as a demand management strategy. We discovered that most research focuses on econometric models about parking and that studies rarely address the effects of parking on the quality of life in neighbourhoods. Therefore, we need further research regarding the relationship of parking and liveability. We conclude that for the implementation of such parking policies in an example neighbourhood, the municipality needs to develop a mobility vision for its city. It has to understand parking as a tool for transportation demand management to increase the acceptance of parking policy concepts and to avoid spillover problems. Finally, in the German case, as in most other countries, states and municipalities need to redesign their legal frameworks to be able to manage parking supply better and to react to changes related to digital developments and parking. The findings have implications for other European neighbourhoods regarding the transfer from research to local circumstances and applications for the whole city

Mobility design for accessibility: A review from a spatial and social sciences perspective

Abstract This presentation is focused on mobility design from a spatial and social sciences perspective, questioning its concept and components, with regard to accessibility of sustainable modes of transport. Based on a review of design aspects in travel behaviour studies, we discuss existing definitions, major achievements and possible future research areas. Speakers’ bio Prof. Dr. Martin Lanzendorf holds the Chair of Mobility Research at Goethe-University Frankfurt and has been teaching and researching at the Goethe-University since 2008. His current research projects consider different facets of mobility in metropolitan areas. In particular changes of travel behaviour, spatial aspects of traffic emergence and travel demand management to ensure a more sustainable mobility. He received his PhD in 2000 from the University of Trier and from the Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy at Wuppertal (Germany). Then he proceeded to 3 years of research at the Urban Research Centre of Utrecht University (The Netherlands). Until 2008 Lanzendorf held a Junior Professorship at the Helmholtz- Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ Leipzig) and at the Institute of Geography of Leipzig University (Germany) whilst also filling a position as a Substitution Professor for Applied Anthropogeography at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich (Germany). Andreas Blitz is a researcher within the mobility research working group at the Institute for Human Geography at Goethe-University Frankfurt since 2018. His research fields include the promotion of sustainable mobility and the relation between mobility systems and human perceptions. In the context of the LOEWE research project ‘Infrastructure – Design – Society’ he focuses on the effects of mobility design aspects by taking the user’s perspective into account. He received his master degree in urban geography at Goethe-University in 2017. During his bachelor and master studies, he focused on mobility research, urban planning, and geographical information systems