Urban Concepts

Looking at the latest events in smart mobility, it’s easy to see that we’re in a dilemma. On the one hand, more and more of us are moving to the cities. The UN predicts that by 2050 about 75% of humanity will live in urban agglomerations. At the same time, we are becoming increasingly aware that urban space is too precious to devote much of it to an inefficient mode of transport such as the car. The car as the preferred individual means of transport is responsible for air pollution, noise and represents a risk for users and other road users. We need new, sustainable form of mobility.

In 2017, Greenpeace conducted a study with a city ranking on sustainable mobility in Germany. The study examined the 14 largest German cities in the development of sustainable mobility. In addition, the progress made in Freiburg was analysed as a best practice example. The results of the study are listed here. These results are based on the insight that we have a lot of room for improvement in all cities.

And that is why we want to go one step further on lastmile.zone in our “Urban Concepts” section. It is clear that German cities woke up at the latest when the Leipzig Higher Regional Court ruled in early 2018. No city leader wants to put up with the accusation that they have not done enough for the health of their own inhabitants. Nobody wants driving bans for diesel vehicles. No matter whether in the centres with OEMs like Munich, Cologne or Stuttgart or in Düsseldorf, Berlin or Hamburg.

What makes them successful, these mobility concepts? Is it the rethinking and promotion of bicycle structures, electric mobility or local public transport? Which challenges can cities face most easily today in order to persuade people to take action with so-called “quick wins”? Or which concepts simply cannot be financed? It is clear that there must be an intelligently linked mix of the most diverse mobility actions. This is the only way to achieve a sustainable transport turnaround. And this mix must also integrate the commercial requirements in the cities. Even though the ruling of the Higher Regional Court in Leipzig explicitly allowed certain exceptions, especially for commercial diesel drivers, the proportion of commercial journeys in urban traffic is too significant to rest on the laurels of potential exceptions for commercial traffic.

In our search for the successful building blocks of a sustainable mobility turnaround for our cities, we have looked for worldwide examples. This search is a journey that will probably never quite end. And it opens up exciting glimpses of some smaller projects that have left a lasting impression on us.

Follow us as we discover the mobility champions among cities. Sustainable and often initiated by great people. Driven by mayors and individual interest groups. Innovations from start-ups or established companies – the new form of mobility knows no boundaries. And the time has come for these mobility concepts to be implemented.