Car-free city: meaningful reform or wishful thinking?
Looking at our society from a above perspective without any prior knowledge, it seems as if the idea of a planet with endless resources has strongly manifested itself in the minds of people. A prime example of this way of thinking is the current use of motorised individual transport. If I want to drive, I have a seat in my car, fill up the tank, fasten my seat belt, press the accelerator and drive off. This way of thinking is dangerous. Motorised individual transport requires that resources are consumed – for a car that weighs 1.5 tonnes on average, that means about 70 tonnes of material only in production. In addition, the car pollutes the environment with every use and takes up too much space, especially in large cities.
Perspectives from Prof. Peter Eckart
Prof. Peter Eckart studied product design at the Bergische Universität GHS Wuppertal and later at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg. In 2000, he founded the design studio unit-design, Frankfurt, Bern, together with Bernd Hilpert, with whom he also works for the Deutsche Bahn. Since 2000 Peter Eckart has been Professor of Integrative Design at the HfG Offenbach and since 2011 Vice President of the University. His central research field is mobility design. Since 2018, he has been leading the interdisciplinary LOEWE research project with Prof. Dr. Kai Vöckler in the fields of urban and transport planning, social science mobility research, multimedia technologies and the design entitled project-mo.de, which focuses on the role of design in changing mobility behaviour.
Green Fleet
Fleet management follows social and economic trends: New forms of work, digitization and the shift in values towards a greater understanding of sustainability are having an impact on the design of company-organized mobility. But what does this constant change in mobility structures mean for companies and where are the opportunities?
The Vienna Model
Vienna’s public transport system is among the best in the world. The network is dense and the frequency is tight. It is so well developed that you don’t even need to know the timetable. A total of 2.61 million people are transported from A to B by public transport here every day. The popularity can also be seen in the modal split, because: The public transport users have overtaken the car drivers. Around 38 percent of the distances are covered by public transport, while «only» 27 percent are covered by car. But what makes vienna different from other cities?
Perspectives from Jakob Muus
Jakob Muus is the founder and CEO of Tracks, a Berlin-based tech company with the goal of making road freight transport more efficient and sustainable through modern technologies. The platform developed by Tracks provides its users with analyses and recommendations for action, with which they can reduce the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of their fleet. This not only improves the environmental balance but also the competitiveness of participating companies.
Mobility in the city
An ever increasing urbanization of our society is clearly visible. Young people in particular are increasingly moving their centre of life from rural regions to the cities. In addition, there are many commuters who do not want to live directly in the urban jungle, but who find well-paid jobs mainly in the cities. This congestion in the cities and the associated additional traffic flows have consequences – especially for our increasingly grey planet. But what challenges must urban public transport face in times of the mobility change? And what role will it itself play in this?
What’s green? The Deutsche Bahn
Whether in the city or in rural areas, everyone agrees on one thing: to protect our planet, we all need to become greener again. Not only in the household many people are making an effort to consume wisely and are once again considering whether they should use plastic bags or eat meat every day. There is also a rethink on mobility issues. Especially for Generation Z, travelling by plane is no longer «state of the art». Last year, the DB recorded 150.7 million customer trips which also shows that many people care about their green footprint.