We continue our blog series about the Urban Transition Lab 131. Since 2015 when the project was launched, scientists and citizens have the possibility to work together in order to develop and test measures for a (more) sustainable urban development. In the previous article we talked about the activities of the project Sustainable Consumption. This second part of the series continues with an exciting and much discussed topic of sustainability research: mobility!

An article by Vanessa Kügler & Sarah Meyer-Soylu. Translation by Sophie Dauenhauer

Part II: Being mobile and human while moving around the Oststadt

Mobility is getting more and more important in our lifestyle. Thanks to smartphone and internet flat rate we can be contacted anytime and anywhere. For sure! We jump in the car or on the train and quickly arrive at our destination. It’s a matter of course, isn’t it? We are always on the move and always mobile – no matter if we want it or not. Our little digital helpers are an integral part of our daily routine. Man is a creature of habits – or rather a creature of laziness?

And also on our everyday stroll through the city we still tend to our routine and get annoyed about being stuck in the traffic instead of thinking about alternative means of transportation or (more) sustainable means of travel. Wouldn’t it be high time for us to be aware of our mobility behaviour and the consequences for our health and the environment? This question is related to the crucial questions of the project “Mobilitätsaspekte” (mobility aspects) within the Urban Transition Lab 131: How can I move around the city and cause as little harm to the environment as possible? How can we make mobility socially fair and human?

Being individually mobile

There are countless aspects that can be grouped under the keyword mobility. But where to start?

“Mobility in the city is too often harmful to the environment and nerve-racking. We think about a mobility concept which relies on bicycles, smart traffic management systems, and collective means of transport.”

(Goal of the key topic Mobile city)

The focus of the activities in the project “Mobility aspects” was on the area everyday mobility with its three key action points:

• Sustainable organisation of daily transporting
• Integration of bicycles and especially cargo bikes in our daily mobile routines
• Research of central traffic junctions (less traffic, more quality of stay!)

How we organise our trips and which means of transport we use is not only a product of our habits, it of course depends heavily on individual factors: e.g. physical fitness, age or the demand of transporting things like for example a pram. Additionally to these factors, our choice of the means of transportation is influenced by external factors like for example condition and routing of existing bikeways or road closures in connection with provided information about the possibilities of reaching the destination.

Organising the mobile daily life: Welcome to the travel agency for your everyday life!

How is it possible to satisfy various mobility needs of different user groups and coordinate them in a sustainable way?

To create a point of contact for the citizens of the Oststadt where they also can question or improve their mobility behaviour, the Urban Transition Lab 131 cooperated with the Institute for Transport (IfV). Together with this institution, that belongs to the KIT, the so-called travel agency for everyday life was established. Since the beginning of 2016, the citizens had the possibility to use the regular and free mobility consultancy, where they could get information on local mobility services and apps. This consultation should help finding more efficient and sustainable ways of travelling that nevertheless meet the individual requirements. The mobility consultancy was established in reaction to a suggestion that was made at the citizen’s forum and which was realized later than expected. Everyone involved had a lot of staying power. When the time of the opening had come at last, we unfortunately had to realize that the offer wasn’t accepted as well as we hoped. We use this experience to suit our coming project more to the citizens and their needs!

In order to make the citizens more familiar with the topic mobility and alternative means of transportation, the exposition “Von hier nach da” (from here to there) by the youth section of the environmental association BUND came to the Future Space. This touring exhibition gave the Oststadt some inspiring ideas and visions about a new mobility culture. Movie nights and presentations created a relaxing atmosphere for exchanging ideas and experiences.

You don’t always need four wheels: Come on and hop on your bike!

Car traffic – rolling or parking – dominates the quarter. This remark by the citizens was the decisive factor for an emphasis on the topic bike. In addition to that came our motivation to improve the situation for the bicycle traffic in the Oststadt and to motivate people to use their bikes more often.

You don’t always need a car to transport bigger items – that’s a fact we have long been convinced of and which is why the topic carrier bicycle has been a part of our project since the beginning. Our attempts to receive funding for this topic haven’t been successful. All the more, we are pleased that people are sharing the idea throughout Karlsruhe and even established a rental system for carrier bikes: Lastenkarle. Only a stone’s throw away from the Future Space, you can find a carrier bike that can be rented by anybody!

The Urban Transition Lab 131 as well owns a carrier bike which we take with us to different events to transport heavy and bulky equipment from A to B without producing any emissions!

By taking part at the PARK(ing) Day Karlsruhe we want to draw attention to the critical relationship between car traffic and townscape- especially the enormous amount of space that is used for car parking and the question: what if we these parking areas were used in other ways?

Matching with our focus on bicycles, a student thesis on the topic daily bicycle use in the Oststadt – especially bicycle parking – was written. With the help of surveys – online and face-to-face – more than 100 citizens of the Oststadt were asked about their personal bicycle use. The questionnaire reviewed, among other things:

• How often the citizens are using their bicycles and what may be the reason for them to not using it (especially the car drivers)
• What kind of measures would be needed to make them use the bicycle more often in the future
• Where and how the citizens of the Oststadt park their bikes and what kind of problems this way of parking can cause.

You want to read more about it? No problem! You find the link to the thesis (PDF) here and at the end of the article.

In connection with the thesis and to further sensitize for the topic bicycling and bike parking in the city, a public talk was held at the District Future regular’s table in the Oststadt. Another part of the evening was a discussion about the results of the survey and the derived recommendations for action.

Mobility as a model

How does the closing of a street or the usage of a shared space effect an urban quarter? To be able to answer such questions, the Urban Transition Lab 131-Team used an already existing traffic model of the Oststadt to make interactions of the traffic streams visible and comprehensible and to derive scenarios.

Particular attention was paid to the central traffic hub at Gottesauer Platz. In order to improve the quality of stay and to meet the citizen’s wishes regarding area design and the parking situation, redesign measures for this place were developed. In another master thesis, concrete upgrading plans for the Gottesauer Platz were worked out. Are you curious? You find the link to the thesis here and at the end of the article.

By simulating the traffic, it was possible to create an up-to-date picture of the congestion. However, one challenge became increasingly clear to the scientists: the many construction sites that are present throughout Karlsruhe. With the construction of the new underground line and the related line blockades and diversions, it is effectively impossible calculating the actual traffic in the area after the completion of the construction work. This means the absence of reliable data that makes it difficult to assess interactions and prevents the enforcement of precise measures.

What comes next?

How do we proceed with the former results? At the public discussion and presentation on 27 June 2016 in the Future Space, we presented our results and received a lot of suggestions for further work. In 2018, the topic mobility will stay on our agenda! Depending on the funding, we will even give stronger emphasis on mobility and work on it together with the topics nutrition, consumption and climate protection.

We are looking for you and your ideas! You want to share your thoughts and actions on sustainability? We are happy to help implementing your project ideas. Just contact us (Sarah Meyer-Soylu is your contact partner: sarah.meyer@kit.edu) or visit us during the opening hours in the Future Space.

Curious? You can read on here (in German):

• Masterarbeit “Die Relevanz der Abstellmöglichkeiten zu Hause für den Zugang ins System ‘Fahrrad’- Eine empirische Analyse in der Karlsruher Oststadt ” / Yannik Melchior
• Präsentation “…und wo steht Ihr Fahrrad?” / Yannik Melchior
• Masterarbeit “Umgestaltungspotenziale für den Gottesauer Platz in der Karlsruher Oststadt unter Berücksichtigung verkehrlicher Aspekte” / Quzhen Deng
• Poster R131 Experimente zur Nachhaltigen Mobilität
• Poster Verkehrsmodell Oststadt (IfV)

Insights is a format for short news. The District Future – Urban Lab team uses it in order to illustrate steps and procedures of the project work together with local stakeholders and the local people on the one hand and the scientific community on the other hand. It is published regularly and bimonthly on this website.

The September issue deals with the current preparation and realization of the BürgerForum and the next ReparaturCafé. The dialog with key persons in Karlsruhe’s Oststadt gives us the opportunity to learn more about urban life in the district and introduce ourselves to local stakeholders. Further topics are:  the District Future’s group of regulars as well as the revising of the list of co-operating project groups on the District Future website.

•             On the way towards the Oststadt’s future – Start of the BürgerForum!

The District Future team is currently busy with the final preparations and the realization of the BürgerForum. All the people in the Oststadt, but also other citizens of Karlsruhe are cordially invited to participate in the “BürgerForum Sustainable Oststadt | Future in citizens’ hands”. The fact that this format comprises three different steps allows the participants to get to know each other properly and maintain a dialog over the weeks, to develop new ideas for a sustainable urban development and to receive information. Interested persons can now and until 10 October register for participation in the BürgerForum at www.karlsruhe.buergerforum2014.de/. We are looking forward to numerous participants and joint efforts to shape the future of the Oststadt!

•             ReparaturCafé – what happens in the background

District Future is right in the middle of the preparations for the next ReparaturCafé in Karlsruhe which will take place on 18 October 2014 between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the children’s and youth club in the Oststadt. What is special this time: Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. the ReparaturCafé opens its doors especially for children and youths. Several creative workshops are planned for them together with the volunteer repairers. People who would like to participate as repairer or donate a cake for the café are always very welcome. If you are interested, just send an e-mail to sarah.meyer@kit.edu and colette.waitz@kit.edu.By the way: Another ReparaturCafé is planned in Karlsruhe’s Weststadt in cooperation with District Future. We are really delighted that sustainable ways of life are spreading beyond our district!

•             In dialog with key persons in the Oststadt

In order to learn more about Karlsruhe’s Oststadt and to introduce ourselves there, we have started a series of interviews which we have been conducting with key persons and institutions since fall 2013. These are in particular people and institutions who gained deep insight into urban life due to their long-standing commitment in the Oststadt and can also act as multipliers to reach a larger number of citizens. This includes above all the responsible bodies of social and educational institutions, churches and religious communities, business representatives, companies and craftspeople, multicultural organizations, sports and other clubs, research institutions, administrative authorities, political parties, infrastructural facilities, etc. Apart from the aim to reach our dialog partners and get a better knowledge of the area, these interviews are also part of our scientific evaluation of the sustainable development of the city and urban life to describe the current conditions in the Oststadt for subsequent analyses.

•             Participating and networking in the District Future’s group of regulars

Active participation is of great significance for the District Future. In order to get in personal contact with the Oststadt’s residents, District Future organizes bimonthly meetings of the District Future’s group of regulars. You can not only meet the project team there but also join existing project groups or find fellow campaigners for new ideas of sustainable urban development. Thanks to the commitment of many volunteers, this group has already provided very valuable impulses and opportunities for networking. All participants and also all newly interested people are cordially invited to the forthcoming meetings. Upcoming dates can be found here.

•             Description of the District Future’s project groups

District Future has already started networking with local project groups in the field of sustainable urban development. Also a number of work groups on various sustainability topics arose from District Future. Important co-operations were initiated during the different events, at the meetings of the group of regulars, in interviews and discussions and also as a result of the scientific work. To make them also publicly known, District Future is currently working on a description of the co-operating project groups for the project website. This information will be available soon.

Here it is: the first issue of the new news format Insights. We look back on the Baden-Württemberg Sustainability Days 2014. Further topics of the first Insights are, among others: District Future at the city’s anniversary in 2015 and at the Oststadt street festival, the beginning of the preparations for the BürgerForum, accompanying research in the field of civic participation, and the conceptual design of an online platform for sustainable consumption. You are cordially invited to gain insight into our project work.

• We were there: Baden-Württemberg Sustainability Days 2014

The Baden-Württemberg Sustainability Days were held on 12 July 2014. District Future participated in the days of action for the second time to set an example for sustainability with three different actions in Karlsruhe’s Oststadt. Together with the volunteers of the District Future’s group of regulars, the idea of an open air living room was developed in the run-up to the event. This intervention turned the Oststadt into a colorful and vibrant living room. The ReparaturCafé, which has by now become a regular event, went on a journey this time. People were sewing, fixing things and pottering around with a lot of commitment and enthusiasm at Jubez in Karlsruhe’s city center. An invitation for an open air meeting of the group of regulars topped off the active day with conversations and good food – this time outdoors in Humboldtstraße. In the aftermath, the team is now evaluating the event, sifting photos, and preparing documentations which will soon be published on this website. We would like to thank all of those who took part in the organization – and preparation – of this day.

•  Planning for Karlsruhe’s 300^th anniversary in 2015

The city of Karlsruhe started with the preparations for its 300^th anniversary in 2015. District Future has been asked to organize two or three three-hour sessions at the citizens’ pavilion, the centerpiece of the event. Of course we are glad to accept this offer, so we are currently developing and preparing suitable topics and formats.

• District Future at the Oststadt street festival

On 2 and 3 August a street festival took place in Karlsruhe’s Oststadt, where District Future was represented with a stand. We collected ideas how this stand could be designed and which aspects of our works should be presented. We showed an overview of our activities in the year 2014 and also gave associated work groups the opportunity to present themselves.

• BürgerForum is in preparation

A prominent subject of District Future’s current project work is the content-related design and organization of the BürgerForum, a citizens’ forum in and for Karlsruhe’s Oststadt. BürgerForum is a format of civic participation over several weeks with phases of attendance and online participation which was developed by Bertelsmann Stiftung. It will be held in the fall of 2014 as a cooperation between the city of Karlsruhe and District Future for Karlsruhe’s Oststadt. Similar to the activities during the town hall meeting “Perspectives for the Oststadt – Designing the District Future” which took place in February of this year, the BürgerForum shall give citizens the opportunity to develop – this time more detailed – issue-specific ideas for a sustainable city life. The ideas shall then be implemented by the citizens themselves. Currently we are negotiating with the city administration the exact objective, the title, and the topics to be approached.

•  Accompanying research on civic participation

Since the ReparaturCafé became firmly establish in Karlsruhe now, the project’s scientific accompanying research started at the third ReparaturCafé. Together with colleagues from KIT we compiled a questionnaire which could be completed by the participants. The responses will now be analyzed. We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of those who took the time to answer the questions.

•  Follow-up to Sustainability 2014

In cooperation with the transatlantic research initiative “Forum on Sustainable Technological Development in a Globalizing World”, the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) and the KIT Focus Humans and Technology, District Future organized the international conference Sustainability 2014: Future Urban Development at Different Scales in Karlsruhe in May 2014. We are currently working on the follow-up to this conference. This includes writing documentations and articles for scientific journals as well as compiling a book comprising all conference contributions. This will be published at the end of 2014. A retrospective view of the conference can already be found at this website.

• Conference participation

With participation in national and international conferences District Future takes the continued opportunity to introduce the concept of the project and the current status of developments and to obtain professional opinions. Conferences also offer a good opportunity for networking and inspiration by other works in the field of sustainable development of cities and districts as well as sustainability transformation. District Future was presented at the symposium “City and Region – Living Labs of Resilience-oriented Transformation” in Kassel at the beginning of July. In addition, contributions to the “4th International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity” in Leipzig in September and the Winterthur Urban Forum “Cities of the Future. Cities of Vicinity” in November are planned.

•  Conceptual design of a web platform for sustainable consumption

In the context of his bachelor thesis at the Department of Industrial Engineering and in co-operation with District Future, Hauke Wagner is working on the conceptual design of an online platform for sustainable consumption in the District Future. The aim is to work out how sustainable economic activities in the district can be specifically promoted and brought into the citizens’ everyday life within the District Future. In order to make the topic accessible to the public and allow for broad participation, the focus was put on a guide to sustainable consumption. It shall give orientation for the most important purchase decisions regarding offers oriented towards sustainability.

The next issue of Insights will be published on Tuesday, 23 September 2014.

With the new news format “Insights”, the team of District Future – Urban Lab illuminates the workflow within the project work with local actors and the local population in Karlsruhe Oststadt. Insights is a compilation of news briefs. It will be published on a bi-monthly basis – for the first time in mid-July and initially only online – and report about the background and latest developments in District Future.

In order to promote sustainable urban living in the district of Oststadt, the District Future team designs, plans, organizes, networks, presents, and initializes, closely working together with different actors and civic groups. Much has already happened in the project area. Other things are starting to take shape.

The news format Insights will periodically give an up-to-date picture of what is happening or being planned in order to provide starting points for committed and interested people and to involve them in the long-term development of the district towards sustainability. Many individual steps, dialogues, commitment, negotiations, and decisions are necessary both for the overall development and for individual project activities within District Future.

Insights will be given into ideas in progress, trains of thought, and current work processes. We want to show you what moves us and what we want to achieve together with you. Insights | July & August 2014 will first be published on Monday 11 August 2014 on this website.