Mainstreaming Sustainable Urban Mobility – The Mieri-Mobil Project

Abstract

AbstractIn 2021, the Berlin district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf offered residents various mobility options on a part of an urban square called Mierendorffplatz. The overall objective was to explore how people living at the square or in the closer neighbourhood could change their mobility habits to become more environmentally friendly. The test aimed at exploring how sustainable urban mobility can be successfully implemented on a wider scale in in other parts of the city - thus seeking to contribute to mainstreaming sustainable mobility planning in regular city-wide mobility planning processes.This article describes results from evaluating the project: Implementing such exploratory living labs successfully and without excluding specific user groups, depends on the integration of knowledge and resources of both the local governing bodies and civil society. This puts a focus on the question of accessibility of urban space and on the need to re-organize it differently if sustainability criteria should be met.It concludes that sustainable forms of mobility need to become more demand-orientated and that different legal and economic frameworks are necessary to make it a real alternative for everybody. These two aspects will be elaborated. The findings are based on empiric evaluation and validated through consultations with high-ranking experts.