The Institute of Transport Research investigates how active mobility - especially walking - can be promoted in cities and what new land potential is created by the elimination of car infrastructures. A transdisciplinary approach is pursued in which urban space is temporarily redesigned in the context of real-life experiments and the effects on land use and mobility behavior are analyzed.
Project
EXPERI is an inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation project between the Technical University of Berlin, the Institute for Transformative Sustainability Research (IASS) and the DLR Institute for Transport Research. The overall goal of EXPERI is to explore how the socio-ecological transformation of transport in metropolitan regions can succeed.
The DLR Institute of Transport Research is investigating how active mobility - especially walking - can be promoted in cities and what new land potential is created by the elimination of car infrastructures.
Temporary city squares and active mobility
In order to enable sustainable and health-promoting mobility, increase the urban quality of stay and create more space for people in public spaces and, street and intersection areas in Berlin are being redistributed on a trial basis in favor of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The newly created urban squares are being designed together with residents and businesses. Traffic counts, surveys and interviews will be conducted to investigate the effects on the quality of stay and mobility behavior.
In order to understand how an area transformation can work successfully, good examples from other cities and countries were first considered and qualitatively analyzed (e.g. superblocks in Barcelona, car-free Zermatt, pedestrian zone Ghent). Based on this, ideas for implementation and transferability to Berlin were developed together with practical partners from administration, civil society and business.
New space potentials through the elimination of car infrastructures
As part of his doctoral thesis, Alexander Czeh is investigating the potential of the transportation transition for redesigning the built urban environment. Since sustainable modes of transport are more land-efficient than individual motorized transport, land in urban areas could be freed up as part of the transport turnaround. To determine the potential for alternative urban land uses, a status quo analysis is conducted using a geospatial information system for current land use by automotive infrastructure, and future land use per automotive infrastructure such as gas stations, car washes, garages, car dealerships, car rentals, parking garages, tire dealers, and recycling centers is estimated. Subsequently, the potentially obsolete areas of automotive infrastructure will be assessed through a spatial analysis for their usability for alternative land uses such as housing, climate adaptation measures, and urban agriculture.
Objectives
The aim of the project is to identify levers for the transformation of urban spaces with regard to sustainable mobility and livable cities.
Contracting entity
Project duration
from 06/2019 to 05/2024