Ensuring the well-being of citizens while reducing resource consumption has proved to be a massive challenge. Policymakers in the European Union are keen to identify new approaches to provisioning that will safeguard the well-being of citizens without incurring excessive environmental burdens. A study conducted in five EU countries concludes that rather than economic growth, the satisfaction of citizens’ needs should take centre-stage in efforts to rethink and redesign provisioning systems.

Cities will need to change if we are to secure a sustainable future. Many people in Berlin have recognized this and cititzen-led initiatives have played a crucial role in driving transformations in recent years. This engagement strengthens resilience and ensures that communities are better equipped to tackle future challenges. But more can be done to involve different communities and improve cooperation with the city’s political institutions and policymakers.

In a survey conducted by the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in June and July 2023, around 80 per cent of the 64 cyclists surveyed stated that a speed limit of 30 km/h should be maintained on Leipziger Straße in the central Mitte district of Berlin. Pedestrians surveyed expressed similar views. There is also strong support for the creation of a bike lane that is physically separated from motorised traffic.

Real-world laboratories have become increasingly popular in sustainability research as a means to trial innovations for transformations under real-life conditions. In a special issue of the journal GAIA, RIFS scientists and colleagues offer an overview of the state of research on real-world laboratories.

In the course of the pandemic many European cities seized the opportunity to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable urban mobility. Moving with the times, planners in Berlin created a number of pop-up bike lanes. IASS researchers have examined the impact of these innovations during the initial phase of the pandemic. Their findings show that the bike lanes are widely accepted and have encouraged cycling uptake. In addition, cyclists’ exposure to nitrogen dioxide decreased with the creation of the bike lanes.

The Berlin Senate has set itself the goal to make the city "climate-neutral" by 2045. For that to happen, the everyday lives of Berliners are going to have to change in a number of areas, including housing, mobility, and energy use. To get the ball rolling, the Senate has taken up an initiative from civil society and created the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change, which brings together randomly selected citizens to discuss climate mitigation measures in the city. The IASS will be providing scientific input for the work of the assembly.

Scientists at ETH Zurich have built a plant that can produce carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight and air. The next goal will be to take this technology to industrial scale and achieve competitiveness. In a paper published in the scientific journal "Nature", researchers from Zurich and Potsdam describe how this novel solar reactor functions and outline a policy framework that would provide incentives to expand the production of "solar kerosene".

Retail traders often fear that reducing the amount of urban space made available for parking private vehicles would have a negative effect on their businesses. A survey conducted by researchers from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) on two shopping streets in Berlin shows that traders have a skewed perception of their customers’ mobility habits. The findings of this research will facilitate better informed decision-making around urban land-use planning.

The use of autonomous vehicles is being trialled in cities around the world, with applications ranging from garbage collection to freight forwarding and public transport. Many of these trials examine not just technologies but also the social acceptance of autonomous vehicles. A new study by researchers from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) looks to Singapore to explore how societies can best support the introduction of autonomous vehicles.

Berlin's Mobility Act aims to strengthen eco-mobility by improving conditions in the city for cyclists, pedestrian traffic, and public transport. How do changes in mobility infrastructure affect air quality? Researchers from the IASS have evaluated the impacts of two trials: a bicycle lane and a community street space. Their measurements show that air pollution decreased significantly during these traffic trials.

A partial transition of German road transport to hydrogen energy is among the possibilities being discussed to help meet national climate targets. A team of researchers from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) has examined the hypothetical transition to a hydrogen-powered transport sector through several scenarios. Their conclusion: A shift towards hydrogen-powered mobility could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and greatly improve air quality - in particular, heavy duty vehicles represent a low-hanging fruit for decarbonization of road transport.

How do daily newspapers in Germany report on the subject of urban mobility? For a study by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) that explores how current and future urban mobility are reported on in the German media, a team of researchers examined a selection of articles from daily newspapers. The study reveals that sustainable forms of mobility are seldom discussed. Similarly, the climate crisis is rarely mentioned in articles relating to mobility and transport. If the articles have one thing in common, it is the implicit assumption that the car-friendly city is desirable.