Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (17) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (17)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (17)
Keywords
- Mobility (2)
- Social practice theory (2)
- Transport affordability (2)
- Transport-related social exclusion (2)
- Acceptability (1)
- Behavior change (1)
- Built environment (1)
- Car dependence (1)
- Car-free (1)
- Car-reduced neighborhood (1)
Institute
- Geographie (13)
- Geowissenschaften / Geographie (3)
- Extern (1)
- Präsidium (1)
Highlights
• Applies a biographically inspired practice-theoretical approach to understand everyday mobility from car-reduced neighborhoods.
• Investigates various ‘contexts’ and ‘practice bundles’ that shape car-(in)dependent mobility practices.
• Material, personal-temporal, and socio-cultural contexts of residents’ travel behavior in car-reduced neighborhoods stabilize and support car-independent mobility.
• The meanings (including emotions and feelings) of mobility practices determine their performance type.
• Calls for more car-reduced planning for the transition to low-carbon mobility.
Abstract
Lately, transport researchers and practitioners are showing renewed interest in car-reduced neighborhoods and their residents’ mobility to investigate possible factors influencing sustainable transport. With a biographically inspired practice-theoretical approach, this study considers the ‘context of travel behavior’ and, thus, focuses on mobility as a ‘practice’ in order to improve the understanding of everyday mobility as well as the potential and limitations of implementing car-reduced housing. Based on qualitative interviews with residents of two German car-reduced neighborhoods, we first identify different compositions of materials, competences, and meanings (including the feelings and emotions) of car-(in)dependent mobility practices. Second, we discover the personal, social, temporal, and socio-structural circumstances of the residents’ travel behavior alongside ‘practice bundles’ that interact with car-(in)dependent mobility. Finally, our findings indicate, on the one hand, that the car-centric material context outside car-reduced neighborhoods, the incorporation of private car driving with the practice of everyday life, and the affective satisfaction with car use and ownership negatively influence car independence. On the other hand, our results highlight that residential location and its materiality in the case of car-reduced housing developments, as well as the personal-temporal and socio-cultural contexts of their residents’ mobility practices stabilize and support car independence and low-carbon mobility.
Worldwide, academics and practitioners are developing ‘planning-oriented’ approaches to reduce the negative impacts of car traffic for more sustainable urban and transport development. One such example is the design of car-reduced neighborhoods, although these are controversial issues in the hegemonic ‘system’ of automobility. Despite the reduction of emissions and frequent recognition as ‘best practice examples’, ‘planning-critical’ research questions the underlying objectives and narratives of such sustainable developments. Our study contributes to this research perspective by improving the understanding of narratives that emerge along with car-reduced housing developments. For this purpose, we analyze two car-reduced neighborhoods in the City of Darmstadt (Germany) by conducting interviews with different actors involved in the planning and implementation processes. Our investigation reveals that the development of car-reduced neighborhoods (i) is consciously embedded in the context of sustainability, (ii) is characterized by power relations, (iii) follows normative indicators, and (iv) does not always correspond to lived realities. Altogether, the traced narratives of car-reduced neighborhoods are embedded in the overarching debate on sustainability, while at the same time revealing the dependence of society on the automobile. Thus, the hegemonic ‘system’ of automobility—although it is beginning to crack—continues to exist.
In evidence-based weight-loss programs weight regain is common after an initial weight reduction. Eating slowly significantly lowers meal energy intake and hunger ratings. Despite this knowledge, obese individuals do not implement this behaviour. We, thus tested the hypothesis of changing eating behaviour with an intra-oral medical device leading to constant weight reduction in overweight and obesity.
Six obese patients (6 men, age 56 ± 14, BMI 29 ± 2 kg / m2) with increased CVRF profile were included in this prospective study. All patients had been treated for obesity during the last 10 years in a single centre and had at least 3 frustrate evidence-based diets. Patients received a novel non-invasive intra-oral medical device to slow eating time. Further advice included not to count calories, to avoid any other form of diet, to take their time with their meals, and to eat whatever they liked.
This device was used only during meals for the first 4 to 8 weeks for a total of 88 [20–160] hours. Follow-up period was 23 [15–38] months. During this period, patients lost 11% [5–20%] (p<0.001) of their initial weight. At 12 months, all patients had lost >5%, and 67% (4/6) achieved a >10% bodyweight loss. In the course of the study, altered eating patterns were observed. There were no complications with the medical device. Of note, all patients continued to lose weight after the initial intervention period (p<0.001) and none of them had weight regain.
With this medical device, overweight and obese patients with a history of previously frustrating attempts to lose weight achieved a significant and sustained weight loss over two years. These results warrant the ongoing prospective randomised controlled trial to prove concept and mechanism of action.
Highlights
• Typology of low-income families by their daily travel practices.
• The competence to finance, organise or borrow materials needed for travel enhance low-income families' mobility options.
• Low-income families' social networks can compensate transport disadvantages through direct and indirect financial support.
• Low-income families experience transport-related social exclusion.
Abstract
Being mobile is essential to participate in social life. However, as transport involves costs, this is a particular challenge for people on low incomes. Households with children are, especially, at an increased risk of poverty. To provide a deeper understanding of how financial poverty affects the daily travel practices of low-income families and how they cope with their limited financial resources, we conducted 16 qualitative problem-centred interviews with low-income families in Ronnenberg (Hanover Region, Germany). Although all the interviewees have to cope with limited financial resources, their daily travel practices differ. We identify four types of daily travel practices for these families: (1) car-centred, (2) car-reduced, (3) public transport oriented and (4) non-motorised. For a more detailed analysis on how poverty affects transport and participation, we use the practice theory perspective (Shove et al., 2012). Our analysis highlights that the car plays a significant role despite poverty for some families. However, other low-income families manage their daily life with public transport and non-motorised modes only. Our results show that low-income households with children have several strategies for organising and financing their daily travel practices. One strategy is direct and indirect support for travel from their social network. Furthermore, some families forgo leisure activities with entrance fees or higher travel costs.
Financial poverty, mobility and social participation are interrelated. This nexus makes old-age poverty a highly relevant issue in terms of transport-related social exclusion in an ageing society. To understand how financial poverty affects older people’s travel practices and how they cope with their limited financial resources, we conducted qualitative interviews with low-income older people (aged 60 and above) in Ronnenberg (Hanover region, Germany). Although all the respondents have comparably limited financial resources, using a practice theory perspective along the elements of materials, competences and meanings (Shove et al., 2012), we identified three different types of low-income older people by their travel practices: (i) active older people with multifaceted social interactions, (ii) neighbourhood-oriented older people with local interactions and (iii) home-centred older people with few social interactions. From our analysis, we conclude that financial poverty shapes each element of low-income older people’s travel practices and thereby increases the risk of transport-related social exclusion: (i) certain materials have to be financed, which is challenging or even impossible due to financial poverty; (ii) meanings of travel practices are strongly linked to other practices, thus, if (also for financial reasons) no or a limited range of destinations are mentioned, travel practices are restricted in their frequency and distance; and (iii) necessary competences to be mobile and engage in social activities despite low financial means seem to be differentially available or - more cautiously formulated – less often utilised by low-income older people, which may lead to them abandoning travel practices and related social activities.
Highlights:
• Evaluation of three cycle street designs by means of visualisation assessments.
• Shared space is evaluated as the safest and most attractive cycle street design.
• The conventional urban street design is perceived as the most clearly structured.
• Affinity towards walking and cycling favours a positive evaluation of shared space.
Abstract
Cycle streets have been implemented in many urban areas around the world in recent years to make cycling safer and more attractive. In these streets, cyclists have priority over motorised traffic. They are allowed to use the entire roadway and determine traffic speed. However, there have been no standardised design guidelines for cycle streets to date. Moreover, there is limited understanding of the individual perception of different cycle street designs. Yet, positive evaluations of safety and attractiveness are especially important for pleasant travel in public spaces. Therefore, this study examines the individual perceptions of three cycle street designs: conventional, flow and shared space. Visualisations of these designs were implemented in a written household survey conducted in the urban Rhine-Main metropolitan region in Germany (n = 701). Participants were asked to assess the different designs in terms of safety, clarity, attractiveness and fun. Furthermore, bivariate analyses and regression models were performed to investigate whether individual travel preferences and attitudes, regular mode use and socio-demographic characteristics affect assessments of the designs. The results show that the shared space design is rated as the safest, most attractive and most fun. The conventional cycle street is evaluated as the most clearly structured. Individual affinity towards cycling and walking favours a good evaluation of the shared space design, while a high car affinity and having a migrant background positively affect the assessment of the conventional design. In addition, younger participants and members of households without a car assess the flow design more favourably.
In recent years, many European cities have developed strategies to improve the quality of urban life by reducing car traffic and increasing the attractiveness of alternative modes and the built environment for residents. Frequently, at least in German cities, improvements to the cycling infrastructures play a key role in this transformation of urban spaces. One of those transformative interventions took place in 2020 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The city redesigned an arterial road close to the city centre, the Friedberger Landstrasse, by converting two car lanes to bicycle lanes. It is the aim of this study to analyse the effects of this change on the quality of urban life of its residents using a quantitative before-and-after study. The results demonstrate the expected improvements in the perceived quality of urban life for residents after the intervention. A more detailed analysis, however, shows that the residents’ perceptions vary according to their own mode use on the Friedberger Landstrasse and other sociodemographic characteristics. Thus, better cycling infrastructure does not only improve conditions for cyclists, but also contributes to a higher quality of urban life for residents and, therefore, improves the liveability of a city in two ways. We conclude that local transport policies are not only relevant for a modal shift, but also for the quality of urban life and, thus, related urban development strategies.
Im Interview mit Dr. Anne Hardy wagt RMV-Stiftungsprofessor Martin Lanzendorf einen Blick in die Zukunft: Die flexible, zweckangepasste Wahl von Verkehrsmitteln ist die Regel und wird durch die Vernetzung mit Smartphones erleichtert, Radfahrer und Fußgänger erobern die Straße zurück – und die Goethe-Universität entwickelt neue Initiativen im Mobilitäts- und Energiemanagement.
During the last 15 years most central and east european countries faced an era of institutional, economic and demographic transition. With the fall of the wall and the end of the Soviet Union, the former socialist countries transformed their political, economic and social institutions; today, some of them are already a member state of the European Union. The re- unificated Germany was not only affected by this process in its eastern part, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), where the political and institutional structures were entirely exchanged; with the end of the “Rheinische Bundesrepublik”, the incarnation of a welfare and growth oriented Fordist society, also former West Germany had to adapt to this transition and still is facing a process of institutional modernisation.