ForuM – Research Evaluation Urban Mobility

 

Background:

Closely tied to spatial planning, urban development, environmental planning, and other areas, research in the field of urban and regional transport is highly heterogeneous and interdisciplinary.

Research projects on urban and regional transport, possibly focusing on a specific perspective, are tendered at different levels or by different relevant stakeholders (EU, federal ministries, DFG, federal states, foundations etc.).

The research sponsors, i.e. the federal government, states and municipalities, the EU, industry, transportation companies, institutions involved in planning and implementation, each have different research priorities and concretisation standards. For example, research may be initiated and conducted on general trends and conditions, technological innovations or application-oriented topics.

A systematic overview of the different research activities in the field of urban transport and mobility – and in particular a comparison to actual planning practice – does not exist so far. This also raises the questions of where research programmes are likely lacking, whether technical solutions are being suggested, and whether the legal, organisational or procedural implementation has been given due attention.

Aims of the project:

This project aimed to find and categorize relevant research on urban and regional transport and urban mobility, and to show the resulting state of knowledge. The central question for this was to what extent research findings are actually used in practice and which factors thus determine problem- and application-oriented research on urban transport.

Project contents and structure:

The make-up of mobility research on urban and regional transport was evaluated regarding whether or not current challenges and problems are suitably included and whether this leads to practical success in municipal or regional urban and transport planning.

In order to do so, research topics and activities in the field of urban mobility and their medium- and long-term effects in practice were recorded (WP 1: 50 years, WP 2 and 3: 15 years), structured and compared (WP 4). In WP 5, we then studied the effects of urban transport research projects from the point of view of two German cities for factors which positively influence the realization of research projects. The results were then compiled in a compendium (WP 6).

This resulted in a product giving recommendations regarding how to conceptually improve future problem- and application-oriented research projects in the field of urban mobility and transport.

Project duration:

March 2009 – May 2010

Project partners:

Institute of Urban and Transport Planning, RWTH Aachen University

ILS – Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development, Dortmund

Funding:

Fops Project No. 70.828/2008
commissioned by the BMVI

Contacts at the ISB:
Dr.-Ing. Andreas Witte, Dipl.-Ing. Christoph Riegel, Dipl.-Ing. Rolf Schmidt