POLIS Conference: New Spaces for Sustainable Mobility Instead of Culture War Over Cars

Once again, the POLIS Network, which has existed since 1989, invites to its Annual POLIS Conference and aims to facilitate a factual debate on the sustainable transformation of urban mobility as a meeting point for European cities and regions and their responsible bodies in urban and transport planning. This year, the conference will take place on November 27 and 28, returning to German soil in Karlsruhe after 14 years. The host is the state of Baden-Württemberg, and the event is organized by the city and the Messe Karlsruhe. EU-wide, the share of buses, metro, trams, and subways in motorized passenger transport was 17 percent in 2022, and in Germany, it was even only 15 percent, setting the big picture according to the organizers. In the neighboring country Austria, 28 percent were recorded according to surveys by the European Commission, and in Denmark, it was still 20 percent.

Half see the congestion of cities as a major problem

While in rural areas, the private car is often still the simplest, albeit not the cleanest solution, the car has become a burden in urban centers. A study involving 2,500 participants from Germany in 2024 revealed that more than half of the respondents see the congestion of inner cities as the biggest problem, followed by air pollution and traffic jams.

"The goal is not to wage a war against cars but to reduce their use to a minimum, for example, by expanding public transportation and cycling offerings and through proactive urban planning," explain the responsible parties.

Karlsruhe as a Lighthouse City in Germany

Karlsruhe is not chosen by chance: The city is considered one of the pioneers in Germany for sustainable mobility and a central research location on this topic. The players bundled in the Karlsruhe Mobility Lab showcase their projects around sustainable mobility and forward-looking urban development. Since this year, the "Karlsruhe Region" is a member of the POLIS network. Zukunft Nord – Neighborhood Development and Integrated Traffic Planning. The 27-hectare area in the north of Karlsruhe is still a brownfield. In the future, the "Zukunft Nord" quarter is expected to provide 1,500 apartments and living space for 3,400 people – under the premise of the so-called 5-minute city and as a sustainably mobile neighborhood.

"An integrated city and traffic planning considers mobility from the very beginning," says Prof. Dr. Anke Karmann-Woessner, head of the Karlsruhe City Planning Office. "The goal is, according to the 3 R rule, to avoid (car) traffic or to transfer it and to manage the remaining car traffic in a compatible manner."

For Zukunft Nord, this means specifically designing the new quarter so that work, education, shopping, childcare, or leisure are reachable on foot in a few minutes. This structure is to be complemented by good connections to public transport as well as an attractive network of cycling and walking paths. Ideally, car trips and, at best, the ownership of a private car should be avoided. Private cars will be relocated from the street or nearby ground-level parking areas to communal underground garages.

"If a parking space is even as far from my apartment as a public transport stop, the threshold to use the private car for short distances increases," says Prof. Dr. Karmann-Woessner.

This initially sounds like a compulsion to switch, but for urban planners, it has been clear for decades that there can be no "business as usual" tactics regarding urban car traffic – noise, emissions, and traffic jams have become a burden for many citizens. According to a report by the EU Environmental Agency EEA, about a quarter of people in Germany are affected by traffic noise exposure.

Transformation from Car-Friendly to People-Friendly City

In Karlsruhe, the transformation from a car-friendly city to one with city-compatible and sustainable mobility has been in full swing for decades. It's hard to imagine that today's marketplace, now exclusively used by pedestrians with high quality of stay, was still a car parking lot in the 1970s.

An example of how new paths of modern mobility are possible even in established inner-city areas is the Karlsruhe Combined Solution: one of the "most significant infrastructure projects in Baden-Württemberg," says Schirin Redzepovic, spokesperson for the Karlsruhe public transport company. A city railway tunnel and a road tunnel with an overhead city railway line not only ensure faster arrivals but have moved much of the mobility underground in the city center, optimized the quality of stay above ground, and overall reduced traffic volume in the city.

"The expansion of the city to the south has also unlocked new potentials from which the city and its citizens benefit," says Redzepovic – resulting in office complexes, apartments, green spaces, and shops with the best public transport connections.

High Number of Commuters

In addition to the benefits of such urban and traffic planning projects for the urban centers, the surroundings of Karlsruhe are also in the focus of the planners: 66,000 people commute to Karlsruhe. The Karlsruhe Model, invented by the former head of the Karlsruhe Transport Authority (VBK) and the Albtal Transport Company (AVG), Dieter Ludwig, has represented a solution since 1992, which is now used worldwide: the ability for specially designed trams to also use the railway network.

Tram-Train System Connects Rail Lines

This tram-train system connects inner-city tram lines with regional railway lines, without the need to change from the tram to the train – especially in view of commuter movements, an advantage of the location and a good argument to exchange private cars for public offerings. The connection of the city of Karlsruhe with the surrounding region is also the focus of the Middle Upper Rhine Regional Association.

"The spatial and settlement structure creates the basis for how people can move locally. At the same time, however, transport infrastructure and mobility behavior also influence how spaces are utilized and developed. It is important to understand the interactions between transport behavior, settlement structure, and settlement development," says Association Director Dr. Matthias Proske.

Regional planning thus creates the basis for further developing mobility, especially with regard to economic development and quality of life. The designation of roads, rail routes, or bike paths directly impacts the transport networks, while integrated urban and transport planning considers how cities are built and how settlements can be optimally connected to public transport.

"In the latest draft of the regional plan, for example, rail and fast cycle connections were designated as freehold routes. This means that these routes are kept free from competing uses," says Dr. Proske.

The expansion of infrastructure and the creation of new mobility spaces are only part of the effort to advance sustainable mobility. A more pressing challenge is that urban space is limited, classic public transport offerings reach their limits during peak times, and at the same time, rural areas cannot or can only be insufficiently served.

Broad Range of Transport Options Integrated

The consortium partners in the POLIS membership, the city of Karlsruhe, the regional association, and the Karlsruhe Transport Association (KVV), are three of eleven partners who have tackled these challenges with a digital solution: regiomove. Intermodal and on-demand: Integrated solutions that facilitate the transition. The project regiomove, which combines transport modes from various public and private providers in one app, was launched in 2017. The offering ranges from trams and buses to car and bike sharing and on-demand transport to access areas with low public transport coverage – including route planning and ticketing.