The great European train ride

Have you ever played Ticket to Ride Europe? It’s my favourite board game. Which might explain why I just played it for real on my recent study tour. Over 21 days I caught 30 trains and spent more than 60 hours traveling from Bristol to cities in Germany, Denmark and Sweden and back home again.

But that’s enough about trains.  The inspiration for the trip, funded by the AAPS CDT International Travel Scheme, was my research to identify the most ambitious car-reduction cities around the world. Lund, in Sweden was one of my “Top 10” and I wanted to find out more about how they are cutting car use. It is not a coincidence that Lund also has a world-class university, the partnership between municipality and university drives innovation and experimentation in sustainable mobility. So I planned a visit to Lund and combined it with a series of meetings and seminars with some of Europe’s leading sustainable transport academics.

First stop Germany

On the way to Sweden, it made sense to visit some of my research heroes based in Germany. First stop was researcher-turned policy adviser Paula Kuss and her colleagues in the Sustainable Mobility Unit at the Baden-Württenberg State Ministry for Transport based in Stuttgart.  I learned that 50% of their climate emission reductions will come from shifting car trips to walking, cycling and public transport. To help them achieve this they are trialling an innovative tool - the Mobilitätspass  - which offers citizens financial incentives to reduce car use.

Next stop Goethe University Frankfurt to meet the legendary Professor Martin Lanzendorf and Dr Sina Selzer whose papers on travel behaviour change and car-reduced neighbourhoods underpin my PhD research. I presented to the Social-Ecological Transformation of Urban Mobility Lab Group and was excited to get feedback from Martin that my findings build on the mobility styles model he developed more than 10 years ago!

Seminar with Martin Lanzendorf’s Social-Ecological Transformation of Urban Mobility Lab Group at Goethe University Frankfurt

One of the interesting things about the Goethe University Lab Group is the partnership they have established with Darmstadt City Council to develop a blueprint for new-build reduced car neighbourhoods.  I was invited by the Darmstadt’s Mobility Manager Hanna Wagener to visit the low car neighbourhood of Lincoln but sadly a severe weather warning prevented us. Instead, Hanna kindly gave me a virtual tour with a detailed presentation. It was fascinating to hear what a complex exercise it is to help residents reduce their car use and ownership. In fact, this is one of the things they have learned, that for a car-reduced neighbourhood to succeed it requires a full-time manager on site to support the residents.

Bus replacement to Sweden

From Frankfurt it was a long, long train ride to Sweden (with a bus replacement service from Copenhagen due to suspected drone strikes at the nearby airport).  I stayed in Malmö because it’s only 10 minutes by train to Lund and much cheaper (relatively speaking…Sweden is very expensive!). On my first day in Lund, I presented to a mixed group of academics headed up by the inspiring Professor Lena Hiselius and transport professionals from the equally impressive CEO of transport consultancy Trivector Lena Smidfelt Rosqvist.  We had a very stimulating conversation about measures to curb car use in Sweden ranging from the measurement of health benefits to the challenge of using economic “sticks” and the lack of research into gender and transport. We agreed to seek out ways to collaborate in the future.

On my second day in Lund I had the privilege of having lunch with Professor Kimberley Nicholas, a leading climate researcher. I also had a meeting with Helena Runesson and her colleague at Lund Kommun (municipality). They both work on the “soft” social marketing side of sustainable mobility, and their work is focused on engaging with community stakeholders, schools and business to encourage a shift away from private cars. This gave me the chance to dig deeper into how and why Lund is reducing car dependency. They both agreed that their success is partly due to the fact that Lund has been doing this for a very long time! Their first Sustainable Mobility Plan was approved in 1998 and, now in its third iteration, it still guides and supports their work politically and practically. They have their challenges though (like the national government deciding to fund a new motorway junction to Lund Hospital which already has excellent tram and bus connections).

One of the non-work highlights of my trip was hiring a Malmö share bike (great system) and cycling to the coast to experience the traditional Swedish “bastu” or sauna at Ribersborg. This was exhilarating and energising but not for the faint hearted as you dash from the 80^oC sauna and jump into the 10^oC Baltic sea, no swimming costumes allowed!

Ribersborg public sauna on the Malmö coast, with the Øresund bridge in the background

A hop across the bridge to Copenhagen

Next leg was back across the spectacular Øresund bridge to present my research at two Universities in Copenhagen. The first visit was to another sustainable mobility research legend Professor Sonja Haustein and her travel behaviour lab group URGENT at the Technical University of Denmark. Sonja is a close collaborator with Martin Lanzendorf through the EU urban mobility collaborative Transform and so after my presentation we had a really interesting discussion about the role of culture and mobility styles. The university is in a suburb of Copenhagen, and it was interesting to notice (Sonja confirmed this) that many staff commute by car as the cycle routes, train and bus services are rather poor and parking is plentiful at the university!  So, although the train to Lyngby does have the best bike carriage I have ever seen, perhaps all is not as it could be even in the world-famous cycling capital.

Spacious bike carriage on the local train from Copenhagen to Lyngby, Denmark

Whilst in Copenhagen I had the chance to meet Michele Merrill Betsill, Professor of Global Environmental Politics at the University of Copenhagen, and I really enjoyed discussing the findings of my global city research in the context of urban governance and environmental stewardship. My final seminar was at the University of Copenhagen with Associate Professor Kostas Mouratidis and his research group research group Transformation of Cities and Landscapes.  Kostas has recently published several excellent papers related to my research and it was a wonderful to meet him and his colleagues and students to exchange transdisciplinary insights into the opportunities and challenges of reducing car dependency in cities. 

Home again, time to reflect

A few weeks home now, and I’m left with a strong sense of the kindness and generosity shown to me by all the people I met. It was a such a privilege to present my research to so many sustainable mobility and travel behaviour change experts. With each seminar I learnt about existing and new studies, and the ideas and insights from these connections are already percolating and enriching my own research. On a practical level it was a unique opportunity to experience first-hand the sustainable mobility options in several European cities and observe the incremental reallocation of roadspace away from cars and back towards walking, cycling and public transport. I have returned full of optimism and inspiration, ready to play another game of Ticket to Ride (but not until I’ve written up my PhD). My sincere thanks to AAPS CDT for the funding and the staff who made my trip possible.