TERRITORY/MOBILITY

Mobility is a fundamental need and its planning influences infrastructural and spatial but also social structures. The research projects that deal with this focus not only seek to develop a better understanding of the role and function of mobility, but also focus on the interrelation between mobility and space. Spatial and strategic concepts are designed to contribute to the promotion of active and emission-free forms of mobility and to increase the quality of public space, as well as to enable fair access to mobility.

Trans|formator:in

 

09/2022 - 09/2026

The research project trans|formator:in deals with the acceleration and process optimisation of the redesign of public spaces - with the aim of strengthening active forms of mobility and improving the quality of stay. The aim is to create future-oriented spaces with a high level of acceptance and, at the same time, to lay the foundation for behavioural change towards sustainable mobility. New methods will be developed and tested in seven pilot municipalities by August 2026. 

In the Graz pilot project, the focus is on the introduction of the new tram line and in particular on the adjoining side streets of the Neutorviertel. Temporary and permanent measures support the transformation of the public urban space. The involvement of all those affected (politicians, administration, residents, visitors, traders, etc.) to formulate design options and raise awareness for the necessary change in transport plays an important role.

Within the framework of the research project "Transformator:in", information events and participation workshops will be held and a new vision for the city centre will be developed. In a further phase, an experimental laboratory will demonstrate possible spaces. This will be done through temporary interventions in the street space during the construction of the new tram line and with a view to its future permanent implementation.

Project lead:

  • Eva Schwab

Project partner:

  • tbw research GesmbH
  • TU Wien MOVE & FVV
  • netwiss OG, stadtland
  • Stadt Wien MA 18, iSpace
  • Stadtatelier Judenburg
  • VOR GmbH/ITS Vienna Region
  • con.sens verkehrsplanung zt gmbh
  • Raumposition, Weatherpark GmbH
  • Katapult, 3:0 Landschaftsarchitektur
  • TU Wien Soziologie
  • Prisma
  • Stadt Graz, Stadt Bremen
  • MZB, Stadt Salzburg
  • Wirtschaftsagentur Burgenland

Sponsor:

  • Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG)
  • Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie

Pedestrian

Pedestrian Strategie Styria

06/2022 - 06/2023

The project Pedestrian Strategy Styria aims to develop a strategy and a funding guideline for the design of pedestrian-friendly public spaces and to increase the share of walking in the municipalities of Styria. In particular, the (re)design of traffic areas is in focus.

With a series of proposals for concretely realisable measures, the strategy is intended to support the attractiveness of pedestrian traffic and to inspire and motivate the responsible decision-makers to make these improvements a reality. In this way, the importance of pedestrian mobility for a sustainable development of our mobility, for the revitalisation and liveliness of public and semi-public spaces, for community development, climate protection and, last but not least, for the health of each and every individual is taken into account.

As an integrative component of these implementations, the draft of a funding guideline for pedestrian-friendly measures in municipalities will be created. For this purpose, the project team will examine existing good practice examples, carry out spatial analyses and use methods of qualitative social research to ascertain and integrate the current needs, possibilities and opportunities in the best possible way.

Project partner:

  • Science, Technology und Society (STS)-Unit, TU Graz

Sponsor:

  • Land Steiermark, A16

Completed Research Projects

Tac Mob

Tactical Mobilism - Intervention for a New Mobility Culture

10/2019 - 11/2021

The urban public spaces of our cities are still largely distributed in favour of motorised individual transport. The negative consequences of the resulting mobility culture are not limited to traffic and ecological issues, but also include the opportunities for social participation and the loss of function of public spaces. However, inflexible decision-making and planning processes often make urgently needed redistribution projects more difficult.
This is where the Tactical Mobilism project comes in, which aims to test and establish temporary, simple and cost-effective interventions in the transport sector.
The participatory development and testing of interventions (such as parklets, temporary closures and conversions, greening) in public space should open up new perspectives, lead to a rethink among the actors and trigger a long-term change in the mobility culture.
For the city of Villach, corresponding interventions will therefore be designed in a participatory way and tested on site. As a project partner, Villach is the ideal pilot city and has the potential to act as a multiplier for numerous cities of similar size and structure, which build on the findings of the project, integrate similar interventions themselves and use them for their transformation processes.

Project Lead: 

  •  Institut for Spacial Planning, TU Vienna

Project Partner:

  • queraum. kultur- und sozialforschung
  • PLANUM Fallast, Tischler & Partner GmbH
  • Artgineering
  • City Villach

Sponsor:

  • The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

UML

UML Graz - Urban Mobility Lab - grenzenlos

04/2017 –12/2021

The urban mobility laboratory Graz brenzenlos pursues the overriding goal of reducing the daily traffic flows of motorised traffic. The creation of novel, experimental environments in which innovative mobility and transport solutions can be researched, tested and implemented by science and companies together with citizens, politics, administration and other groups of actors is part of the project objective. The MOBILITY LAB supports technical, social and institutional innovations in the field of mobility in order to bring products and services to market faster. A broad range of services is offered for this purpose: Living lab, mobile laboratory infrastructure, method pool, innovation rooms as test environments as well as prepared data bases serve the comprehensive integration of users in the development and test process. The benefit lies in the bundling of existing potential and the positioning and strengthening of the urban region as an innovation area and business location.

Project Lead: 

  • Holding Graz

Project Partner:

  • City of Graz
  • Land Steiermark und Laborpartner: Prisma Solutions
  • StadtLABOR Graz
  • Planum Fallast Tischler&Partner GmbH
  • Grazer Energieagentur
  • TU Vienna
  • Institute Highway Engineering and Transport Planning, TU Graz
  • Institute of Urbanism, TU Graz
     

Fördergeber:

  • BMK, Land Steiermark, Stadt Graz

Urban Move

Private law contracts (eg mobility contracts, funds, urban development contracts) as an innovative city and mobility planning planning and control instruments

10/2018 – 01/2021

Habitation as a major field of action with regard to climate protection measures is getting more and more crucial, whereby mobility around domestic areas receives less attention, contrary to the facts of a remarkable CO2- and energy-saving-potential. Moreover, several ambitious, transport political aims are not utilized. In order to achieve a climate- and energy-efficient design of domestic areas, it is necessary to consider issues as well as innovative solutions which are pertinent to mobility in the stage of development due to the fact that about 80% of all mobility-needs start and quit at home. Furthermore, people decide about their means of carriage. Past experience which are not evaluated yet raise assumptions, namely that private-law provisions such as mobility contracts, -funds or urban development contracts concluded between communes and project partners f.e. investors, builders or proprietors constitute an effective tool to control the origination of mobility in domestic areas. Currently the development, application and evaluation of these methods break new ground.

The research project Urban MoVe attempts to solve the given problem based on analysing and evaluating existing practical examples out of Graz and Vienna. Thereby it should be verified how efficient tools f.e. mobility contracts or -funds are referring to an interlocked and future-orientated city- and mobility planning. Furthermore, it should be examined how these methods could be further improved in the light of new mobility innovations e.g. sharing- or electric mobility, automated driving, etc. As part of the project the effects and successes of already implemented mobility contracts are analysed and form the basis in terms of legal as well as procedural redevelopment and advancement of the contractual tools. International best practice examples will perfect the research project and ensure the portability of the outcomes.

Project Lead: 

  • yverkehrsplanung GmbH

Project Partner:

  • Institute of Urbanism, Graz University of Technology
  • Research Area Land Policy and Land Management, Vienna University of Technology
  • Grazer Energy Agency GesmbH
  • UIV Urban Innovation Vienna GmbH

Sponsor:

  • The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

Webinar

Publication

G2G

Innovation Axis Graz-Gleisdorf

06/2016 – 05/2017


© Institute of Urbanism

The predicted dynamic population and economic development for the urban agglomeration area around Graz (490,000 inhabitants by 2050) represents a major social challenge in terms of resource consumption, supply and disposal infrastructure, mobility or affordable housing. In addition to urban densification, development areas in the future must also be developed in the future Close to the city of Graz as well as supraregional centers. The S-Bahn network of Styria, which connects the provincial capital of Graz with surrounding municipalities and cities, is home to an immense potential for the future that needs to be targeted. The aim of the project is the development of test and demonstration areas in the framework of selected city (sub) development projects along the innovation axis Graz-Gleisdorf. For the future development of urban living quarters, an innovation and technology portfolio with a focus on smart urban space, compact settlement structure, mix of uses, city of short distances, generation housing, intermodal mobility, energy, integrated building and information and communication technologies (ICT) will be developed. It should be implemented in 2019/2020 demonstration areas.

Project Lead: 

  • StadtLABOR Graz

Project Partner:

  • AEE INTEC Gleisdorf
  • PLANUM Fallast, Tischler & Partner GmbH
  • Institute of Urbanism, TU Graz

Sponsor:

  • Klima- und Energiefonds

KombiMO II – Combined mobility in Graz

Multimodal nodes as urbane mobility solution, phase II

07/2015 - 06/2018
 


© KombiMo-Researchteam

An important future challenge will be to meet the mobility needs of the Graz population by offering services that are as environmentally friendly, resource-saving, affordable, socially acceptable and attractive as possible. The mobility strategy of the City of Graz decided by the Municipal Council of the City of Graz provides for qualitative measures to shift the "modal split" in the direction of public transport and to push for new forms of mobility that support it. As part of the KombiMo II demonstration project, five multimodal nodes will be established as mobility hotspots for linking public transport, cycling, car sharing with e-vehicles and e-taxis and made accessible via a multimodal map. In the future, Graz residents will be able to meet their mobility needs comprehensively without having to own their own car. When placing the multimodal nodes, attention was paid to a good distribution among the user groups and the urban area as well as the inclusion of the two large urban development projects "Smart City Waagner Biro" and "Reininghaus". As part of the demonstration project, multimodal nodes will be implemented at the following locations: Hasnerplatz, Schillerplatz, Messe, Smart City (List-Halle), Reininghaus (Central Park). In the course of the project, the framework conditions for the transfer to regular operation and, if necessary, a step-by-step rollout are to be verified.

Projekt managment:

  • Holding Graz Linien

Projekt partner:

  • City Graz, Department of Traffic Planning
  • Energie Graz GmbH
  • WKO Steiermark – Fachgruppe für Personenbeförderung mit PKW
  • e-mobility Graz GmbH
  • PLANUM FH Joanneum Quintessenz
  • Institute for Road and Traffic Engineering
  • Institute of Urbanism
  • Institute of Automotive Engineering

Sponsor:

  • BMVIT – e-Mobilität for all: Urban electric mobility

ERP_hoch3

Energy Spatial Planning for Smart City Quarters

and Smart City Regions

09/2014 - 08/2016 


© Michael Malderle, Institute of Urbanism

As part of the nationally funded research project "ERP_hoch3", the topic of energy space planning was examined, examined and simulated on three focal planes. While "ERP" stands for energy planning, the "3" stands for three different spatial references: urban quarters, public transport axes and intercommunal area potentials of renewable energies (region).In three Austrian city regions (Vienna, Graz, Feldkirch-Vorderland), existing control instruments with energy relevance were researched and from this, actionable recommendations for energy area planning were developed for city regions. The end product consists of three guidelines for urban planning, neighborhoods along public transport stops (public transport axes) and intercommunal land potentials for renewable energy sources.The research area in Vienna is located around the two largest inner-city development areas, the Northwest and North Railway Station. The study area in Graz coincides with the peripheral area of ​​the Smart City target area Graz-Süd. Two railway axes were investigated, which proceed from the defined potential zones in Vienna and Graz: "Wien - Gänserndorf" (Northern Railway) and "Graz - Gleisdorf" (Eastern Railway).

Project Lead:    

Institute of Spatial Planning, Department Regional Planning and Regional Development, TU Vienna

Project Partner:

  • Institute of Urban Design, Graz University of Technology    
  • Institute of Process and Particle Technology, Graz University of Technology

Grantor:    

  • BMVIT - city of the future