Projects

A comprehensive understanding of transport demand is required for the evidence-based design of a climate and environmentally friendly mobility systems. The data sources currently used are inadequate, particularly in rural areas with a less diverse range of mobility options and when it comes to the needs of vulnerable groups of people. As a result of advancing digitalisation, data sources other than traditional mobility data (such as big data from earth observation or social media platforms) are becoming available, providing the potential to make a significant contribution to a better understanding of transport demand.

Climate change is leading to an increasing number of heat days in Austria. These represent a relevant, potentially life-threatening risk for vulnerable groups. KlimaFIT addresses the tension between adaptation strategies that lead to the avoidance of physical exercise when exposed to heat and the targeted strengthening of heat tolerance. The project is investigating what contribution the promotion of active mobility in an integrative, digitally supported heat and mobility management system can make to resolving this tension. KlimaFIT builds on the ‘double ROI of active mobility by combining climate-friendly and health-promoting effects.

To achieve the national cycling mode share target of 13%, a large number of promotional efforts are required. The backbone of all these initiatives is a safe, continuous cycling network. Based on existing linear infrastructure, connections between residential cores are to be defined, which will serve as the basis for the establishment of a nationwide target network. Cycling networks are usually planned by experts with the required local knowledge. This approach is only partially applicable for scaling nationwide. Against this background, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Protection (BMK) has commissioned a concept study for a data-driven approach to the planning of an Austrian-wide target cycling network.

The climate and mobility change we are striving for is a matter of great urgency. In order to achieve these goals, measures must be optimized in terms of their impact and be implemented swiftly. Tools for evidence-based decision-making and planning must take into account the high complexity of multidimensional causal relationships on the one hand and ensure transparency, comprehensibility and user-friendliness on the other. Such tools are still lacking, particularly for use at a municipal level. Open data paired with expert and user knowledge form the basis for the efforts in LMI-S to design such a tool.

To implement the 15-minute city (15mC) concept in urban areas, we need to rethink and reorganise our mobility systems. Digitalisation is a key factor in this process, with digital twins being one of the promising technologies to be utilised. We aim to explore this potential by developing a generic digital twin framework that allows us to model interventions in the urban transport system, explore and simulate their impact, and evaluate their contribution towards the realisation of a 15mC. In this, a special focus is put on human-centred approaches.

European and national climate protection goals make a quick and comprehensive improvement of cycling networks in the German speaking countries indispensable. In day-to-day planning practice, finding adequate solutions for the design of cycling infrastructure on narrow roads is a true challenge. Although planning guidelines for the provision of adequate cycling infrastructure do exist in the German speaking countries, they cannot be put into practice in any case due to limited space availability. Furthermore, national regulations and guidelines are hardly transferable; this leads to a lack of learning and synergy effects. Against this backdrop, a qualified overview and comparison of existing approaches, methods for making technically well-founded decisions as well as recommendations and reference examples for practical implementation are necessary.