Projects

The national master plans for cycling and walking aim to achieve a significant increase in active mobility by 2030. A key challenge is to determine whether safe pedestrian and cycle routes exist along the higher-priority road network, or whether they can be replaced by suitable alternative routes. However, there is currently no standardised, comprehensive assessment method that can be used to systematically determine where main roads are adequately served by pedestrian and cycle facilities and where there are infrastructure deficits or gaps in accessibility.

Young adolescents aged between 11 and 15 are currently significantly underrepresented in mobility and urban planning, despite this life stage being crucial for shaping future travel habits. There is a lack of robust data on their mobility patterns as well as interventions tailored to this target group. Existing approaches neither take into account the perspectives of this age group nor their diversity and are rarely scalable or applicable across different European contexts.

Salzburger Verkehrsverbund GmbH (SVV) will introduce a public, comprehensive, station-based bike sharing system (S-Bike) in Salzburg in 2026. It is expected that the introduction of this system will change traffic patterns and lead to further competitive pressure on non-motorised road users. In order to provide a safe mobility system with broad acceptance, interactions at critical points in the city will be systematically examined before and after the introduction of the S-Bike system.

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.