MCube launches 5-Point Plan for the Future of Mobility
MCube – Munich's Cluster for the Future of Mobility in Metropolitan Regions – has presented a 5-point plan for the new federal government, developed with contributions from researchers at the Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS). The goal is to set the course for sustainable, innovative, and citizen-friendly mobility in Germany. The plan offers concrete solutions to make mobility more environmentally friendly, efficient, and fair.
The Five Key Demands at a Glance:
- Promote sustainable mobility – Strengthening public transport, ensuring safe cycling infrastructure, expanding electrification, and improving connectivity in rural areas.
- Accelerate innovation implementation – Translating research into practice, expanding real-world laboratories, and fostering autonomous mobility.
- Increase municipal responsibility – Enabling more flexible local traffic planning and better networking of commuter flows.
- Rethink mobility and urban development – Creating livable cities with short distances and modern mobility hubs.
- Strengthen social and political frameworks – Making sustainable mobility affordable and reducing harmful incentives.
Impulses from the STS Department
Prof. Sebastian Pfotenhauer and Dr. Alexander Wentland from the STS Department contributed to the development of the 5-point plan, bringing their expertise in innovation, governance, responsibility, and justice to the process.
Point 2, for instance, emphasizes the role of living laboratories as platforms for participatory innovation: "Actively involving citizens: living laboratories must be used more consistently to test new mobility solutions in practical settings."
The societal and political framework is also crucial. Point 5 of the plan calls for rethinking subsidies, improving price transparency and fairness, and strengthening incentives for sustainable mobility to make it more accessible in the long term.
MCube: A Driver of Mobility Innovation
MCube is a “Zukunftscluster” in Germany, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In its second funding phase (2024-2027), the project ReMIX („Responsible Mobility Innovation and Experimentation“) will be funded as one of the projects. Led by the Department of Science, Technology and Society (STS), ReMIX analyzes and shapes the regulatory, organizational, and political dimensions of current mobility innovations.