Workshop and policy event: Sustainable mobility transitions: Learning from the East. Brussels 29-30 June 2026
We would like to invite you to Brussels on the 29th and 30th June 2026 for a workshop, followed by a policy event, on
Sustainable mobility transitions: Learning from the East
The Leibniz-IfL event stems from two major projects in the area of mobilities research (Leibniz competition-funded CoMoDe & MSCA-funded MOBI-DIG). It aims to bring together a range of critical knowledge and expertise on mobility transformations in studies of policies in the EU, and formerly socialist countries beyond its borders.
The projects highlight the need to rethink sustainability in new terms that prioritise social responsibility of projects implemented by the EU and break with the superficial “sustainability fix”. The prevailing faith in solely technical innovation too often leads to unequal spread of funds and neglect of existing infrastructures. Responding to these tendencies it is particularly important to bring the sustainable mobility transitions closer to policy making in European countries and on the EU level.
During the two-day event we want to present and discuss the learnings from outside of the core EU regions, and pay special attention to existing solutions and strategies that can be adapted in the EU to make institutional, political and financial mechanisms truly working towards socially and environmentally just transformations of cities and regions. The focus of the workshop will be on how results from research projects have been and can be used to influence policy on the EU, national and local level.
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Upcoming lecture: “Who Moves the City? Actors, Conflicts, and Reforms in Urban Mobility in Central Asia”
Guest lecture by Mariya Petrova at Bauhaus Universität Weimar
27.01.2026
15:15; Coudraystr. 13A, HS2
Institute for European Urban Studies, Bauhaus Universität Weimar
Rapid urbanisation and population growth, decades of neglected public transport and an increasing number of cars make urban mobility to a daily struggle for many citizens and pose major challenges for the cities in todays central Asia. Since the dissolution of the soviet Union the condition of urban mobility infrastructures in the region followed common patterns: from disinvestment, privatisation and informalisation in the 90-s, car-oriented development in 2000s to recent modernisation efforts, intensively supported by international developmental credits and fuelled by global imaginaries of urban modernity.
Out now: Automated Public Transport in Germany
A new map dossier on Automated public transport in Germany by Wladimir Sgibnev, Karol Kurnicki and Stella Marie Köhler has been published on Nationalatlas Aktuell.
The use of automated buses in local public transport (ÖPNV) continues to gain momentum in Germany. Between 2016 and 2024, 85 projects were launched nationwide, as shown by interactive maps on Nationalatlas Aktuell. The article explores the associated data, spatial distribution patterns of projects, actor dynamics and funding structures in the new field. A supplementary glossary provides additional background information on the development of automated/autonomous driving in Germany.
Cite:
Köhler, Stella Marie / Kurnicki, Karol / Wladimir Sgibnev (2025): Automatisierter ÖPNV in Deutschland. In: Nationalatlas aktuell 19 (10.2025) 5 [10.10.2025]. Leipzig: Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL).