Our research group introduces itself

Our research and teaching is primarily concerned with the current issues surrounding the topic of new and innovative mobility solutions and their role in the complex network of urban spaces. Among other things, on-demand transport is examined with regard to its social, economic and ecological role. The latest (software-based) methods, e.g. agent-based simulations, are applied in order to take the high complexity into account in the best possible way.

Data collection, preparation and processing with R or Python are just as relevant as the presentation of our results and their publication in international journals.

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Labs

Flexible Transport Systems

Flexible transport systems have been the subject of research by scientists from various disciplines for quite some time. In the course of the traffic turnaround, attempts are being made to find suitable fields of application for this service and to integrate flexible transport systems into the existing traffic network in order to reduce CO2 emissions and improve the quality of the mobility offer. To ensure this, it is necessary to consider the entire transport system. In this context, we not only examine metropolitan regions, but also rural areas.

Fotografie von bunten Plastikkegeln auf weißer Oberfläche mit Linien

Complex Urban Dynamics Lab

Urbanization is one of the great challenges of the current humanity, the number of megacities is continuously increasing and humanity is beginning to live together in a smaller space. These dynamics of cities can best be viewed as complex systems, as they are characterized by many degrees of freedom interacting at different spatial and temporal scales. Social development and its underlying processes can act as gravitational or centrifugal forces on city dynamics. This results in phenomena such as segregation and marginalization or even ghettoization. We try to model and analyze these economic, political and infrastructural developments.

image with blue background and avatars being connected by white lines

Computational Epidemiology Lab

Due to the international interconnectedness of humanity in the wake of globalization in recent decades, the spread of many threatening epidemics has increased or become internationalized as well. Fortunately, as internationalization has increased, so has computer power, thus opening up new opportunities for in-depth simulations. The possible detail of such simulations in terms of regional conditions and human behavior opens up new possibilities to include the spread of epidemics and quantify them in such models.

Human Behavior and Gamification Lab

Human behavior is the most complex subject of study in contemporary science. Economists make it simple and define homo economicus making rational decisions. We are concerned here with the anomalies of homo economicus in making economic decisions and try to affect them with the help of incentives in experiments. The central element is the strategic use of games to activate and motivate users. Applications can be found above all in digitization projects in the area of traffic and DRT systems.

Grafische Darstellung zum Thema Brainstorming. Ein Netz aus bunten Linien verbindet die Begriffe "creation", "innovation", "inspiration", "research", "creativity", "idea" und "thinking" miteinander.

Our Current Focus

How will we move in urban and rural areas in the coming decades? Which mobility options are suitable for the different areas? How do we want to and can we shape the future and what factors need to be considered in the process? How do we coordinate and plan for future and current infrastructure? We explore these and many more fundamental questions in the research group. Our topics range from mobility and its simulations, renewable energies, power grids and cost-benefit analyses to behavioral and transportation economics. We cooperate and integrate disciplines from the fields of physics, economics, geography, statistics and other subfields in order to address the existing research questions in an interdisciplinary and differentiated way. We are convinced of the added value of heterogeneous research and live this diversity in our team.