Inhalte
Mobility is experiencing a transition. Today’s mobility of people and goods is undergoing a fundamental and long-term change: While many countries worldwide shift away from the previously car-friendly paradigm to promote sustainable transport, there is also a push towards the electrification of motorized vehicles and the search for alternative engine technologies across the automotive industry. Meanwhile, new mobility products and services such as ride pooling, electric scooter sharing, bike sharing, and other intermodal and multimodal platforms have emerged. Furthermore, the logistics sector is in a state of flux with Industry 4.0, which includes modular, decentralized, and circular supply chain approaches, a development which is having significant impacts on freight transport.
The mobility transition is driven by several trends: On the one hand, there is a need for action to protect the global climate as well as a rising awareness concerning sustainable development, both of which are challenging traditional transport systems.
On the other hand, the digital transformation due to the penetration of information and communication technologies, big data, and artificial intelligence is enabling new business models, technological innovations, and novel forms of transport. Moreover, both the public discourse and user attitudes are changing, which had led to the acceleration of behavioral changes of people, particularly in urbanized areas.
Today’s transport systems can be considered socio-technical systems, characterized by the interplay of humans and technology. Transport systems are far from being only technical systems incorporating cars, streets, trains, railways, and technologies to manage mobility of persons and goods. Nor are they solely social systems that build the foundation for access to human needs and enable economic wealth. Instead, they consist of many interdependent elements that would be difficult to interpret separately. Thus, the Boysen Summer School sheds light on these issues from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Pillars of the Summer School
The Summer School focuseson ‘Mobility in Transition’ based on five categories: (1) Policy and Governance, (2) Technologies and Infrastructure, (3) Markets, (4) Culture, and (5) Mobility Patterns.
Accordingly, socio-technical transport systems can be analyzed by the following five interconnected elements:
The Boysen Summer School takes an international perspective on the mobility transition, since the five interconnected elements of socio-technical transport systems as well as the needs of the people and respective external effects may differ between global regions.