Katja Schimohr receives for her dissertation „Mobility Behaviors and Attitudes as Determinants or Effects of the Spatial Structure of Residential Areas: A Quantitative Panel Analysis of Residential Location Decisions and Daily Mobility“ one of this year’s 2025 KoMet Awards for outstanding dissertations. Her dissertation explores the topic of “causal relationships between spatial structure, attitudes toward mobility, and everyday mobility.” Despite extensive research, these relationships remain unresolved. The work is based on a clearly and concisely formulated theoretical framework. The methodological framework consists of the analysis of a unique panel survey of people who have moved, using complex statistical methods. Three essays form the core of the work, each addressing clearly defined sub-questions. The interpretations of the findings are exceptionally thorough. The connection to metropolitan research stems from the regional focus of the sample: the Ruhr region (approx. 30% of respondents), Berlin (approx. 50%), and Munich. The advisors are Prof. Dr. Joachim Scheiner and Prof. Dr. Eva Heinen.
Lisa Sieger with her Dissertation „Empirical analyses of market outcomes regarding energy efficiency valuation and renewable energy investments“ has been awarded the second 2025 Research Prize for outstanding dissertations in the field of metropolitan studies. Ms. Sieger has authored an interdisciplinary study on the relationship between energy sustainability and real estate prices and residential rents. She utilizes highly detailed data in conjunction with various innovative methodological approaches, enabling her, among other things, to highlight the specific characteristics of the rental housing stock in the Ruhr metropolitan region in comparison to other regions. She also demonstrates that in the market, it is not only energy efficiency and CO2 emissions that influence prices, but that the energy source used is also a price-relevant factor for both tenants and landlords. At the same time, it becomes clear that, particularly in the rental housing market, rents do not adequately reflect differences in energy efficiency. However, when landlords provide more information, particularly regarding heating costs, this “efficiency gap” disappears almost entirely. This dissertation was supervised by Prof. Dr. Christoph Weber and Prof. Dr. Florian Ziel.
We warmly congratulate both of them on winning the 2025 KoMet Award for outstanding dissertations in the field of metropolitan studies!
In 2025, the projects will once again be presented and awarded prizes at the 7th KoMet Day (December 5, 2025).
Photo: Uwe Grützner
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The KoMet Award is funded by the Emschergenossenschaft. Thank you very much!
