First Metropolitan Research (KoMet) Day in Essen Explores the Future of Mobility in the Ruhr Region
The Ruhr region urgently needs to rethink its traffic systems and transport programmes. How to implement such change in the region was the subject of debate and discussion at the first KoMet day, hosted by the Ruhr University Alliance’s Metropolitan Research Competence Field on 4 November 2019 at Zollverein in Essen. Visions, innovative approaches and feasible solutions to current challenges in the field of transport were presented by KoMet in cooperation with its partners Emschergenossenschaft, Stiftung Zollverein, Stiftung Mercator and Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr.
After futurologist Kai Jannek from Z_punkt in Cologne held a presentation on utopias for the future of mobility, KoMet scientists Prof. Dr. Johannes Weyer (TU Dortmund University), Prof. Dr. Jochen Gönsch (University of Duisburg-Essen), Prof. Dr. Michael Roos (Ruhr University Bochum) and Prof. Dr. J. Alexander Schmidt (University of Duisburg-Essen) presented new ideas and possibilities for heralding in a turnaround in transport. Guest lectures by Prof. Dr. Kay Axhausen (ETH Zurich), Felix Hoesch (Cantonal Council of Zurich), Prof. Dr. Bert van Wee (TU Delft) and Dr. Thomas Klinger (Goethe University Frankfurt) showed how mobility can work in other regions. Following these presentations by internal and external experts and a round of feedback from Prof. Dr. Uli Paetzel (Chairman of the Emschergenossenschaft Executive Board), Associate Prof. Dr. Ani Melkonyan-Gottschalk (University of Duisburg-Essen), Michael Zyweck (Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr), Frank Joneit (Regionalverband Ruhr) and Dr. Andreas Schmidt (German Aerospace Center) discussed the prospects for implementing new, multimodal and sustainable concepts of "Smart Mobility" in the Ruhr Metropolitan Region. An exhibition also presented guests and conference participants the opportunity to inform themselves about bike-sharing, electric scooters, electric cars, cargo bikes and current research projects.
