Press Release

On 10 September 2024, the "Future Conference on Sustainable and Resilient Mobility" took place at DeveLUP in Ludwigslust as part of the "Mobile Elbe Valley" project organised by the IZT - Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment in Berlin. Together with stakeholders from the fields of transport, mobility, regional development, politics and civil society, a shared vision of sustainable mobility was developed for the four-county region of Ludwigslust-Parchim, Stendal, Prignitz and Lüchow-Dannenberg. To this end, the 40 or so participants analysed past and present mobility and the needs of local people in productive work phases and considered innovative mobility options.
This brought together representatives from the local authorities of the four districts, civil society organisations and environmental associations, research institutions and representatives from the business community to work effectively towards sustainable rural mobility. The tried-and-tested method of the future conference, which has its origins in futurology, is based on a structured three-step approach: looking at the past and present and developing a shared vision of the future.
The future conference and the overall "Mobile Elbe Valley" project aim to strengthen the networking of the four participating districts and the constructive dialogue between relevant stakeholders. The participants expressed a wide range of opinions regarding the future of rural mobility in the four-county region. From this, a consensus emerged regarding the key aspects of a mobility vision for the region: On the one hand, the Elbe is perceived as a culturally connecting but geographically separating element. In order to overcome this separation, the idea of a regional mobility committee was suggested to improve communication between the stakeholders. There is also a desire to standardise fares across federal state borders. Autonomous transport, whether by road, rail or water, was identified as an important topic for the future. Sharing services in the context of neighbourhoods and village communities are seen as necessary, particularly with regard to public services and social interaction. Ingo Kollosche, Head of Research for Futures Studies and Transformation at the IZT: "The participants were very committed to their work and were able to actively contribute their specific knowledge and experience. This is fundamental for the continuation of our work. In this way, we can respond much more closely to the real needs of the Elbe Valley region and think along with them."
The core statements were documented artistically with pen and paper using graphic recording and will be digitised afterwards. The results obtained at the future conference will not only be used in the further research process, but will also flow directly into practical implementation. Plans include mobility projects in the areas of autonomous driving and neighbourhood car sharing. In addition, the development of a transport demand model for the entire region is to be initiated, which should form a sound basis for sensible mobility offers and mobility stations. Digital meetings are scheduled for the end of 2024 in order to maintain the dialogue between the stakeholders involved and to define topics and working groups for further project work:
Getting from A to B in the countryside is often associated with obstacles. The most striking example of this is public transport, which is increasingly perceived as inadequate by local people and is mostly limited to transport for schoolchildren. As a result, the car density in the rural region is high. This is not in line with a sustainable mobility transition, nor does it give people who cannot or do not want to drive their own car equal access to mobility and thus to social participation. There have already been numerous attempts in the past to make mobility in rural areas more diverse, such as specially initiated on-demand bus services. Despite the success of many of these approaches, it was often not possible to stabilise them in the long term. External trends and drivers are currently influencing the regional mobility system. These include, for example, the digitalisation and automation of transport as well as people's changing demands for greater sustainability and a more flexible lifestyle. Demographic change and rural sprawl, in particular, are leading to a reduction in the number of services of general interest such as health centres, shopping facilities and cultural institutions, which means longer journeys for the population. This is an increasing challenge, especially for older people. Although there is a regular exchange between the transport companies and cross-district meetings, it became clear that there is still a lack of further cross-departmental and cross-border cooperation.