Graduate receives award for master's thesis on mobility justice

The award-winning master's thesis is entitled "Development of a GIS-based method for analyzing mobility equity - Using the example of bicycle traffic for the municipalities of Ronnenberg and Langenhagen". In it, Alena Fischer (27) develops a new method based on geographic information systems to make mobility equity measurable and visualizable, and applies it to the two municipalities in the Hannover region. The aim of the work was also to build a bridge between the disciplines of transport planning, urban sociology and social geography, geoinformatics and ethics as a branch of philosophy.

Using cycling as an example, she examines the so-called "double equity gap of transport systems", i.e. whether and to what extent economically disadvantaged population groups are doubly burdened due to a poorer transport infrastructure.

Their analyses indicate that, on average, residential areas with lower economic status have fewer designated bike lanes to reach everyday destinations such as grocery stores or schools. At the same time, longer shares of trips travel on roads with high stress levels. However, some wealthier residential areas are also affected, so economic status cannot be singled out as the sole determining factor. The poorer areas, however, are more exposed to stressful traffic noise than average, as the work shows.

Key results of the work were also published as an article in the Journal of Mobility and Transport. It can be found at https://journals.qucosa.de/jmv/article/view/90/78. The work was supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer, head of the department.

The Heureka Student Award is presented by the heureka Foundation for Environment and Mobility. It honors outstanding diploma and master's theses that address topics of mobility in connection with environmental aspects or the use of optimization methods. As an honor, Alena Fischer will receive a cash prize of 500 euros as well as an invitation to the User Forum 2023 of IVU Traffic Technologies AG in March in Berlin, where she will present her work in a technical lecture.

Contact:

Alena Fischer
University of Kassel

FB 14 - Institute of Transport
Transport Planning and Systems

Tel.: +49 561 804-3281
Email: alena.fischer[at]uni-kassel[dot]de