Photo Contest 2023: Mobile meets mobility
With our 2023 Photo Contest we were looking for a personal view on a socially just and ecologically responsible mobility. With this multi-layered theme we asked for impressions, illustrations and ideas, but also criticism and perspective on contradictions!
See more information about the winners and the jury's selection process here.
A significant image of the situation of public transport in peripheral rural regions of East Germany. Despite decades of discussions and experiments aimed at improving accessibility for rural populations, there has been no paradigm shift in the system.
Three underground bicycle parking facilities were built at Delft Central Station. Together they have a capacity just over 10.000 bikes. A bicycle, and somewhere safe and secure to store it, is vital for people to have equal access to be able to reach work, education, shops and services.
The picture was taken on one of the cycling routes in the Wielkopolskie region of Poland, not far from the town of Konin. You'd think it was shot from a worm's-eye view, but it's actually a bird's-eye view. A snail crawls across a bike path. The motive is simple, the meaning complex. The expansion of cycle paths is developing. Sometimes it goes quickly, but often only at the pace of a snail. Climate-neutral like the snail, cycling is just as healthy. Not just for your own body, which usually suffered a lot from the mobility restrictions in the years 2020 to 2022. But that is again a matter of perspective. Some got through the last three years well, some not so much. So the path is smooth for cyclists and pedestrians, but bumpy for the snail. The path is safe for cyclists and pedestrians, but less so for snails. The busy road next to the cycle path is still unsafe. However, only a few buses run here. A lack of mobility is one of the poisons in the development of rural areas. If the future is to be mobile and fair, then improvements must be made here! Otherwise the snail will still have to be careful of many cyclists and pedestrians!
We have the right path to sustainable mobility in front of us. And so do the obstacles. And it remains so: "Life is like riding a bicycle. In order to keep your balance, you must keep moving." (Albert Einstein)
Without traffic, the otherwise interruptive road merges with the landscape of the Tiergarten. The absence of emissions can quickly create the illusion that one is in a green space instead of in the middle of the city. Unfortunately, it is a mirage.
Cycling is about movement and freedom; on a bike you feel untethered, almost autonomous." - Ralf Hütter
As bikes were built to last a lifetime, (rental) electric scooters have incredibly short lifespan.
Relaxing Pedestrians - Ruhender Fußverkehr - What makes it special? It was built by Citizens, removed by the City, rebuilt by the Citizens - "Bankenrettung"
In 2016 a new central platform was built for the station "Uhlandstraße" in Düsseldorf. The station now offers a half-height platform to allow a barrier-free access to the new low-floor trams. In cooperation with the ""Rheinbahn"" - a public transport operator - the city of Düsseldorf aims at a full barrier-free accessibility of its public transport until 2030.
When mobility stops at the border and becomes a social issue...
Old ways rethought - conquering roads
Limits of Mobility - Cause Effect Perception
Three young girls walk home from school by small park in Kyoto JPN - the narrow streets keep traffic slow, the children are safe through the social safety of having many others walking, cycling, working and living in the area.
The world turns, it feels faster and faster. Climate change, migration and wars, demographic change, finite resources, digitalization and AI as hope and curse. In order to survive, we have to rethink, reinvent, and redesign our coexistence, our cities and our mobility. Let's start this journey!
