ABSTRACT
This chapter applies a socio-technical lens to urban mobility transitions to shed light on the planning process to construct a new city-district on the greenfield site of Dietenbach in Freiburg, Germany. It provides insights into the planning process for urban mobility by bringing together key elements of low-carbon urban mobility: low-mobility societies and collective transport. The analysis shows that the urban design and planned infrastructure for urban mobility in Dietenbach will reduce car ownership, thereby shaping residents’ mobility-related energy use in a particular way. However, path dependency as a major obstacle to low-carbon urban mobility might appear not only in the planning polices but in the mobility practices of residents who may choose not to change their lifestyle and preferences, causing the so-called “free rider” problem1. Urban planning, in addition to the physical infrastructure, should also address residents’ behaviors and lifestyles. There is a need to find appropriate ways to transform residents’ individual lifestyles to more systematic social practices, which usually requires community-based interventions.
