Towards New Urban Mobility

The case of London and Berlin

The report ‘Towards New Urban Mobility: The case of London and Berlin’ provides insight into how urban transport policy can better leverage new and emerging mobility choices in cities. Drawing on the LSE Cities/InnoZ household survey of 1,000 residents each in Berlin and London, it investigates how people’s attitudes towards transport modes, technology and travel frame their willingness to adopt new and more sustainable forms of transport.

The study demonstrates how London and Berlin have both seen a pronounced trend towards new urban mobility with considerable increases in walking, cycling, public and shared transport, as well as substantial reductions in car use and ownership. It reveals that less than one in six residents in each city display a strong identification with car use and ownership, for reasons primarily including higher costs, adequate alternatives and environmental concerns. Such shifts have been accompanied by a large proportion of residents in both cities showing openness to new mobility services with travel applications being used almost daily by one in four of the respondents who owned smartphones.

The report also illustrates how mobility attitudes are closely correlated with mobility behaviour. The choice of transport modes in both cities corresponds to respondents’ preferences, indicating the cities’ capacities to accommodate a wide range of travel demands. Nevertheless, accessibility and travel opportunities are strongly influenced by residential location, suggesting that a combined understanding of residential patterns and travel preferences is essential for a more detailed and complete understanding of travel behaviour.

This new report was prepared by LSE Cities at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Innovation Centre for Mobility and Societal Change (InnoZ), and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society.