Dr Uwe Kröcher will make a contribution at the "Climate Change & Social Criticism" congress (in the "State and Politics" panel on 21 May 2022, 16:30 - 19:30) and explore the question "Why has a transport turnaround not yet succeeded? Consequences of the transport policy of 30 years of ghost driving"

The realisation of a socio-ecological transformation that can put a stop to climate change on the one hand and enable social development opportunities for the lower social classes on the other is by no means a matter of course. This is particularly evident in the case of the transport transition. The article, which analyses the transport science and policy discourse since German reunification, explains that the transport policy of the last 30 years has been pursued as a kind of ghost trip, contrary to better knowledge of the social and ecological costs of motorised private transport. Instead of pursuing a policy of necessary traffic reduction and a switch to eco-mobility, exactly the opposite direction has been taken, focusing on traffic growth with the expansion of motorised private transport. It is argued that a turnaround in transport has so far failed due to a "complicity between the state, citizens and industry" (Canzler/Knie), which results not only from economic interests in the social mode of production but also from deeply culturally inscribed behaviour patterns. As a result, a turnaround in transport not only faces resistance from powerful industrial groups, but is if not rejected then at least hardly practised by all social milieus and classes - even by the ecologically enlightened milieus. The various dimensions of resistance to a transport transition will be analysed in order to be able to deduce which political alliances need to be formed to implement a transport transition.

Further information on the congress: https://klimakongressoldenburg.de/programm/