Mobility in rural areas - a growing challenge in times of demographic change. It is becoming increasingly difficult for rural districts and municipalities to offer appropriate services. Scientists at the University of Oldenburg are also concerned with this topic.
Their project NEMo ("Sustainable fulfilment of mobility needs in rural areas") focuses on the question of greater social participation, for example through the use of private cars. A kick-off event has now been held to mark the official launch of the €1.7 million research project, in which Leuphana University Lüneburg and the Technical University of Braunschweig are also involved.
The aim of the team, led by Oldenburg business informatics specialist Prof Dr Jorge Marx Gómez, is to sustainably improve mobility for people in rural areas. The idea: where buses and trains are infrequent or do not run at all, citizens themselves provide mobility - for example, by giving neighbours a lift in their car or using a bus stop that is less frequented. This closes gaps in local public transport services and conserves natural resources.
In the initial phase of the project, the scientists are now primarily exploring the new possibilities offered by information and telecommunications technologies. "They play a key role in the planning and management of new rural mobility. We are also recording the specific requirements and acceptance limits of this new mobility among the population," explains Marx Gómez. These are then translated into a legally compliant overall concept.
Citizens and public mobility providers are involved at an early stage in order to recognise and resolve actual needs and obstacles to the project. In addition to the coordination and networking of all stakeholders, particular attention will be paid to the self-organisation of citizens. The resulting concepts will ultimately be tested in rural areas around Oldenburg and in the Wesermarsch district and evaluated in close dialogue with citizens, says Marx Gómez.
The state of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation are funding NEMo as part of the "Science for Sustainable Development" programme. On the university side, the project is being supported by Prof. Dr.Ing. Jorge Marx Gómez, Prof. Dr Axel Hahn, Prof. Dr Jürgen Sauer, Prof. Dr Andreas Winter and Prof. Dr Frank Köster (all Department of Computing Science, University of Oldenburg), Prof. Dr Anna Henkel (Institute of Social Sciences, University of Oldenburg), Prof. Dr Jürgen Taeger (Department of Economics and Law, University of Oldenburg), Prof. Dr Jantje Halberstadt (School of Sustainability, University of Lüneburg) and Prof. Dr David M. Woisetschläger (Institute of Automotive Economics and Industrial Production, TU Braunschweig).