Recent years have seen a proliferation of platform-based “shared mobility services” (SMS) such as car-, bike-, and e-scooter-sharing in many cities in Germany and around the world. At the same time, these services have become the subject of intense debates: Are they replacing private car travel, thus contributing to sustainable mobility in cities? Or are they drawing users away from public transit and cycling while obstructing public space? From the perspective of sustainable mobility politics, it seems far from clear which role these new services could play in transitioning to a less car-centric mobility system. While a number of potential effects and ensuing governance issues of shared mobility services (e.g., regarding questions of equitable access, data governance, the role of public versus private actors) have already been studied, this article explores the role of shared mobility services (SMS) in triggering system dynamics and feedback loops in the context of sustainability transitions. The article connects questions regarding the sustainability effects of “shared mobility services” with the role of “push” measures to reduce private car traffic in cities. Using a theoretical framework from socio-technical transitions research and from the sociology of technology, it describes the recent growth of shared mobility services in Berlin as an example of the upscaling dynamics of socio-technical niche innovations. Drawing on a series of workshops with mobility service providers and representatives of public authorities, it analyses the potential for conflict as well as for coalition-building between service providers and public authorities. Based on the theoretical concept of the role of feedback loops and windows of opportunity for transitions, it shows how the market growth of shared mobility services has added momentum to an already ongoing political debate over the legitimate use of public space in Berlin. Against this backdrop, the article discusses how growing numbers of car-, bike-, and e-scooter-sharing vehicles could open up windows of opportunity for re-distributing space away from private cars. The article concludes that supporting and regulating SMS will be key to steering their growth in the direction of sustainability.

ZusammenfassungDer Autoverkehr ist in vielen Städten zu einer hohen Belastung geworden. Um die Alternativen zum Autoverkehr zu stärken, kursiert eine Vielzahl von Vorschlägen, etwa der Ausbau von Fahrradwegen, wenn nötig auch auf Kosten des Autoverkehrs. Dieser Beitrag präsentiert die Ergebnisse einer Erhebung unter knapp 7000 Haushaltsvorständen aus dem Jahr 2018, mit der die Zustimmung zu derartigen Vorschlägen eruiert wurde. Die daraus resultierenden Ergebnisse sind zwiespältiger Natur. Einerseits stimmt beispielsweise die absolute Mehrheit von 69 % der Befragten für die Ausweisung von für Busse reservierter Fahrstreifen auf staubelasteten Straßen und knapp die Hälfte ist für Fahrverbote für Fahrzeuge, die Schadstoffgrenzwerte überschreiten. Andererseits ist die absolute Mehrheit von 57,3 % der Befragten gegen höhere Kosten für das Parken in Innenstädten und knapp die Hälfte lehnt ein Verbot von Fahrzeugen mit Verbrennungsmotor ab dem Jahr 2035 ab.

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With the release of the latest IPCC report, the urgency to steer the transport sector toward ecological sustainability has been recognized more and more broadly. To better understand, the prerequisites for a transition to sustainable mobility, we argue that interdisciplinary mobility research needs to revisit the interaction between social structures and individual agency by focusing on social norms. While critical sociological approaches stress the structural barriers to sustainable mobility, political discourse over sustainable mobility is still largely dominated by overly individualistic approaches, which focus on individual behavior change neglecting its social embeddedness. With discursive struggles over sustainable mobility intensifying, it becomes more urgent to better understand how structural contexts condition individual travel behavior, while at the same time showing how individuals engage in processes of social change. Against this backdrop, the article seeks to deepen the cooperation between sociological and psychological research in mobility transitions research. Building on a broad body of literature, we revisit recent theoretical approaches, which conceptualize the role of individual agency in sustainability transitions. On this basis, we highlight the role of social norms in mobility transitions as a key concept bridging individual behavior and social structures. Using Strong Structuration Theory as an integrative framework, we focus on the role of individual agency in processes of re-negotiation of social norms. Our main hypothesis is that individuals can contribute to mobility transitions by influencing and re-negotiating social norms, especially in the context of windows of opportunity. We analyze how focusing on the dynamic and conflicted nature of social norms can help to illustrate leverage points for a mobility transition as well as inspire future empirical research in the field. This includes that individuals can influence social norms through changing their own travel behavior as well as through engaging in discourse on transport policies.

Both carsharing and the battery electric vehicle (BEV) are innovations central to the discourse on the future development of urban mobility. Here, we investigate the potential of carsharing with BEVs as part of an integrated mobility system with a focus on user acceptance. Drawing on selected results from the project 'BeMobility -Berlin elektromobil', the aim is to provide insights on two main questions: 1) Are BEVs suitable for carsharing?; 2) What are the target groups for carsharing as a part of an integrated mobility system? The former is addressed from the users' point of view in terms of suitability of BEVs for typical use patterns, satisfaction with e-carsharing and aspects of usability. To answer the second question, the article draws on results from the project regarding motives, attitude profiles and mobility needs of current users of e-carsharing and combines them with an attitude-based typology of transport users resulting from a representative study in German agglomerations.