New research project: Mobility Without Fear ("Angstfrei mobil")

26.11.2020

Together with the Wiener Linien (Viennese Public Transport Operator), Gerit Götzenbrucker will conduct a project on "mobility without fear" over the next two years.

Alongside Gerit Götzenbrucker, Michaela Griesbeck (postdoctoral researcher) and Kai Preibisch (research assistant) are part of the research team at our department. The project is funded by the Innovation Fund of the Wiener Stadtwerke (owned by the City of Vienna) and led by the Wiener Linien GmbH & Co KG as principal investigator (PI). The Wiener Lokalbahnen GmbH (WLB), Wiener Stadtwerke, WIPARK, tbw Research, the Institute "Sicher unterwegs" as well as the association "Lichterkette" act as further project partners. The project will run until October 2022.
 
About: Mobility is an important aspect in everyday life and enables people to participate in public spaces. However, being spatially mobile may feel threatening to a certain group of people, e.g. people with psychological distress caused by everyday fear. This can lead to exclusion from social events or to avoidance of certain (public) mobility offers.

During the development of infrastructure, IT (apps, desktops, etc.) and mobility offers and solutions, the psychological and communicative aspect is usually neglected in efforts to achieve barrier-free mobility. This project addresses this gap and the psychological and communicative barriers – in the area of ​​infrastructure, existing mobility offers as well as IT developments – and examines them for their suitability for people affected by fears. The special requirements of these groups of people are collected and measures are developed to provide better information and improve the feeling of security and usability for people with fears in public transport.