IASS Tuesday Talks: Mobility, Consumer Behavior, and Retailer Perceptions

IASS Tuesday Talk, May 18, 2021
Dirk von Schneidemesser / Mobility, Consumer Behavior, and Retailer Perceptions

Improved pedestrian and cycling infrastructure contribute to sustainable transport goals and benefits local business. City officials are often weary to pursue these measures when they often involve redistributing public space. One common example is replacing private car storage with bike lanes. We surveyed 136 business owners about their perceptions of their customers’ mobility behavior and interviewed 2,019 potential consumers on two shopping streets in Berlin to learn more about the motivations for opposition to changes toward sustainable transport infrastructure. Our results indicate that retailers overestimate car use and underestimate active transport. Further, potential customers more often live close to their shopping destinations than retailers imagine. Our findings can help explain the opposition of local business to sustainable transport infrastructure and offer a knowledge basis for better informed decision-making regarding urban land use in cities.

Biosketch:

Dirk von Schneidemesser is a social scientist and research associate in the project "Co-Creation and Contemporary Policy Advice" at the IASS Potsdam. Before coming to the IASS, he completed his dissertation on the communication of policy options for sustainable local transport at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. Dirk received his M.A. from the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg and FLACSO Argentina in Buenos Aires. Dirk is part of the Berlin based initiative Changing Cities e.V. which is responsible for the co-creation of Germany's first bicycle law, passed in 2018.

Our Tuesday Talk Series provides a platform for leading researchers and thinkers from science, policymaking and public administration as well as business, the arts and civil society to share their ideas for a more sustainable future.

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