Status Quo statt Verkehrswende. Narrative urbaner Mobilität in Deutschland

Traffic in Germany is on the rise and so is its negative impact on climate, the environment and human beings. An accumulation of fumes, noise and cars sitting in traffic occurs especially in the cities, along with increasing conflict over scarce urban space. At the same time, the calls for a mobility transition are growing louder: civil-society, political and economic actors are increasingly discussing possible alternatives to the status quo of the mobility sector. Against the backdrop of this transformative momentum, the present study on narratives of urban mobility emerged as part of the project “Narratives and Images of Sustainability” at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS). It analyses those German daily newspapers with the widest circulation to find out how they narrate mobility in cities, visions of future urban mobility and possible paths leading there. The results show in many regards: a narrative of a sustainable, urban mobility is merely present in fragments in the media – the car-friendly city remains the guiding principle.