Focus on sustainable mobility: Annual European conference looks to the future of mobility

This autumn, Karlsruhe will once again become a Mecca for transport experts: together with the state of Baden-Württemberg, the city of Karlsruhe will host the annual conference of the POLIS network - one of the leading sustainable mobility events in Europe. From November 27-28, mobility and urban planners, experts from local authorities, universities and businesses, together with politicians, will meet in the halls of the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Centre. In addition to capital cities such as Paris and London, smaller regions and cities are also represented by POLIS, which was established in 1989 and allows for the sharing of innovative transport solutions. The Annual POLIS Conference is hosted by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport and is expected to attract more than 1,000 attendees.

“As a long-standing member of POLIS, we are delighted that the state of Baden-Württemberg is hosting the Annual POLIS Conference 2024,” says Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport for the State of Baden-Württemberg. “We want to present our ambitious climate targets and measures for implementing the transport transition to an international audience, and make them tangible on site. Karlsruhe is an excellent venue because the implementation of climate-friendly mobility is well advanced. We are delighted to be working with the city of Karlsruhe for the hosting of Europe's leading event on sustainable mobility.”

Karlsruhe is a new member of POLIS and, together with the Regionalverband Mittlerer Oberrhein and the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund, joined the network at the beginning of the year as ‘Karlsruhe Region’. Lord Mayor Dr Frank Mentrup refers to a long line of development of innovative mobility solutions from the inventor of the two-wheeler Karl Drais to modern local transport. “European cooperation is of great importance for Karlsruhe,” he says. “The ‘Karlsruhe model’, which has notably improved the relationship between the city and the surrounding area in public transport, is still exemplary for many regions in the world even after more than 30 years. In the meantime, numerous other innovations in the field of mobility have been advanced in Karlsruhe, such as the ‘Baden-Württemberg Autonomous Driving Test Field’. I would like to welcome all guests to Karlsruhe.”

For Prof. Dr Anke Karmann-Woessner, head of the co-organising urban planning office, the conference is a welcome opportunity to share her own experiences and learn from those of others. “We have gained multiple experiences in European cooperation, especially in the thematic partnership Urban Mobility within the Urban Agenda, with 23 project partners in a multi-level governance approach. We are therefore delighted to contribute our expertise to the POLIS network and look forward to exchanging ideas with our European partners. We have also organised excursions that allow us to present good examples of sustainable mobility in our city to an expert audience.”

Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Messe Karlsruhe, adds: “Over the past two decades, we have been able to continuously strengthen our expertise in mobility with IT-TRANS, the exhibition and congress for digitalisation in public transport. We are delighted to now also share our network and experience as co-organiser of POLIS, a renowned and forward-looking event for sustainable urban transport.”

The entire spectrum of future-orientated mobility will be covered by various specialist forums and presentations in the halls of Messe Karlsruhe. The agenda includes essential topics as well as practical implementations, such as the creation of sustainable urban mobility plans, lively and traffic-calmed city centres, safety and IT solutions, air pollution control, electromobility and parking space management. There will also be speakers from various European countries who will report on a variety of subjects, from their experiences with bike hire systems, to the introduction of speed limits and the development of delivery services.

Following the Annual POLIS Conference, there will be excursions for delegates who want to experience and better understand sustainable mobility in Karlsruhe. These will include a cycle tour, visits to the so-called ‘combined solution’, a tram-train system and the autonomous driving test field.

The registration deadline for the conference, which will be held entirely in English, is November 12, with an early bird discount for those who book by September 30.

More information about the conference and POLIS network can be found here: www.polisnetwork.eu/2024-annual-polis-conference.