Research projects

In public and academic discourse on the socio-ecological transformation of transport and everyday mobilities, sharing services are seen to play a key role: The guiding principle of ‘usership instead of ownership’ describes the ideal of renting transport means in public spaces for short durations. Sharing is seen as a key component of the environmental network because it allows users to always have a highly flexible and situation-based mode choice, regardless of their dependence on a private car. In this context, e-scooter services represent a new sharing concept that has played a crucial role in shaping people's short trips in recent years as part of micromobility, especially in urban areas.

However, as providers of e-scooter services offer their services in large vehicle fleets, there are also new areas of conflict within the dense settlement structures of cities: For example, there are controversial discussions around the issues of illegal driving or parking on pavements, driveways and private areas. An increasing number of accidents involving e-scooters are also part of the new everyday experiences in road traffic. Finally, there is critical media coverage, regarding possible negative ecological effects of the batteries used or also precarious employment structures (‘juicers’), which also characterise the overall assessment of e-scooters.

This new research project at the ILS, which is supported by the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MUNV NRW), aims to objectify the highly emotional and controversial debates surrounding e-scooter services by better analysing the new area of tension in the transport sector and to be able to better reflect on the contribution of e-scooter services as a component of sustainable everyday mobilities in North Rhine-Westphalia.