Mobility

Mobility is a basic human need. Over the last 100 years, the automobile has revolutionised the transport of people and goods. The automotive industry is a core industrial sector employing millions of people in Germany, Europe and the world. The trade unions in the metal sector are strong and powerful organisations without which the enforcement of social rights would have been impossible. But the costs and irreversible damage caused by the fossil fuel era are now undeniable. The technology based on the burning of fossil fuels is reaching its ...
read more "The Transformation of the Global Automotive Industry"
IMAGO / USA TODAY Network
This essay discusses five currently ongoing struggles that open new windows of opportunity for the necessary mobility turnaround in our cities. The first is the currently pending regulation of platform work in the EU, which will also affect the mobility provider UBER. This will determine whether UBER will remain a dangerous public transport competitor or not. Secondly, the current crisis of rising costs of living is intensifying the discussion about public transport for fare-free or greatly reduced prices. Measures that some EU member states have taken are ...
read more "New entry points for Fare-Free"
Voices from Unions, Workers, Climate Movement, IndustryAbout the book In this study, the obstacles and potential associated with a transformation of the automotive industry and the development of an ecological mobility industry are discussed in dozens of interviews with trade unionists, climate activists and representatives of the automotive industry from Brazil, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Spain, France and Italy. There is a particular focus on positioning in the international value chain, ...
read more "The Need for Transformation – Current Challenges for the International Automotive Sector"
Mobility for everyone is in, car-centrism and hegemonic masculinity is outAbout the publication This polemic analyses capitalist-shaped cities, transport and mobility from a feminist and intersectional perspective, centred around the theory that car-centrism in particular systematically neglects the mobility needs of many in favour of outdated gender norms and ways of life. In other words: today’s cities and the associated transport planning reflect and replicate patriarchal, racist and classist patterns of production, consumption and thought. The author describes this ...
read more "Take up space!"

Steps toward free local public transportation

Manuela Kropp, Project Manager, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels
Web conference on April 22, 2021 forming part of the Right to Mobility seriesThis was the third and final event in the Right to Mobility series, jointly organized by Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung New York City, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung São Paulo, and Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels. You can find more information about the previous events at the following links: Women in the City and Mobility (February 25, 2021): www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK7-a_XhKnA; and Right to Mobility against Racism (March 25, 2021): www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUPYqT2OZXc. Buses and ...
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Web conference on the transformation of the automotive industry as an international project

Manuela Kropp, Project Manager at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office
The value chains in the automotive industry are spread across multiple European countries (reaching from Spain to, for example, Serbia) as well as across North and South America. The automotive industry is a global heavyweight, and therefore the discussion about a possible transformation of the automotive industry towards environmentally friendly forms of transport must also be a global one. In 2019, 65 million new cars were sold worldwide, while millions of people work in the automotive industry and ...
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Report: Second expert consultation on the automotive industry

Manuela Kropp, Project Manager at RLS Brussels
This was the second expert consultation on the automotive industry to be organised by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office. However, this consultation could only take place online due to the required pandemic protection measures. The participants included trade union representatives, workers' representatives and scientists researching the transformation and future of the automotive industry. The coronavirus pandemic and ensuing economic crisis have seen car sales drop, placing the automotive industry under further ...
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Who do our cities belong to?

Manuela Kropp, Project Manager at RLS Brussels
Changing lanes – first moves towards car-free citiesOur cities are suffering from the effects of a steady increase in road traffic. Traffic jams, huge swathes of land being taken up by roads and parking spaces for cars, and polluted air are all clear signs that we must strengthen the network of environmentally-friendly mobility solutions (walking, cycling and public transport) in our urban centres and use cars less. During the coronavirus crisis lockdown, when there was a big drop in car use, we had the chance to see just how attractive our towns and cities could ...
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Why public transport must reinvent itselfIntroduction During the coronavirus crisis, cities around the world seized the opportunity to close roads to cars and to expand pedestrian zones and cycle lanes. But what future will these initiatives have when normality is restored? Is there even the risk of a rebound in private car use if travelling on public transport continues to be discouraged? At the same time, the crisis is also a chance for public transport to reinvent itself and play a new role in the post-COVID-19 world. Transport during the...
read more "Reset: The post-coronavirus transport conundrum"