The Future of Mobility

Environmental Futures Public Lecture - by Günter Getzinger (Graz/Klagenfurt). Mobility behavior of young adults at the age of 16 to 36 year - the so-called generation Y - are substantially different to those of former generations. The most important trends are the increasing use of public transport, bikes and different types of carsharing, bikesharing, and ridesharing, and the decreasing attractiveness of drivers licenses and cars.

Perhaps the most important impact on mobility comes from the permanent and mobile availability of the internet, via smartphones, and its extensive use. Examples for the mobility behavior changing, public transport oriented use of smartphones are: routing (optimized, multimodal mobility-chains), timetables, booking, reservations, ticketing, navigation, function as a key, communication, information, e-learning, entertainment (audio/video), ordering, payment.

These functions are supported by increasingly convenient apps and user surfaces, plus permanent availability of WiFi. From this background, and keeping in mind the imperative of decarbonization, a vision of future mobility will be drawn.

Prof. DI Dr. Günter Getzinger studied chemical engineering at Graz University of Technology and philosophy at University of Graz and Alpen-Adria-Universitaet Klagenfurt/Vienna/Graz. Research stays at Darmstadt University of Technology, at ISI – Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, and at Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Günter Getzinger was, in 1988, co-founder and a few years director of IFZ, the Inter-University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture in Graz, and, in 1999, founder and until now acting director of IAS-STS - Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society, Graz, Austria. He is deputy director of STS - Institute Science, Technology and Society Studies at Alpen Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt/Vienna/Graz and member of the research group on Sustainable Technologies and Products.
He lectures on sustainable design of technologies and socio-technical systems, technology assessment, and philosophy and ethics of technology, as well as technology policy at universities in Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz and Vienna. In his current research, Günter Getzinger is focusing on theoretical and practical aspects of sustainable product, technology and network design; on technology assessment; on sustainable public procurement; and on science and technology policy. He is member of advisory boards of research companies and energy utilities.

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