Convention– Future Formats for the Region
Paths into the mobility transition and out of the climate crisis
The mobility of the future should be uncomplicated and climate-friendly. But how can we create the conditions for this and motivate people to do so? What experiences have other European Green Capitals made and what positive examples can we learn from? What impact do major events have on regional mobility development? And how can citizens get involved?
The Ruhr Metropolis and the City of Essen have been leading the way here for years and are in the middle of the “Green Decade”: The International Building Exhibition Emscher Park, the Emscher conversion, the Capital of Culture RUHR2010, the Innovation City process through to the project year European Green Capital – Essen 2017 are already shaping the entire development of the region. The next “milestone” is the International Garden Exhibition (IGA) Metropole Ruhr 2027. But the future-oriented planning processes of the City of Essen towards a polycentric, sustainable Ruhr metropolis are far from over!
The convention FUTURE FORMATS FOR THE REGION creates the right framework for an international exchange between experts, decision-makers and citizens. Because in order to create the liveable, sustainable cities of tomorrow, all steps must be continuously reflected upon and optimized. It is important to learn from each other – across borders and topics. Only democratic participation enables broad acceptance of the measures.
We invite you to discuss, ask questions and listen. On February 26/27, 2024, the fourth “Future Formats” congress took place at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein. The second day of the congress was also streamed live online with simultaneous German-> English and English-> German translation.
You can download the congress program below.
Highlights of our program
A large variety of local, regional and global participants from the realms of politics, business, science and culture discussed contemporary issues, highlighted innovative projects and illustrated perspectives of change.
On the evening of February 26, 2024, we discussed “Citizen experiments for the traffic transition” with our participants and our speakers. The event was also the final event of our living-lab laboratory project Be-MoVe, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of research for sustainable development. Kai Lipsius, Head of the Green Capital Agency, talked to the creators of the community projects such as “Offene Bardelebenstraße: Safe routes to school in Holsterhausen” and the “Platz der Jugendkultur”. The discussions then deepened at information tables. The Orchestra of Change, which is committed to climate and environmental protection, was represented by a string quartet from the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra and completed the program.
On Tuesday, 27 February 2024, Gregor Schnittker from IKU_DIE DIALOGGESTALTER led through the program. The day began with a welcome from Thomas Kufen (Lord Mayor of the City of Essen), Viktor Haase (State Secretary at the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia) and Professor Dr. Hans-Peter Noll (Chairman of the Board of the Zollverein Foundation). Simone Raskob, Vice Mayor of the City of Essen for Environmental Affairs, Transport and Sport, introduced the upcoming presentations and discussions.
Prof. Dr. Christian Holz-Rau (formerly Technical University of Dortmund), Wolfgang Aichinger (AGORA Verkehrswende) and Prof. Dr. Ellen Enkel (University of Duisburg – Essen) reported on “The beginning happens in people’s heads and what cities can contribute here”. Udo Sieverding (Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia) took part in the subsequent discussion.
Successful mobility concepts from other European cities were presented by Piotr Rapacz (EU Commission/DG Environment), Harriet Tiemens (Groene Metropoolregio Arnhem-Nijmegen), Juan Carlos Escudero (Vitoria-Gasteiz), Simon Labouret (Grenoble), Mika Kulmala (Tampere), Trude Rauken (Oslo), Filip Matteeuw (Ghent) and Katja Ojala (Lahti). Dr. Christine Wilcken (German Association of Cities) was on the podium for the subsequent discussion.
In the third block, Stefan Kuczera (Regionalverband Ruhr), Niklas Börger (Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games gGmbH) and Axel Biermann (Ruhr Tourismus GmbH) presented major regional events as a driving force for regional mobility development. Matthias Mühlen (VfL Bochum) talked about sustainable mobility in professional football using the example of VfL Bochum.
Prof. Dr. Ellen Enkel then summarized the results of the day.