In the project, Akademiska Hus, together with the 2030 Secretariat, Karlstad University, the City of Helsingborg, Nordic Behaviour Group, Studio Berget and Örebro Municipality, will go in depth and create an understanding of what can make commuters who currently take the car to and from work change their daily behaviours and instead choose a bicycle.
"Sustainable mobility is an important issue for us as a real estate company and for our tenants. We hope that the insights we gain from the project can be used in the development of our campus areas and translated into concrete solutions that get more people to choose more sustainable means of transport to and from campus," says Anders M Berg, property manager for Akademiska Hus' property portfolio at Chalmers, which is the campus area included in the project.
There is great potential for improvement here
At a time when climate change and public health are two of our biggest societal challenges, cycling is an environmentally friendly and healthy mode of transport with the potential to play a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions and improving public health.
Today, only four percent of Sweden's total travel is by bicycle, while 35 percent of the country's daily car journeys are less than 10 kilometers. By starting from the human experience, the project hopes to lead to solutions that can get more people to cycle and at the same time reduce short car journeys.
Through interviews with motorists and actors such as employers, innovation companies, housing companies and policy makers, the project will result in a so-called behavioural diagnosis, which provides an overview of the barriers that must be overcome by policymakers, employers, municipalities, real estate companies and other actors who want to promote active and sustainable mobility.
"In Sweden, there are many players who see great potential in reducing daily car travel. If the need for cars decreases, parking spaces can be transformed into something more value-creating, and new construction requires fewer parking spaces where the space can be better utilized," says Maria Stenström, responsible for behavioural and mobility issues at the 2030 Secretariat.
For several of the country's municipalities, car travel accounts for a large part of the municipalities' emissions, and reducing them will thus be an important piece of the puzzle for achieving ambitious climate goals.
The project is part of Vinnova's Human-Centered Mobility initiative, where a psychological and behavioural perspective on the mobility issue is requested. The results are expected to be presented in the summer of 2024. Regular updates will be available on the 2030 Secretariat's website: https://www.2030sekretariatet.se/in-english/