Local Mobility Template

Initial Situation

The promotion of active local mobility is a major issue for the city of Mönchengladbach. The urban traffic analyses shows that about half of the distances traveled by car are shorter than five kilometers. With such short distances it seems reasonable to use one’s own feet or the bike more often - which is often even faster and healthier.

Objective

Mönchengladbach‘s new residents will be encouraged to rethink about their choice of daily means of transport with simple tools. The walking and cycling templates can be used to support active mobility and the use of environmentally friendly modes of transport. This may contribute to environmental relief with regard to noise and pollutant reduction as well as greater health awareness.

Implementation

The walking and cycling templates show pedestrians and cyclists a possible attainable perimeter as well as in what time frame a certain destination can be achieved on foot or by bicycle.

When the template is used, its center point is placed on any location on the city map. All possible destinations are shown which can be reached within a timeframe of up to 5 resp. 10 or 15 minutes by walking or cycling by normal to low average speeds: 1m/s (small template) or 1.5m/s (large template) for pedestrians and 10km/h (small template) or 15km/h (large template) for cyclists.

The pedestrian and bicycle riders' templates were printed on a thick film in order to create transparency for the city map.

In 2015, the "Local Mobility Templates" were distributed in the city of Mönchengladbach for new residents and new students in combination with a city map.