Cargo Bikes and Neighbourhood Engagement in the 15-Minute City

The Car-goNE-City is an applied research project aimed at making enabling cities to reduce reliance on private cars, lower transportation costs, and become more sustainable. Doing so requires the places we live to become “15-minute cities.” That all essential functions of a city can be accessed within a 15-minute walk or bicycle ride. The Car-goNE-CITY project is specifically investigating the ability of cargo bicycles to help communities achieve this goal. Cargo bicycles with e-assistance, e-cargo bikes, are rapidly becoming an essential transportation option for cities, replacing family cars and delivery vehicles. The potential for e-cargo bicycles as car-replacements is high, but the evidence-base is lacking. Communities require efficient, evidence-based strategies for using e-cargo bicycles to realize their ambitions to become 15-minute cities. The consortium includes a range of academic, private, and public-sector partners. Car-goNE-City uses a series of participatory approaches that engage citizens directly in the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of shared cargo bike mobility. The will (1) study time-based accessibility of 15-minute cities by developing innovative methods that incorporate shared mobility; (2) explore the potential for shared cargo bike mobility to reduce car use and its interactions within multi-modal transport systems; (3) engage residents in participatory design of shared mobility using digital participation methods, gamification, pilot projects, and living labs; and (4) identify effective approaches for accelerating shared mobility implementation. Cities involved include Gothenburg, Mölndal, Trollh?ttan (Sweden), Oslo (Norway), Karlsruhe and Konstanz (Germany), and Budapest (Hungary). This project will generate transition pathways for small, medium and large European cities to achieve sustainable mobility objectives.

The goals of the project include (1) studying time-based accessibility of 15-minute cities by developing innovative methods that incorporate shared mobility; (2) understanding the potential for shared cargo bike mobility to reduce car use and its interactions within multi-modal transport systems; (3) engaging residents in participatory design of shared mobility using digital participation methods, gamification, pilot projects, and living labs; and (4) identifying effective approaches for accelerating shared mobility implementation. Cities involved include Gothenburg, Mölndal, Trollh?ttan (Sweden), Oslo (Norway), Karlsruhe and Konstanz (Germany), and Budapest (Hungary). The Norwegian portion of the project will fund a PhD student, housed at OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University - who will work on the project and be advised by the Norwegian research team members.