The future of German transport and mobility research from a geographical perspective. A viewpoint on challenges and needs

摘要

The main objective of this article is to reflect on the structure of the mobility and transport research landscape in Germany, in particular its current situation, its historic development and its future prospect. Thus, we describe its heterogeneity in terms of disciplinary characteristics and key objectives by identifying four academic subdivisions. We argue that this structure has developed differently from international discourse because of historical factors such as the dominance of the car for industrial politics, a strong political movement for the mitigation of climate change and specific funding structures. Furthermore, we discuss the reasons why German researchers do (not) participate in an international and Anglo-American language discourse. Against this background, we conclude with five conceptual suggestions for improved German transport and mobility research in the future: the need for (i) both fundamental and applied research, (ii) interdisciplinary work, (iii) experimental designs, (iv) a justification for both international and national language research, and (v) the creation of interdisciplinary research centres (e.g. Max Planck institutes).