GCF’s mobile Decision Theater @ Leverage Points 2019 Conference in Lueneburg – Leverage Points for Sustainable Mobility

by Jahel Mielke

„We don’t only want to save CO2, we want less cars on the streets”, a young researcher at Leuphana University proclaims. With a group of other scientist, she chooses a combination of policy options on a tablet that are supposed to make mobility in Germany more sustainable. “We invest in bike infrastructure, we restrict cars in city centers and we subsidize public transport”, she says. A second group of scientist that decides to primarily subsidize electric vehicles and charging infrastructure is eager to see how their results compare. A few seconds later, both scenarios are visible in a “Decision Theater” – an interactive tool based on an agent-based mobility model and a visualization environment.

The scientists that pick the scenarios are taking part in the Leverage Points Conference 2019 at Leuphana University of Lüneburg from February 6 to 8 — http://leveragepoints2019.leuphana.de

More than 400 participants working in the field of sustainability gather at the event to discuss their research and explore new methodologies. The Global Climate Forum and Leuphana University set up the mobile Decision Theater, which runs with simulations from GCF’s mobility model MoTMo, to discuss the transition to a more sustainable mobility in Germany. The mobile environment allows participants to interactively change different policy options and directly see the effects in a socio-technical model that represents the German population. Thus, scientists and stakeholders co-create knowledge by exploring pathways for a sustainable mobility together and further developing the underlying simulations. At the same time, visualizations on the screens of the “Decision Theater” foster a better understanding of the model and help to improve the science-policy interface.

For more information on GCF’s and Leuphana’s “Decision Theater”, click here.

You can see the Decision Theater in action in this short clip: