News and Events

DyMoN Webinar Series: Session two coming up!

November 23, 2023 December 7, 2023

DyMoN webinars for an interdisciplinary view on motivating sustainable urban mobility

Within the project “Dynamic Mobility Nudge” (DyMoN), we bring together researchers and practitioners from different disciplines to support people in making sustainable choices when it comes to urban mobility. Join us during upcoming (remote) webinars for an interdisciplinary view on motivating sustainable urban mobility. This free webinar series will be accompanied by the handbook “Digital nudging for sustainable mobility” (available for free download at salzburgresearch.at).

For more Information about the Webinar Series please see DyMoN Webinar Series

The second Webinar, Digitally-enabled behaviour change for sustainable mobility, takes place on 7th of December 2023 from 14.00 to 15.00 (UTC+1) via Zoom.

When it comes to promoting sustainable mobility, local decision-makers (e.g. city representatives, transport planners and providers) have the choice between two options: “Hard measures”, like introducing new policies, infrastructure and bans, on their own are not always effective and cannot be implemented in every situation. Therefore, “soft measures”, behavioural interventions or “nudges” that operate without restrictions or bans, have risen to prominence as a viable complement to policy measures and to support mobility infrastructure usage. In this webinar, we are talking about soft measures in the form of digital tools that can help in changing mobility behaviour, like smartphone apps. You surely have encountered this concept before – are you wearing a smartwatch right now or do you have a smartphone app that helps you with physical activity? Then you have a first understanding of digitally enabled behaviour change! We can transfer this idea to mobility. For this, we are talking about models of behaviour change that help us in a deeper understanding of human behaviour and how behavioural interventions and nudges can be built on them. Further, we show how digital tools can help in shaping mobility behaviour and discuss best practice examples.

Click here for registration

Successful first Webinar

November 17, 2023 November 17, 2023

First session “An interdisciplinary view on sustainable urban mobility behaviour”

On 16th of November the first session of the DyMoN webinar series on an interdisciplinary view on sustainable mobility was successful. 38 participants engaged actively with our two speakers, Dr. Claudia Luger-Bazinger (psychologist) and Dr. Martin Loidl (geographer) who gave two uniquely different perspectives on sustainable mobility from their respective fields. Our participants learned of the so called COM-B model of behaviour (Michie, van Stralen, & West, 2011) and how it can be adapted for mobility behaviour, as well as how to develop effective behavioural interventions. From the geographical perspective they learned of the origins of and different aspects of sustainable mobility to keep in mind when thinking about how to improve the conditions for the use if sustainable modes of transport.

The Handbook Digital Nudging for sustainable mobility was presented as accompanying literature for the serminar series. If interested, the handbook can be downloaded for free from salzburgresearch.at

The recording of this first webinar session can be found on Youtube or right here:

Download the Slides:

DyMoN_Webinar_1_Sustainable_Mobility_2023-11-16

DyMoN Webinar Series: First session coming up!

October 10, 2023 October 10, 2023

Registration

DyMoN webinars for an interdisciplinary view on motivating sustainable urban mobility

For more Information about the Webinar Series please see DyMoN Webinar Series

The first Webinar, An interdisciplinary view on sustainable urban mobility behaviour, takes place on 16th of November 2023 from 14.00 to 15.00 (UTC+1) via Zoom.

In this webinar, we will focus on the importance of sustainable mobility within cities: In a first step, we will briefly dive into the sustainability discourse and connect it with mobility. We will learn about the tension field between negative ecological effects, economic prosperity and societal participation. A key for a systemic understanding for sustainable mobility is the spatial reference. Mobility can be defined as the opportunity and capability to move in space. Following this definition, people’s mobility is ultimately dependent on distance, accessibility, connectivity, and the design of the streetscape. The latter is particularly due to the fact that the perception of the built and natural environment influences mobility decisions. With this in mind, we will reflect together on the following questions: What exactly is sustainable mobility? What are spatial aspects of sustainable mobility? What kind of environment do we need to provide to make sustainable modes the “natural” option? And what potentials can we unlock for a shift towards sustainable urban mobility?

Expand to see the agenda

Program:

14h00-14h05 CET: Introduction by Claudia Luger-Bazinger – Senior Researcher at Salzburg Research & project coordinator
14h05-14h20 CET: Enabling behaviour change in the digital environment by Claudia Luger-Bazinger and David Leistner – Salzburg Research
14h20-14h35 CET: Models of behaviour change – by Claudia Luger-Bazinger and David Leistner – Salzburg Research
14h35-14h50 CET: Digital motivation via mobile apps- by Claudia Luger-Bazinger and David Leistner – Salzburg Research
14h50-15h00 CET: Q&A

Click here for registration

Publication in Sustainability

August 8, 2023 August 8, 2023

Martin Loidl, together with Dana Kaziyeva, Robin Wendel, Claudia Luger-Bazinger, Matthias Seeber and Charalampos Stamatopoulos of the DyMoN consortium published an article in Sustainability, describing a framework for triggering situation-aware nudges that can motivate people to use sustainable modes of transport. This is is facilitated by geographic information systems (GIS).

Structure of the main parts of the paper

The context ultimately decides on mobility options and thus shapes mobility behavior. Nudges are an increasingly used strategy for promoting sustainable modes of everyday mobility. However, in most cases, the design of nudges and the triggers for issuing these interventions neglect the user’s specific context and are thus less relevant to the recipient. Digital nudges communicated through mobile devices offer situation awareness, which is facilitated by geographic information systems (GIS). Using the geographic reference as the “primary key” allows for connecting the current location information of recipients with static and real-time environmental data that define the contextual situation. The article describes a framework for triggering situation-aware nudges and provides a functional proof-of-concept. Through linking concepts from behavioral economics and psychology with methods from GIS science and Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI), new opportunities for promoting sustainable mobility are illuminated.

For more Information please see https://doi.org/10.3390/su151411149 to read the paper in the 14th issue (volume 15) of Sustainability.

DyMoN Summer School: Ideas for the transition towards sustainable mobility

July 27, 2023 July 27, 2023

How can citizens be won over to climate-friendly mobility? This question was addressed in the international DyMoN Summer School “GIS and Psychology Meet for Behavioral Change in Mobility” of the University of Salzburg and Salzburg Research.

Transport is responsible for a significant part of climate-damaging emissions, road space is predominantly consumed by cars and every journey not actively made is a missed opportunity for health promotion. What is needed is a comprehensive mobility turnaround. But how is it possible to convince citizens to break habitual routines and literally go new ways? This question was explored at the international DyMoN Summer School “GIS and Psychology Meet for Behavioral Change in Mobility” at the University of Salzburg.

Twelve experts from nine countries from three continents accepted the invitation of the Mobility Lab of the University of Salzburg, Salzburg Research and the company Trafficon and spent exciting days in Salzburg. Led by researchers from the fields of mobility research, geoinformatics and psychology, the DyMoN Summer School provided a stimulating environment for participants from different disciplines. The aim of the Summer School was to foster collaboration across disciplinary boundaries and stimulate critical, visionary thinking to create contributions to address real-world mobility problems.

The participants visiting Schloss Mirabell on the first evening

Lectures on sustainable mobility, geographic information systems and psychological foundations of mobility behaviour were offered over three days. The theoretical inputs could be put into practice in interactive workshops and excursions as well as in concrete problems.

Innovative solutions for key issues of the mobility transition were developed in four groups and finally presented at the international GI_Salzburg conference with almost 700 delegates. The Salzburg-related aspects of the group work were met with great interest, especially among local decision-makers.

The DyMoN summer school received great feedback from the participants. The organisation and communication during the summer school were especially well received as well as the contents of the lectures on geoinformatics and the introduction to behaviour change.

Bilder: © H.-Chr. Gruber, © wildbild, © Simon Haigermoser

Publication in The Behavioral Economics Guide

July 11, 2023 July 11, 2023

Dr. Claudia Luger-Bazinger, Mag. Dr. Veronika Hornung-Prähauser and Dr. Guntram Geser authored a Review of Behaviour Change Techniques in Mobile Apps, published in the Behavior Economics Guide. The Behaviour Economics Guide is the leading annual publication dedicated to behavioural economics and behavioural insights. The publication features international scholars and practitioners in the behavioural sciences.

The Publication Digital Behavioural Interventions for Sustainable Mobility: A Review of Behaviour Change Techniques in Mobile Apps presents a review of 26 urban mobility apps with a focus on the most commonly implemented behaviour change techniques. The conclusion showed that digital interventions could be improved by grounding them in a model of behaviour change. It is further suggested to apply the COM-B model and the related behaviour change technique taxonomy (BCTT v1, Michie et al. 2013) in the field of mobility, followed by examples of how interventions could be designed from a more holistic perspective.

For more information see the latest issue of the Behavioural Economics Guide 2023.

Presentation at the ISPIM Innovation Conference 2023 in Ljubljana

July 5, 2023 July 5, 2023

ISPIM Innovation Conference is an annual event of the International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) and took place as a in person event in Ljubljana from 4th to 7th of June 2023. This event, with participants from all over the world, is designed as an opportunity for exchange with other innovation professionals from academia, industry, consultancy and the public sector.

Claudia Luger-Bazinger from Salzburg Research (project coordinator) presented the DyMoN project in the context of the related publication. In this presentation, she discussed the gender bias that often occurs in the innovation of urban mobility apps. By presenting the results from a participatory design with female-only focus groups, recommendations were given for more inclusive digital interventions for sustainable mobility. If you want to learn more, please look at the related publications “Digital interventions for sustainable mobility behaviour: Gender bias in innovation”.

Proof of concept Salzburg completed – Living Lab Approach for DyMoN

June 14, 2023 June 14, 2023

Within our proof of concept in Salzburg, we want to demonstrate how situation-aware nudges can be used to shift mobility behaviour from individual car use towards more sustainable modes, like bicycling, public transport or walking. For this, we used a living lab approach and created the campaign “Science City Aktiv Mobil” that took place in a neighbourhood in Salzburg in order to motivate sustainable commuting. The campaign was held from 23^rd of March to 23^rd of May 2023 and involved – besides use of a smartphone app Pandocs that delivered the nudges to our participants – multiple events and get-togethers within the “Science City Itzling”.

the app Pandocs in action

On March 23rd, the kick-off lunch event took place that offered information on the participation in the proof of concept, handling of the app, how to track progress and collecting points with sustainable commuting as well as practical guidelines on infrastructure in the neighbourhood. The talk was followed by the opportunity for networking over lunch and the option to use a bicycling repair service.

Lunch talk at kick-off event

Dr. Claudia Luger-Bazinger (left), Dr. Birgit Böhm (right)

On April 20th, Dr. Birgit Böhm from the Technical University Munich offered a talk on how physical activity in everyday life is necessary for the cardiovascular system and overall well-being, and how switching over from car use to sustainable forms of commuting can help with supporting a healthy lifestyle.

Talk by Dr. Birgit Böhm during Science City Aktiv Mobil

During Science City Aktiv Mobil, the DyMoN Dashboard was displayed in the neighbourhood Science City on screens and participants had the opportunity to interact with the dashboard content in a quiz within their app.

Science City Aktiv Mobil – Dashboard

The Dashboard provided by project partner trafficon

community picknick with our lucky raffle winners and members of the project team

In order to keep participants engaged, the DyMoN team worked with incentives and prices, for example vouchers for filling out the surveys. One of these incentives was a community picnic after a certain number of points were collected, and this was held for a selected number of participants (spots for the picnic were drawn from all participants in a raffle) on June 1^st to end this successful living lab for digital nudging in mobility.

Around 60 participants joined us for testing the digital nudges in this living lab approach and the DyMoN team is currently working on data analysis.

Succesful kick-off for Science City Aktiv Mobil in Salzburg

March 29, 2023 April 11, 2023

On 23rd of March, the proof of concept phase in Salzburg started (prepared by project partners Salzburg Research, University of Salzburg and Trafficon), in which participants can test the situation-aware nudges for sustainable mobility. For this occasion, Salzburg-Research hosted the kick-off event for the campaign “Science City Aktiv Mobil” in a local neighborhood in Salzburg. 35 visitors joined us for an introduction of the project by Dr. Claudia Luger-Bazinger and demonstration and technical instruction by David Leistner. Techno-Z representative Monika Sturmer additionally introduced offers in the area for active mobility. The talk was followed by the opportunity for networking over lunch and the option to use a bicycling repair service.

Following this kick-off, Science City Aktiv Mobil will run for the next 2 month until 23rd of May. During this time, participants will receive nudges as notifications via an app and will be able to collect gamified points in the app for sustainable commutes to work. Additionally, the DyMoN dashboard is launched as an online version as well as on info screens in the area.

If you would like to join the proof of concept phase in Salzburg or require further information, please contact us at dymon@salzburgresearch.at

Save the Date: Sustainable Mobility Hackathon

January 31, 2023 March 28, 2023

As part of the DyMoN project, Sustainability InnoCenter hosts an international Hackathon Event centering around different sustainability challenges with the aim to find solutions using Nudging and behavioural change techniques. The Hackathon will be held 11th and 12th of May in Uppsala, Sweden, as a hybrid event with the possibility to join online.

Target group for the Hackathon is everyone interested in developing ideas and solutions for the presented challenges. It is possible to join as an individual and find a group in information Meetings or via Slack.

There are three Challenges proposed by the project Partners of the hackathon:

Uppsala kommun

Uppsala municipality has a mobility pool, that employees are free to use, including cars, bikes and other modes of transport. The goal of this first challenge is to increase the effectiveness of this mobility pool using behaviour change techniques. The use of the transport mobility pool can reduce the number of cars on the road through allowing people to share their sustainable transport options. The goal is to increase the number of people that use the mobility pool, as well as the efficiency of the process of booking and reserving a vehicle.

Nudgd

The Challenge proposed by Nudgd includes working with the Smart Nudges Platform (developed by Nudgd), that uses personalized, smart nudges to create behaviour change. One of the most challenging parts of working with behavioral change is to reach the right audience. This is why the proposed challenge is to find creative, accessible, and innovative ways to reach car users in a non-intrusive manner that can be reused for multiple stakeholders such as workplaces, municipalities, public transport companies, real estate companies, etc. The solution should apply to one or several of the following target groups; employees, clients, citizens, visitors, and/or tenants.

Gävle kommun

Gävle city has devised a cycling campaign known as “Year- Round cyclists,” combining an information initiative with an app to incentivize users to use their bikes regularly by offering points that can be redeemed at designated city stores. The proposed sustainable transportation initiative includes a technical platform (in a form of an app or similar ) and a reward system to encourage users to adopt sustainable transportation methods. The information campaign will educate users on the benefits of sustainable transportation, while also providing information on how to plan and optimize sustainable transportation routes.

The Challenge proposed by Gävle kommun is the following: Identify the challenges that city of Gävle will have if the city decides to implement such a technical platform in reality , prioritize 3 of these challenges and finally identify the best solution for the first prioritised challenge.

Quick facts

Registration is already open until start of the event.
3rd of March: Kick off Event at Green Innovation Park, Uppsala, Sweden
11th of May: first Hackathon day
12th of May: second Hackathon day + prize ceremony
Winners get the Chance to present and discuss their idea at the DyMoN consortium meeting 21th of May.

For more Information please see https://www.summup.eu/.