With increasing urbanization and the associated rise in population in urban areas, decarbonization of cities has become an ever-growing challenge. In this context and given the unprecedented levels of pollutants generated by urban traffic, IMAGINEXT is validating a Software as a Service Solution that uses Artificial Intelligence to explore how certain mobility strategies and sustainable transport measures affect air quality. The sensors for this were set up in Lindau on Lake Constance, Germany and in Cartagena, Spain.
An event of the IMAGINEXT project took place in Lindau, on the 25th of October, where all project partners met in person for the first time, including the project leaders from Spain and Germany showcasing how collaboration can work on a European level.
The IMAGINEXT project is co-funded by EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. The pilot project aims to combat air pollution caused by mobility. The project represents innovative approaches in different areas of sustainable mobility and aims to have a positive impact on the community.
“Mobility research is a central part of our daily work; our main focus is to use our expertise and resources to promote innovation and progress within logistics and mobility. The cooperation within IMAGINEXT opens up another possibility for us to develop groundbreaking solutions that positively influence the design and optimisation of decision-making processes. Thus we want to contribute to sustainable mobility itself. With projects like IMAGINEXT, we want to encourage and foster collaboration between governments, urban planners, research / academia and industry. We are looking forward to the cooperation and the achievement of more sustainable and socially acceptable mobility in urban environments.” emphasises Prof. Dr. Uwe Clausen, Director of Fraunhofer-Institute for Materialflow and Logistics (IML).
Situated at the Lake Constance in Bavaria, Lindau is located in an island where several mobility strategic planning processes have been carried out and decided upon in recent years, such as the reconstruction of normal Street in to Cycling streets. Lindau has been therefore a perfect location for IMAGINEXT. The pilot has been undertaken during the reconstruction of their Cycling Streets, so the AQ can be measured before and after the reconstruction.
“We are pleased that Lindau is part of the IMAGINEXT research project. We hope that the project results will enable us to measure the impact of our mobility measures and thus promote sustainable mobility on site in a targeted manner. Only in this way is it possible for us as a city to make traffic more environmentally friendly in the long term and to introduce new mobility solutions and technologies for citizens and guests. Networking with other innovation actors at EU level is an important part of this.” says Lindau’s Major Dr. Claudia Alfons.
During the event, experts and project managers explained the current status of IMAGINEXT and pointed out initial results and successes. The participants of the event also visited together the new bicycle lane at Bregenzer Str., which was equipped with one of the sensors.
IMAGINEXT is a project under the support of EIT Urban Mobility.
