Category Archives: Urban Planning

Join the German Zero CO2 initiative!

German Zero CO2 is a large-scale campaign to make Germany carbon neutral by 2035.

Where we stand:

  •  The world is drifting into a +4 degree future, with devastating consequences for our livelihoods and for humanity.
  • If we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, no more than another 420 gigatons of CO2 emissions can accumulate in the earth’s atmosphere; at today’s levels, this corresponds to some 15 years of global CO2 emissions.
  • Germany will miss the 1.5 degree target from 2023.
  • The goals of the current federal government and especially the measures that have been adopted are completely inadequate.

Continue reading Join the German Zero CO2 initiative! →

Foot traffic check in Bremen

At present, the share of foot traffic in Bremen is at its lowest level (21%), less is not possible. And this is because the conditions for foot traffic in Bremen are very poor.


This is ridiculous

In order to draw attention to the numerous shortcomings to which everyone has become accustomed, the FUSS e.V. Bremen local group has carried out a foot traffic check in a district near the city centre, in the Neustadt.

The “discovered” deficiencies can be found everywhere in the city, and only 12 typical deficiencies were discussed during the foot traffic check. It is important for FUSS e.V. to create a general awareness of the fact that the mobility areas for people on foot or in wheelchairs are systematically poor or unusable and that there is an urgent need for action. Continue reading Foot traffic check in Bremen →

Parking Space Management / Fee-Based Parking – A Definition of Terms

In the objectives of the recently elected Bremen state government, regulation and limitation of parking are at the forefront. Strategic measures from the Bremen Transport Development Plan 2025 have now finally been included in the operative catalogue of objectives of our state government.

In addition, civil society is increasingly calling for a decisive change in transport policy. Among other things, it no longer accepts the unsustainable situation in many urban neighbourhoods caused by illegally parked cars and the climate-damaging “successes” of an automobile industry advertising the purchase of large cars against all common well-being:

– be it that on a local level the Bremer Verkehrswende-Bündnis has adopted the demands for comprehensive fee-based parking as an essential lever for the societal move “away from the car – towards a sustainable transport and a city worth living in”,
– be it that the demands for a stepwise reduction in the number of parking spaces, for city tolls and consistent charging of parking are now clearly demanded by the many groups that support the climate strikes in Bremen,
– be it that a growing number of associations and groups operating nationwide make themselves heard and demand a clear renunciation of the radical (almost) inaction from federal and state governments.

With this post, I would like to explain the term “parking space management” and explore its context in order to be able to be more linguistically uniform in our demands regarding such questions as “reclaiming public space” and indeed “parking” and to give them ever stronger impact.

What is parking space management Continue reading Parking Space Management / Fee-Based Parking – A Definition of Terms →

Thousands ready to take responsibility

… and again today – 29 Nov. 2019 – many thousands are on the street in Bremen with Fridays for Future. They vehemently demand that politics and society – EVERYONE of us – take responsibility for stopping the climate catastrophe and finally act decisively.

… some could not be told twice and started immediately on the spot…

Bremens first Protected Cycling Lane?

Bremen’s Neustadt – located in the centre of Bremen, on the left bank of the Weser – is developing into one of Bremen’s liveliest districts. However, the Friedrich-Ebert-Straße (see our post about Parking Day 2019 in Bremen) – a traffic axis designed at the height of the popularity of the “car-friendly city” – cuts the district in two and separates the neighborhoods of “Flüsseviertel” and “Südervorstadt” from each other. A working group of citizens who are committed to the development of the district have now presented a plan for the redesign of this main artery:

Cover picture of the brochure

Essential measures

Continue reading Bremens first Protected Cycling Lane? →

Parking Day: Or how to civilise a traffic hell  

The Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse in the Neustadt district of Bremen is heavily congested, or better said: a four-lane traffic hell.  People who live on this road are exposed to unbearable levels of noise and air pollution every day. Because this road – 30 m wide, then 60 m wide before it turns into the Wilhelm-Kaisen-Bridge – offers generous space for motorized traffic. Pedestrians and cyclists, on the other hand, have to share the narrow (4 m) sidewalk, and can hardly ever cross the road safely.


Not much space for everyday cyclists, Foto: Wolfgang Köhler-Naumann

Should this be the case? Is this appropriate for a modern urban environment?

We believe it is not. We wanted to show that there is another way to organize public space. Continue reading Parking Day: Or how to civilise a traffic hell   →

Guerilla action or a “city for people”?

Europe-wide Parking Day in Bremen, Germany

“A city for people” – for three hours reality in Bremen’s Neustadt.

This happened on the 15th Parking Day as part of the European Mobility Week in Friedrich-Ebert-Straße in Bremen after the super demo against climate change of “Fridays for Future” in the city centre with more than 30,000 participants (not bad for a city of 550.000!):


More space for cyclists and pedestrians for 3 hours, Foto: Fino Terreno

Continue reading Guerilla action or a “city for people”? →

“Geht-Doch-Manifesto” – Pro pedestrian traffic in Bremen

Manifesto pro pedestrians:

(The following is taken from the original text)

Lots of dosh for car traffic – hardly anything for foot and bicycle

According to a study by the University of Kassel, car traffic in Bremen receives a subsidy of 156 euros per inhabitant per year, public transport 115 euros, cycling 9.3 euros and walking 16 euros.


Pavements in Bremen, does it have to be like that?

Although Bremen does somewhat better than other municipalities, it must be said that car traffic is heavily subsidised. Continue reading “Geht-Doch-Manifesto” – Pro pedestrian traffic in Bremen →

Resident Parking – Transport Transition or Motorist Appeasement?

The new Draft Agreement on Cooperation in a Government Coalition for Bremen, 2019-2023 (from now on here called Koa Treaty) promises to install resident parking, to ban illegal parking and to push back the illegal practice of parking on pavements with two wheels. Hooray! Or not to Hooray?


Illegal Parking in Bremen – Foto: Beatrix Wupperman

It literally says: “We will consistently manage public parking space, i.e. we will manage the inner-city areas and identify resident parking.”

But we have to be careful: resident parking in Germany is super cheap. What is the upshot? Continue reading Resident Parking – Transport Transition or Motorist Appeasement? →