08/03/2010
Project BUSREP
Schiefelbusch in Luxembourg for citizen participation in public transport
The Luxembourgian Minster for Sustainability and Infrastructure Claude Wiseler wants the citizens to participate when the public transport network will be reorganized. According to the fifty-year-old politician, user committees and regional conferences should be convened for this purpose. Suggestions for next steps to citizen participation were given by nexus staff member Martin Schiefelbusch. By his own account Wiseler is open to further suggestions....more
06/10/2010
Citizens Exhibition "Full of energy - Magdeburger in an Interview"
"Everyone agrees to save energy. But just doing it - that is a different story", said one citizen of Magdeburg in Germany. She is one of 16 respondents of the citizens exhibition "Full of energy - Magdeburger in an interview." The exhibition is a production of the German Association "Wissenschaft im Dialog" (Science in Dialogue), supported by nexus. It will stimulate discussions about the future use of energy and supply. The citizens exhibition was shown at the "Science Summer" from June 5-11, 2010 at the Old Market in Magdeburg. Further details on the "Wissenschaftssommer" here (German). Free download of the citizens exhibition here (German, 3,5 MB, pdf). The video from the opening weekend of the "Wissenschaftssommer 2010" with project manager Maria Kolbert is avalable here.
06/10/2010
Project Citizens Bus Rhineland-Palatinate
State secretary Schweitzer visited workshop in Geiselberg
According to Alexander Schweitzer (SPD), state secretary responsible for matters of transport in Rhineland-Palatinate, citizens buses serve as an important instrument to warrant attractive public transportation in rural areas. "We need new ideas and concepts for flexible transportation offers, that cover the interests of an ageing population", Schweitzer said during the workshop in Geiselberg (West Palatinate). Here, in a commune of some 900 inhabitants, about 60 guests from all over the state discussed chances of the citizens bus concept. ...more
01/21/2010
Project youth competition "To sow ideas – to reap future"
From adventure vehicles to internight and music – Minister Aigner awards prizes
According to Minister Ilse Aigner (CSU), the results of the youth competition "To sow ideas – to reap future" speak for themselves. Ten winning teams received cash and other prizes, the first going to Rhineland-Palatinate. A protestant youth group from Rockenhausen (district of Donnersberg) won the competition with its project "adventure vehicle" ("Erlebnis-Wagen"), converting an old construction vehicle into a mobile sports and activities station equipped for archery, climbing and canoeing. The concept, organizing youth work in rural areas on a relatively low financial basis, convinced the jury.... more
11/30/2009
Project "Kurzplanungszellen"
Usedom Citizens See Chances for Cross-border Cooperation
A closer cooperation between the German and the Polish part of Usedom island might reduce negative consequences of the demographic change. That is the conclusion by participants of a "Planungszelle" (citizens’ jury), organised and moderated by nexus under the slogan "Usedom as a German-Polish island". Usedom grows together across former dividing borders. According to the 26 participants, therein lie opportunities to meet the demographic change – at the moment, especially young people leave the region. Participants are hoping for Usedom’s economic potential, triggered for example by its proximity to Polish Swinemünde. The city offers interesting job opportunities beyond tourism, in particular based on its seaport and logistics. Citizens see immigration by young Poles to areas of Ostvorpommern struck by migration as a chance for the region. The results of the citizens’ juries – named “Bürgergutachten” (citizens’ report) – document on 60 pages the event that had taken place from 28th to 29th July 2009. Participants were male and female senior citizens (60 years and older) of seaside resort Heringsdorf. Read more on the project website
Free download citizens’ report (in German): Bürgergutachten Heringsdorf
11/09/2009
Project: Evaluation of the Federal Program by the Free State of Saxony to Support Measures that Cope with Demographic Change
 Demographic change concerns many regions in Germany. On behalf of the Saxon State Government, nexus evaluates the federal program by the Free State of Saxony to support measures that cope with demographic change. The program focuses on projects and measures in Saxony that are designed to face demographic change on the regional level in a positive way. By analyzing the project’s – as well as the program’s – strengths and weaknesses, further recommendations can be set up to improve the federal program, to systemize and to optimize support strategies; the program exists since 2007. Read more on the project website.
Link: More on demographic change in Saxony
11/09/2009
Ned Crosby visits nexus Institute
With the objective of discussing further cooperation, the founder of the “Jefferson Center for Democratic Processes”, Ned Crosby, visited nexus institute in Berlin. During an intense conversation between Crosby and the nexus team led by Hans-Liudger Dienel, all participants discussed various methods of citizen participation. The main goal of the Jefferson Center is to foster local citizen participation. Since its establishment in 1974, the Center’s team has realized 31 citizens’ juries in the United States, a method of citizen participation (“Planungszelle”) developed by Peter C. Dienel.
Links:
Jefferson Center
More on "Planungszellen" (citizens’ juries)
10/27/2009
Creative-Workshop Sustainable Consumption
Ideas for Groceries, Transport, Housing and Leisure – Examination in Progress
Lifestyles, business models, community and products 2050 – each topic linked to aspects of sustainability – were at the center of the "Creative-Workshop Sustainable Consumption". On behalf of the German Council for Sustainable Development (Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung), nexus organized and moderated the workshop in Berlin on October 13th 2009. In a succession of inputs by experts and creative discussions in small groups, participants developed ideas and recommendations in the fields of "sustainable food supply", "leisure and mobility" and "future housing". About 90 actors from business, politics and society took part in the day long event; the project team is currently evaluating the results. These results will soon be published as a report on the websites of "Mission Sustainability" and nexus institute. Read more on the project website
Link: www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de (German with brief information in English)
12/11/2009
Inside nexus
Jan Wohland at Climate Conference in Copenhagen
Even the name of the Danish capital has been adjusted: as "Hopenhagen" the host city wants to show the world the importance of a successful UN Climate Change Conference. Up to 18.000 participants from 192 nations are expected, one of the conference visitors being Jan Wohland, 20 years old and currently doing a voluntary ecological year (German: FÖJ) at nexus. "We are hoping for exciting impressions of the negotiations and successful campaigns", he says. Participants of the youth delegation, for example, plan on bathing in Oresund. "It’s a symbolic act for those already in danger of rising sea levels", Wohland continues. The UN Climate Change Conference takes place for the 15th time; from 7th to 18th December 2009 experts meet in Copenhagen. The important objective is to pass a new global climate agreement, the Kyoto Protocol agreed on in 1997 expires in 2012.
The delegation with Jan Wohland reports directly from Copenhagen (in German):
www.jugendbuendniszukunftsenergie.wordpress.com
www.zukunftsenergie.org/cms/kopenhagen2009.html
Official conference website: en.cop15.dk
09/30/2009
Change of email and Internet domain
Since its founding in 1999 nexus has used email accounts of the "Technische Universität Berlin" (TUB). Related on a new external communication nexus has changed email addresses and Internet domain. The website is now reachable by the domain www.nexusinstitut.de The new email address for each employee will be nachname@nexusinstitut.de and for the institute at all mail@nexusinstitut.de. We kindly ask you to update your data. The receipt of emails with current addresses is guaranteed to the end of the year 2009. You will find current contact information including phone numbers and email address at the nexus staff page staff members.
06/21/2009
Project Megacity Hyderabad
Citizens’ Exhibition „Ready to Move …?!“ presented at Youth Summit
The Citizens’ Exhibition “Ready to Move … ?” prepared by nexus was recently presented at the second “Hyderabad Youth Summit on Climate Change” held in Hyderabad, in order to further promote the public discourse on sustainable traffic and transport. The summit was organized by the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) and supported by WWF, India. Its’ main goal was to engage the Indian youth, professionals and experts in a vivid discussion on Climate Change and its’ direct effects for Hyderabad. At the end a „Hyderabad Youth Charter on Climate Change“ including personal action plans and recommendations to politics and economics was formulated.
Further information:
www.sustainable-hyderabad.in
http://hysocc.weebly.com
www.whatswiththeclimate.org
Download of the Citizens’ Exhibition in [English] and [Telugu]
 06/11/2009
Project BUSREP
Book release on customer interests concerning public transport
Busses and trains are supposed to be attractive and to make a contribution to sustainable development. One option to achieve a high-quality public transport is to actively include passengers while planning the service. Facing monopolies of contractors as well as political regulation and influence, market-based incentives alone can not guarantee that expectations of current and potential customers will be adequately respected.
In the book “Customer interests in public transport – consumer protection and consumer involvement” the authors discuss concepts from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands. They give recommendations on how to frame a customer dialogue on the levels of politics, planning, practice and production successfully. The book especially addresses people in charge of transport planning and transport policy, but also the field of applied research. ... more
04/17/2009
Project „Participation at municipalities“
Compendium on participation in municipalities now published
Due to the demographic change the living conditions in many cities and communities will be modified. Therefore it is important that the cooperation between local government, companies and citizens is encouraged. This cooperation improves the quality of life but includes also challenges. "The administration employees need to take over a new role", said Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD), German Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs.
At his view, it is necessary for the administration to be "a partner and facilitator of events" - and not just only to perform an action. The now published guide "Strengthening local infrastructure through cooperation between citizens, administration and companies” is part of the nexus project " Participation at municipalities". There was a research in the municipalities Strausberg (Brandenburg) and Sondershausen (Thuringia). The project team worked on new opportunities for a more intensive cooperation between administration, citizens and businesses.
Reference (in German): Dienel, Hans-Liudger; Daphne Reim; Jenny Schmithals; Thomas Olk: Stärkung der kommunalen Infrastruktur durch Kooperation von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern, Verwaltung und Unternehmen. Leitfaden, Deutscher Städte und Gemeindebund, Dokumentation Nr. 88. Verlagsbeilage zu „Stadt und Gemeinde Interaktiv“, Ausgabe 3/2009. Verlag Winkler & Stenzel, Burgwedel/Berlin, 2009.
Further details (in German):
Table of content (pdf)
Project „Partizipative Kommune“
04/15/2009
Change of email and Internet domain
Since its founding in 1999 nexus has used email accounts of the “Technische Universität Berlin” (TUB). Related on a new external communication nexus has changed email addresses and Internet domain. The website is now reachable by the domain www.nexusinstitut.de. The new email address for each employee will be name@nexusinstitut.de and for the institute at all mail@nexusinstitut.de. We kindly ask you to update your data. The receipt of emails with current addresses is still guaranteed. You will find current contact information including phone numbers and email address at the nexus staff page staff members.
 04/03/2009
Project BUSREP
New book published on user participation in public transport
Public transport is essential to the quality of life of its passengers, both as a means to move around but also to achieve a sustainable environment. However, the passenger's position as a customer is weakened by the dominance of monopolies, regulation and political influence in our public transport systems.
The book “Public Transport and its Users” is one of the first to examine strategies for the representation of user interests in public transport from a variety of perspectives. The authors review approaches to integrating the passengers' views in the planning process and to protecting their interests in operations and customer care across a range of European countries.
... more
04/02/2009
nexus staff started events at Hyderabad
During its stay in Hyderabad in February 2009 the nexus staff members held the following events:
On February 21st the Workshop “Hyderabad Citizens’ Charter on Urban Transport” was held, which nexus co-hosted as part of the Megacity Project “Sustainable Hyderabad”. More than a hundred interested citizens joined the workshop and participated in lively discussions to make Hyderabad’s traffic and transport more sustainable. The demands of the citizens voiced during the event will be integrated in a citizens’ charter and handed over to the authorities.
On March 1st the Citizens’ Exhibition “Ready to Move…?!”, organised within the Megacity Project “Sustainable Hyderabad”, was inaugurated within the 5th Ward Sabah of the Tarnaka Residents’ Welfare Association with citizens of Tarnaka, a city quarter of Hyderabad, and representatives from Bangalore and Osmania University. The Citizens’ Exhibition is supposed to deepen the discussion about a sustainable traffic and transport among citizens and decision makers in Hyderabad. There is a free download below (English and Telugu).
Furthermore all main partners and stakeholders from Germany and India met in Hyderabad on March 2nd for a Scenario-Workshop in order to discuss probable development scenarios of the project’s main focus areas. Dr Andrea Koch-Kraft and Professor Dr Eckart Ehlers of the Project Management Agency of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) attended this event.
Download of the Citizens’ Exhibition “Ready to Move…?!”
English (2,8 MB, pdf)
Telugu (3,4 MB, pdf)
Further details on the project:
Megacity Project
08/07/2008
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Successful completion of the PhD: Martin Schiefelbusch with the examiners Prof. Mnich (left), Siegmann (centre) and Heinze (right) |
The nexus team congratulates Martin Schiefelbusch to the successful completion of his PhD
Transport science is used to look at mobility from a rational point of view. Trips are classified according to origin, destination, time and mode of travel and disaggregated if necessary. This is the beginning of the preface in Martin Schiefelbusch's recently published PhD whose title is "Travel experience - the design of the trip as a new task for public transport". How can a simple public transport journey be transformed into a travel experience? To answer this question, the author analysed among other data 22 case studies. Examples include the Berlin S-Bahn's Christmas Train, the "Sparrow Tram" in Gera and the Hamburg "Nightcruiser". The presentation of the case studies includes their background, planning and user reactions. In a comparative analysis, Schiefelbusch then scrutinises the examples according to their emotional attractiveness. The starting point for the PhD was the
"Eventverkehr" project on which nexus worked with several partners between 2000 and 2004.
02/22/2008
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Dr. Gerhard Sabathil receives the citizens’ report from participants of the Berlin planning cells. |
Presentation of the citizens‘ report to the European Commission
Key Points for an Open, Ecological and Civil Europe
According to Dr. Gerhard Sabathil citizens should be more involved in the process of European integration. On the occasion of the presentation of the citizens’ report Dr. Sabathil pointed out that the European Commission knows well about the interests of different pressure groups. “Therefore I am very interested in the results of the citizens’ report and I am happy to transmit them to Brussels”, underlined Dr. Sabathil.
The presentation of the report in the European House in Berlin was the completion of the planning cells within the European Citizens’ Consultations (ECC). A team consisting of researchers and research assistants of the nexus Institute prepared, coordinated, and moderated the whole process under the lead of Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel... more.
02/12/2008
International Workshop
The ELOST Consortium invites all eGovernment-Experts to participate in an international workshop to discuss the outcome of the project and especially its Policy Recommendations. Interested experts can register until 29 February. For more information on workshop and registration, please click here. For a detailed agenda, please click here.
10/26/2007
A new network is the answer about the demographic change of rural areas. Main objectives of the network, which has been founded in Stendal (Saxony-Anhalt) last week, is to improve the relations between citizens and organizations of the city and the Altmark area around. The nexus Institute will develop structure and content during the next weeks. ...more
09/03/2007
Project mobikult
Since two years the nexus Institute has developed together with the Technical University of Berlin new concepts of public transport in rural areas of the federal state Brandenburg. The closing event will be held in Cottbus at September 20th, 2007. It starts at the Stadthaus at 10.15 hrs and will be closed at 16.30 hrs. The event is presented by Prof. Dr. Horst Luley together with the project team and successful mobikult participants.
Find further details (pdf file in German):
Invitation [pdf]
Agenda [pdf]
Registration [pdf]
07/12/2007
nexus advises Welsh Assembly Government on the set-up of a Public Transport Users Committee
The Welsh Assembly Government has invited nexus to contribute its experience to the set-up of a transport user committee in Wales. The first meeting of a working group to develop the statute of the organisation and to consider the selection process for members took place on 12 July. It is intended that the new body shall have its first public meeting in October 2008.
12/15/2006
The "BUSREP" project (Strategies for Better User
Representation in urban public transport) is extended until the end of
2007. Topics for the coming year are the perception of different quality
standards, the role of mediation and dispute resolution bodies and
further publications."
03/18/2006
nexus-employees at European Passengers' Federation at Maastricht ... more
03/08/2006
The international workshop Sustainable Hyderabad in Hyderabad/India was a great
success. The Indian-German-American Consortium had fruitful meetings
with local partners and with politcal representatives of the
Municipality, the State of Andra Pradesh and the Federal Government. The
seven tri-national pilot project teams of the consortium made a big step
toward realisation of their specific plans.
Megacity project: efforts on for sustainable progress - The Hindu (03.03.06)]
International workshop on 'Megacity Project, Hyderabad' inaugurated - The Hindu (03.03.06)
02/07/2006
EU-funded research Project (*Specific support action, FP6-2004-IST-4)
E-government for LOw Socio-economic sTatus groups (ELOST)"
did start. Kick-off meeting was held in Tel Aviv on February 6-7, 2006. Duration: 1/2006 – 12/2007
12/01/2005
nexus develops models for young persons and families’ life in the countryside. ... more
09/29/05
Conference
Berlin, 29.-30. September 2005
More customers through more participation?
Strategies and concepts for the dialogue between public transport passengers and operators
The position of public transport users has traditionally been weak compared to the consumers' situation on many other markets. This is due to two main reasons: Public transport is dominated by monopoly conditions and a strong political influence on the service provided. In most countries, provision is highly regulated, but consumer protection - in particular in case of delays and other service malfunctions - has often been lacking. However, to bear in mind user interests is essential for the acceptance of public transport as an alternative to the car and a contribution to the balanced and sustainable development of tomorrow's conurbations. These interests must be given due consideration on the planning, operational and customer service level. Issues and approaches for the involvement and representation of public transport users will be discussed on a two-day conference organised as part of the BUSREP project.
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