How can data help shape the future of cycling in our cities? This workshop brings together researchers, policymakers, and advocates to explore how new data sources can guide planning, improve infrastructure, and turn evidence into strategies for safer, more sustainable urban mobility.
Overview
Financial and spatial resources for urban mobility are limited, making decisions about how to prioritize between transport modes inherently complex. Expanding cycling infrastructure often involves trade-offs that require careful consideration. In this context, data and research play a critical role by providing evidence to guide interventions, evaluate their impact, and support more balanced, transparent, and effective transport planning.
Purpose and Focus
This workshop explores data-driven approaches to understanding and advancing cycling in urban environments. It focuses on how insights from both established and emerging data sources can inform policy, infrastructure planning, and traffic management. In particular, it aims to create a platform for discussing the real-world implications of current research and its potential to shape the future of mobility.
This workshop will address the following questions :
- What are the latest developments in cycling research?
- What can we learn from new forms of data (e.g., GPS, mobile sensors, crowdsourcing)?
- How can research be translated into actionable strategies that influence urban cycling policy?
Programme
| Session 1: Measuring Cycling Activity Silke Kaiser (Hertie School) The usage of traffic sensors: interpolating city-wide traffic volume Daniel Velázquez (ISGLobal) Cycling Instead of Cars: Health Co-Benefits from Replacing Short Trips in the EU Carol Sobral (Hertie School) Estimating Cycling Mode Share in European Cities |
| Session 2: From Evidence to Action: Policy Insights (chair: Carol) Marcelo Lampkowski (ICLEI) From Data to Action: How Cities Report on Smart Mobility Nicolas Koch (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) Quasi-Experimental Evidence for Transportation Policy Making |
| Keynote Ralph Buehler, (Virginia Tech) "online" Cycling for Sustainable Cities: An Overview on International Trends and Best Practice |
| Discussion Session |
| Session 3: New Data Frontiers for Cycling Analysis (chair: Silke) Thomas Kjær Rasmussen (Technical University of Denmark) Understanding bicyclist route choice behaviour from large-scale trajectory data Danielle Gatland (HeiGIT) hiBike: Using open data to assess cycling infrastructure and facilitate traffic transition |
Participation
As outlined in the program, the workshop will include presentations followed by open discussions. Participants are warmly invited to join the discussions and, if they wish, to give a short lightning talk to share their work. Please sign up below. Places are limited for both formats, so early registration is recommended.
Speakers
Ralph Buehler
Ralph Buehler is Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech’s Research Center in Arlington, VA. Most of his research has an international comparative perspective, contrasting transport and land-use policies, transport systems, and travel behavior in Western Europe and North America. In addition to over 90 articles in refereed academic journals, Ralph is also the co-editor of the books City Cycling and Cycling for Sustainable Cities (both MIT Press). Between 2012 and 2018, he served as chair of the Committee for Bicycle Transportation of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and between 2019 and 2023 Ralph chaired the Urban Affairs and Planning program at Virginia Tech. This year he was a Senior Dreden Fellow at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany and he currently is an Otto Mønsted Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Denmark.
Danielle Gatland
Danielle Gatland is a Senior Data Scientist for Climate Action at HeiGIT. She is one of the developers of the Climate Action Navigator, developing indicators for the website (such as hiBike), building machine learning models, and doing backend software development. Danielle is passionate about connecting data and analytics with strategy to support good decision-making and lead to a more sustainable future. Her work has focused on climate change and sustainable transport goals.
Silke Kaiser
Silke Kaiser is a PhD candidate at the Berlin School of Economics and Hertie School Berlin, working on the application of machine learning to spatio-temporal data. Specifically, she is interested in the applicability of graph neural networks, explainable AI, and reinforcement learning to traffic applications. She holds two Master's degrees, one from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Quantitative Economics and one from Sciences Po Paris in Research Economics with distinction.
Nicolas Koch
Nicolas Koch is Head of the "Policy Evaluation Lab" at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). He is also a Research Fellow at IZA and RWI. His core expertise is the empirical assessment of climate and energy policies using rigorous methodologies for causal impact evaluation. Nicolas is an environmental economist drawing from the fields of urban and transportation economics, health economics, and applied microeconomics in general. His work has been published, amongst others, in AEJ: Policy, Science, PNAS, Nature Energy, JAERE, JEEM, and JUE. Nicolas received his PhD in Economics from the University of Hamburg in 2013.
Marcelo Lampkowski
Marcelo Lampkowski is a Senior Expert in Green Digital Transformation at ICLEI Europe, where he leads projects aimed at helping cities and regions achieve their sustainability goals through advanced digital and green technologies. With a PhD in Energy Systems and a background in Computer Science, he brings expertise in urban data governance and data-driven strategies. Marcelo has also held an academic position at the São Paulo State Technological College in Brazil, fostering international research collaboration between Brazil and Germany. His work focuses on IT solutions for sustainability, including renewable energy, energy-efficient buildings, sustainable mobility, citizen science and smart city advancements.
Thomas Kjær Rasmussen
Thomas Kjær Rasmussen is a Professor and Head of the Section for Transport Systems Modelling in the Department of Technology, Management, and Economics at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). His research interests include traffic assignment, behavioural models (primarily for route choice), network modelling, and utilizing the potential that new data sources such as GPS data bring. His work includes theoretical work, applied empirical studies, and developing practice-ready policy insights.
Carol Sobral
Carol Sobral is a PhD candidate and research associate at the Hertie School's Data Science Lab in Berlin. Her research focuses on the application of statistical models and machine learning to urban cycling data. Prior to joining Hertie, Carol worked on fiscal policy analysis at the Brazilian National Treasury. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School and a Bachelor of Economics from the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil.
Daniel Velázquez-Cortés
Daniel Velázquez-Cortés is a PhD candidate at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and Pompeu Fabra University, where he researches the health co-benefits of active travel and urban health. A physician trained at Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico), he also holds a Master’s in Global Health from ISGlobal and the University of Barcelona. His research experience includes collaborations at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, where he worked on projects evaluating movement behaviors and the built environment.
