Paper short abstract:

The DriveGreen project started with an idea to develop a smartphone app for reducing CO2 emissions produced by transport. A detour to sustainable mobility was made via a health and lifestyle app that tracks the use of public and personal transport and introduces walking, running, and cycling achievements.

Paper long abstract:

The DriveGreen project, carried out as a collaboration between anthropologists and engineers, started with an idea to develop a smartphone solution for reducing greenhouse emissions produced by passenger traffic. The smartphone application is being designed on the basis of an interdisciplinary study conducted in five urban centres: Ljubljana, Belgrade, Budapest, Istanbul, and Newcastle. The main premise of the development procedures - and the reason why anthropologists are engaged in the project - is that there can be no 'one-size-fits-all' solution for promoting sustainable mobility in various places and social settings, which is why the research team had to identify the most appropriate localised approaches and determine commonalities of the target cities.

The multi-sited study shows that environmental awareness has the least influence on mobility habits. Lowering fuel expenses carries more weight, yet is not persuasive enough to help reach the 'tipping point' for sustainable mobility. The DriveGreen team therefore decided to make a detour to promote sustainability via a health and lifestyle app that tracks the use of public transport and passenger cars and introduces walking, running, and cycling achievements. The app also encourages competition and cooperation by engaging users in individual and collective 'actions.' It is a holistic approach to mobility habits, which are not presented only as a 'carbon footprint' but also as personal and public achievements in physical recreation and in using city transport.

This paper highlights the main findings of the DriveGreen project and presents its development approach, which can be used to prepare other solutions for promoting a low-carbon lifestyle.