Paper short abstract:

The contribution discusses how knowledges of different stakeholders gather around the transformation of specific streets and links to the question how do conflicts between knowledge systems materialize in urban space

Paper long abstract:

In the context of the climate change mitigation the transport transition (“Verkehrswende”) is a key factor. Environmentalism has gained substantial ground in public debate, but its underlying logics are still contested. Should a city street be an infrastructure that serves “the car” or can it be a multifunctional space that also supports green space and ecological and social practices? The answers to this question stem from different knowledge systems (“Wissensordnungen”). This contribution focuses on two aspects. Firstly on the (divergent) knowledge about a good life in the city and a successful transport transformation and secondly on the views of activists and their practices - with which they accept, reject or reinterpret the prevailing knowledge, the resulting policy measures as well as urban spaces. It analyses what potential is there in ecological narratives and in everyday (protesting) practices for coping with global environmental change at local level. Fraunhoferstraße, Herzog-Wilhelm-Straße und Schwanthalerstraße are three streets in Munich, Germany, that are currently in the process of transformation. In this process diverging knowledge systems and different ideas of a successful traffic transformation result in heterogeneous conflicts. This contribution deals with the following questions: How are those conflicts influenced by different knowledge systems and how do they materialize in urban spaces?