created by Lucas Bryssinck, Zoltán Nádudvary

Mobility Deserts in Hamburg

The present analysis examines so-called Mobility Deserts, urban areas where the population has only limited access to public transport, which frequently correlates with socioeconomic disadvantages. We would like to highlight in this data story how these issues relate to each other through the visualization of public transport coverage data and the focus on a case study in the city of Hamburg.

Catchment Areas of U-Bahn and S-Bahn

Hamburg's rapid transit system is essentially carried by U-Bahn and S-Bahn, which are oriented toward the central hub Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. In the map, a red 750-meter buffer marks the walking accessibility of U-Bahn stations, while a blue buffer buffer represents the same distance around S-Bahn stations. Areas outside both buffers can be classified as underserved and form initial indicators of Mobility Deserts. Highlighted is the neighborhood of Steilshoop, on which we will focus further in this data story.

Click here for interactive map

Focus on Steilshoop

Steilshoop is a large housing estate in Wandsbek in the north of Hamburg, built between 1969 and 1976 to address the city’s post-war housing shortage. It was originally designed as a modernist model district and was supposed to be connected to the U-Bahn network, but the planned station was never realized. The residents did not have direct access to rapid transit for decades, today it is served by bus (lines 7 and 177). Social challenges such as high unemployment, economic hardship, and a lack of infrastructure have shaped the neighborhood’s reputation.

Fact Sheets

Social Monitoring Index

Hamburg has developed the Social Monitoring system in 2010 to closely track neighborhood-level social conditions. Its goal is to identify areas where multiple social challenges are concentrated or increasing. The system examines key social indicators—such as unemployment, children in low-income households, and school completion rates—both in their current state and over the past three years. These indicators are combined into a "status index" (very low, low, mid, high) and a "dynamics index” (+, 0, –).

The following graphs illustrate the disadvantageous social situation Steilshoop finds itself in, by comparing it to the entire city of Hamburg. It is also notable that not much has changed in the past 10 years, no positive nor negative trends can be detected.

Social Monitoring Index in Steilshoop in 2024

Experiment: Comparing travel time by bike and public transport

As we have shown so far, the accessibility of Steilshoop without a car is poor and the neighborhood itself struggles with social issues and generally has low car ownership rates. To test out first-hand how this manifest itself in the movements to and from Steilshoop, we conducted an experiment.

The travel time and route with bike was compared to the values achieved by public transport (S-Bahn and bus). Despite the large distance of 9.2km between the Hauptbahnhof and the only existing StadtRAD-station in Steilshoop, the bike was faster in both directions. This simple tracking experiment shows that there is still a lot to be done to make Steilshoop a well-functioning neighborhood of Hamburg.

See the results of the experiment as an interactive map

Stakeholders

There is good news in the future for Steilshoop! A new U-Bahn line (U5) is planned which will connect many poorly served neighborhoods like Steilshoop with the main centers in Hamburg. There are many different stakeholders involved on different levels in the planning process and execution of a new U-Bahn line, some are listed in the graph below.

Appendix

Theoretical Foundation

The research question was already explored on different scales and in different studies. On the international scale the OECD explored in a study called "Improving Transport Planning for Accessible Cities" whether well planned public transport contributes to an accessible city (OECD, 2020). In Germany there also have been a studies concerning mobility deserts, for example the “Mobilitäts(un)gerechtigkeits-Atlas” which combined systematical socioeconomic data with a detailed mobility analysis of the city of Munich.

For the analysis the researchers used Data from open street map, data from German National GTFS and research data from studies conducted by third parties (Duran & Haxhija, 2024, p. 20)

Sources:
Duran, D., & Haxhija, S. (2024). Mobility (In)Justice Atlas.
OECD. (2020). Improving Transport Planning for Accessible Cities. OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/fcb2eae0-en

Data Catalogue

Methods

For data selection, we primarily conducted a traditional web search and used the search engine integrated into the Hamburg Geoportal. After reviewing the available data, we discussed whether the sources were relevant to our research question and whether they fit the narrative we aimed to create with our user-generated bicycle-bus race.

For data visualization, we aimed to maintain a coherent color scheme throughout. Additionally, we sought to design a colorful and engaging website. When creating the displayed graphs, we focused on authenticity to ensure they accurately represented the underlying data.

Results

Our research results reflect our personal experiences living in Hamburg. This is partly because we lived near Steilshoop for some time, which originally inspired us to explore this topic in the seminar. We recognize that we may have a bias regarding our thesis. However, after examining our thesis through our experiment, as well as analyzing statistics and maps, we can say that there is certainly some truth to our observations.

Fortunately, the city of Hamburg is planning a completely new U-Bahn line, which will finally connect Steilshoop and the surrounding areas to the rest of the city. This also reinforces our impression that there is a real need for fast public transport from the densely populated district of Steilshoop to other parts of Hamburg.

After reviewing the city’s plans, we are pleased to see positive developments in this area. The next step would be to research whether there are any other mobility deserts in Hamburg. For example, connecting the urban areas of Wilhelmsburg and Harburg to the rest of Hamburg with a second U-Bahn option could better serve residents living in potential mobility deserts.