Turbulent times call for experimental law

[...] Beyond Gorzer 128, Munich’s experimental laws are most associated with efforts to transform streetscapes. A signal success is on the Kolumbusstraße, which a few years ago was a standard urban artery, lined with 120 concrete parking slots and choked with traffic.

Oliver May-Beckmann, who leads the MCube mobility cluster at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), says his group used an experimental clause to close the street to traffic for six months to create a Sommerstraße (Summer Street). Some drivers and residents complained to local officials. But because the project was a temporary and science-driven Reallabor, or real-world laboratory, politicians could push responsibility onto May-Beckmann and the scientists. “They’d say, ‘It’s just an experiment, let’s wait for the data,” he recalls.

For half a year, Kolumbusstraße became a green space where children could play, residents could spend time and new forms of mobility were tested. The transformation was deliberately temporary, and after six months, the street returned to its previous state. But the evaluation produced a striking result: 66% of residents supported making the changes permanent. Whether and how to turn the experiment into a lasting transformation is now a decision for the City of Munich. [...]