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What about demobilization?

13.04.2023

The health crisis has forced a large part of the population to consider differently (at least for a while) its professional organization by starting to telework. The energy crisis reinforces the idea of "demobility", virtuous for the environment as well as for daily life. What an incentive to take the step...

Born at the turn of the 21st century, the concept of "demobility" is based on a simple idea: eliminating tedious trips in favor of chosen mobility - or, as sociologist Julien Damon, a specialist in the field, puts it, "drive less to drive better. Because many journeys are useless, uncomfortable, unproductive and even a source of pollution (especially those resulting from car use), demobility aims to limit them. What was culturally or technologically unthinkable a few years ago in our societies has taken a new credibility due to the Covid crisis, which validated the principle of telework on a large scale... but also gave a large part of the working population the desire to reconsider its personal/work life relationship. To invest more in their domestic sphere while leaving room for their professional life in exchange for the elimination of some of the superfluous commuting.

Multimodality is trendy

While it may have once seemed utopian, this gain in quality of life is fully compatible with the need to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by 2030 as recommended by the IPCC - especially from commuting. In order to promote changes for the climate and our energy resilience, the Association des Professionnels en Conseil Climat, Energie et Environnement (APCC) has listed recommendations to reduce commuting distances.

In any case, we must reconsider the way we travel: in France, 29.7%* of GHG emissions are caused by transport, including 15.7%* from private cars. The use of public transport, more soft modes, and multimodal solutions should be encouraged at the regional level. This planning issue must be supported by the use of tools that make it possible to optimize mobility infrastructures by integrating the expectations of both public and private clients, as well as the new requirements of users.

Positioned at the crossroads of these mobility issues, Mobility by Colas responds to these demands by designing and implementing customized services to improve user mobility in the regions. Autosolism vs. multimodality, demobility is not the end of mobility, but the beginning of a new one.

Sources : *CITEPA / format SECTEN avril 2019