It is one of those meaningful calendar sayings that, depending on the mood, can give hope or make you aggressive: "In every crisis there is also an opportunity." There are many confirmations of this optimist mantra: be it couples who are new after an almost separation fall in love with each other, or people who only find the courage to take on the dream job after losing their job.
Doctors are also familiar with the phenomenon. Studies have confirmed that medical emergencies lead to a fundamental change in the way that many people live. Permanently quitting smoking or doing more sport is much easier if a trigger experience has already forced a beginning.
But is the same also true of the current crisis? Will we be able to use the pandemic as an opportunity to maintain certain desirable behaviors that the crisis has forced us to do? The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI investigated this question with regard to the mobility of large cities. In two representative surveys in August 2020 and April 2021, it collected assessments of whether changes in mobility behavior can also be expected beyond the pandemic, for example by better bundling routes, doing things on foot or by bike or continuing to avoid long-distance travel.
The result of the scientists working with Johannes Schuler: Around two thirds of those surveyed in 2020 and 2021 did not want to change their work-related mobility after the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic level. At least with regard to tourism, things were different in 2020, with many of those surveyed planning to reduce further trips. That changed in 2021: The survey showed that an increase in private travel is even expected. The group of those who want to fly more than before after the pandemic is now larger than that of those who avoid planes.
In other words, it looks like everything will soon be back to normal. But at least 38 percent said that they will be on the move more because mobility makes them happy. And if significantly more people are aware of their happiness in the tough traffic jam in the future, then at least something will be gained.