With 550 participants, the Foot Traffic Congress 2025 in Mainz was fully booked to the last seat! In cooperation with Velokonzept, Mobycon was able to support the host state of Rhineland-Palatinate in developing the program and preparing for the congress.
The non-partisan orientation of this year’s FUKO Walking Congress was particularly pleasing. The FDP-led Ministry of Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture of Rhineland-Palatinate was the host and opened a new door with the “City Centers of the Future” program. A strong signal to bring the topic of walking out of its niche and into the mainstream! The overarching theme: How do we design city centers that are liveable, sustainable, and fit for the future?
The speech by Transport Minister Volker Wissing was a real highlight. In recent years, he had made himself relatively scarce at active mobility congresses. However, this time he kept his word, was there, and took up the cudgels for the most sustainable form of mobility in the world. “We want to create quality of life in our cities, … and walking must play a central role in this,” said Wissing. An essential step towards finally discussing walking in the main room of the mobility debate!
The FUKO’s program covered a wide range of topics. Legal framework conditions, infrastructure issues, multi-level strategies, & municipal to pan-European cooperation were discussed. Additionally: safety, health, residential areas, tourism, place making, urban development, economy, longevity, and the upcoming crisis in elderly care.
Mobycon was able to contribute its interdisciplinary view across national borders to the congress program. Dagmar Köhler discussed the concept of “Woonerf 2.0” in an expert forum, and Helene Loy and Anna Tailliez applied the concept of “Good Street” in a practical way at an outdoor walkshop in a short version.
The congress aimed to provide space for new alliances and cross-sector collaboration. This has already been achieved in many areas. For the first time, key players from the healthcare sector made prominent appearances on the main stage, including Rhineland-Palatinate’s Minister of Health Clemens Hoch and Anke Tempelmann from the AOK Federal Association.
At the end of the congress, communication strategist Matthias Riegel inspired with his thoughts on communicative narratives around “Feet to power! or ‘Fridays for feet’. The message: get out of your bubble, break new ground, and appeal to people who previously had little contact with walking.
We are proud to have been part of the Walking Congress 2025, as it has impressively demonstrated: The interest is great, the potential enormous. Now it’s time to take up the impetus gained and translate it into concrete measures!
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