Changes in street space are a central component of the mobility transition: new bus lanes, bicycle streets, or the development of new neighborhoods change how people move around the city and how public spaces are used.
But with every change, an important question arises: What do new traffic management and street space designs mean for the fire department and ambulance service?
Until now, it has often only been possible to assess possible impacts after implementation – for example, whether routes of deployment change, certain routes become more difficult to navigate, or new challenges arise for emergency services.
This is exactly where rescuePY comes in: a software tool developed in the MCube innovation project DatSim 2.0. In the video about rescuePY, project leader Fabian Schuhmann shows how data analyses and agent-based simulations can be used to investigate the effects of mobility measures on fire departments and rescue services in advance.
With rescuePY, various scenarios can be digitally mapped and analyzed: How does accessibility change with new traffic management? What effects can new street space layouts have? And how can mobility measures be designed so that safety and operational readiness are always ensured?
Whether a bus lane, a bike lane, a new neighborhood, or altered traffic management – cities can explore different options and create an additional data foundation for their decisions.
rescuePY demonstrates how simulations can be used not only for traffic planning but also for critical areas of urban mobility. By making potential impacts visible early on, conflicts of objectives can be better identified and addressed together with relevant stakeholders.
That creates:
With rescuePY, DatSim 2.0 demonstrates the potential of digital tools for urban development: they help to better understand complex interrelationships and to proactively shape changes in urban spaces.
Because a successful mobility transition doesn't just mean enabling new ways of getting around, but also ensuring that cities remain capable of action at all times.
rescuePY is designed as a web-based GIS and analysis tool specifically tailored to the needs of fire departments, emergency medical services, and municipal traffic planning. Relevant information on road networks, operational areas, locations, routes, and planning scenarios can be consolidated and evaluated within a shared map interface.
An important component is the ability to record real operational drives with specially developed data loggers. This driving data can then be imported, visualized, and analyzed in rescuePY. This creates a reliable data basis for better understanding operational routes, driving times, recurring bottlenecks, or changes in traffic space.
In addition to evaluating real-world journeys, rescuePY can also calculate area sequences and simulate different operational scenarios. This allows for an investigation into which areas can be reached from which locations, how new traffic management systems affect response times, or what consequences specific measures in the road space could have for the fire department and emergency medical services.
Particularly noteworthy is the open and sovereign approach: rescuePY is based on open-source frameworks and is itself developed as open-source software. The application can be operated on your own servers, ensuring that highly sensitive operational data never has to leave your own premises. This creation transparency, traceability, and digital sovereignty. Municipalities and fire departments retain control over their data, their infrastructure, and the further development of the system.
At its core, rescuePY is powered by a modern, scalable software stack that integrates data processing, geospatial analysis, simulation, and web visualization. This enables rescuePY to be used for both specific operational questions and strategic planning processes, from analyzing individual emergency response trips to evaluating future mobility measures.
In 2025, representatives from various municipalities regularly met as part of a Community of Practice to exchange ideas on meaningful practices with urban data for sustainable mobility.
How can questions of equitable mobility be jointly researched and shaped? The seminar „Planning for Mobility Justice“ at the TU Munich highlights different perspectives on mobility (in)justice.
This year's cluster meeting was not only about the MCube innovation projects, but above all about the five-year anniversary of the cluster. MCube is celebrating 5 years and with it 5 years of mobility innovations.
While debates today are often characterized by hardened fronts, we tried a different format: the House of Commons debate.
The goal is to, evidence-basedMeans that decisions, measures or concepts are based on verifiable facts, data or scientific findings - rather than on assumptions, opinions or pure experience. The aim is to create a sound and comprehensible basis for action and planning. Develop scenarios and transition pathways for a sustainable, inclusive, and future-proof mobility system by 2055.
A recent study from the ReMIX environment investigates, through urban experiments in Munich, how specific mobility futures are made effective by three central performative mechanisms.
How can mobility innovations be designed responsibly — and what political frameworks are needed for this?
At re:publica 2026 in Berlin, MCube was represented at Europe's largest digital and society conference – with all 21 cluster and campus initiatives of the BMFTR.
5,000 guests, many insights: TUM's Sustainability Day made sustainable innovation tangible.
MCube Consulting is introducing SmartEvent, a digital tool that makes event registration in Munich easier and more efficient through the use of geodata.
What is MOSAIQ?
Imagine something: There is more space for people. The streets have more trees and plants. Everyone can get around better. That's how your Schwabing-West district could be in the future. How would you like your district to be? We want to talk to you about it!
The project is called MOSAIQ. MOSAIQ is a research∙project. MOSAIQ means: Mobility and urban climate in the future city∙part. The Technical University of Munich is leading the project.
What is MOSAIQ about?
MOSAIQ wants to make the streets in the city∙part more beautiful. People should feel comfortable there. There should be more space. For meetings and plants, for example. You can help decide what is tried out in the Stadt∙teil. The ideas come from you. Some ideas will be tried out on the streets for a certain period of time.
The aim of MOSAIQ is to make urban districts good places to live.
At the same time, the climate in the city should improve. And people should be able to move around the city easily.
What is happening in the district?
