Primary School Students in Kaufering Envision Tomorrow’s Mobility under the guidance of elisabeth schuster

Small visionaries, big ideas: Students from the Kaufering Primary School won the first prize in a Bavarian student competition on young citizens’ ideas for the future of mobility. Their imaginative ideas range from a forest village and a solar-powered railway station to a car-free school campus.

There is great excitement at the school following Class 4c’s win of the main prize in the ‘Creative’ category of the ‘bahnbrechend2025’ student competition. The students impressed the jury with their innovative ideas for sustainable mobility, which they had developed during a school project. They were rewarded with a €1,000 prize for their class fund, as well as a trophy. The award was presented at a ceremony hosted by Knorr-Bremse in Munich by Christian Bernreiter, State Minister, and Dean Balatinac, from Siemens Mobility.

The award-winning projects were created as part of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) project, ‘On the Way to the Future: Designing Sustainable Mobility’, which was developed and scientifically evaluated by IDK doctoral researcher Elisabeth Schuster at the University of Augsburg. The project was implemented in close cooperation with Melanie Abröll, who was the class’s teacher at the time.

During two intensive project days, the children explored how mobility could be shaped in the future to meet everyone’s needs. They developed creative models that viewed mobility as an integral part of liveable public spaces, enabling social participation. These models ranged from highly imaginative to more pragmatic conceptions. The ideas included creating a sustainable forest village alongside the River Lech, transforming historic Kaufering into a ‘Venice on the Lech’, designing a school area that is completely car-free, building a multifunctional, solar-powered railway station, and a sports ground that generates electricity through skating. They also planned a green Fuggerplatz, located in the middle of Kaufering, that is designed to be a ’15-minute place’ with short distances for all generations.

During the awards ceremony, the students presented their ideas with remarkable confidence and enthusiasm to State Minister Christian Bernreiter, the jury, and the sponsors. The audience responded with astonishment and warm applause to their detailed explanations and thoughtful concepts.

The success of Class 4c goes beyond winning a single competition. Winning this award demonstrates the value of providing critical and reflective learning opportunities in primary schools. It also demonstrates that Education for Sustainable Development can encourage negotiation and experimentation of ideas for shaping sustainable mobility, even at primary level.