A gigantic automobile fair like the IAA in a city that is currently trying to achieve a major traffic turnaround is also a great political experiment. There will be a crash in the city council when it comes to processing the premiere in Munich. It should and may be that way, democracy can withstand it well, and the auto industry will have to do it too if it wants to continue holding its biggest sales show in Munich. The big issues of the future, and not just the city, are debated: the question of how people will move around in the future without causing massive damage to the environment. And about the question, especially in Munich, of who the public space belongs to.
The city council ensured that this discussion in Munich was getting even worse because of the IAA, even before the 2020 local elections. When it came to the fact that the car manufacturers set up their stands in places like Odeonsplatz or Königsplatz, the latter refused to give their consent. The city council has long known which public spaces are affected.
Whoever is now surprised that the IAA will also be in the city in 2023 and 2025, and whoever whispers about secret contracts, should be careful that the debate does not go in the wrong direction. Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) is not the only member of the fair’s supervisory board, he also includes city councilors from the Greens, the CSU and the SPD. Above all, the city councils should not give the impression that the people of Munich had run a storm against the car manufacturers in their squares. The district administration department counted 13 (!) Complaints.
The city council shouldn’t get lost in contract details. The local politicians could drive the traffic turnaround, on a larger scale: They have the car manufacturers in the city at least twice. You can rub against them, put pressure on them with initiatives, and exert an influence by the way the fair is rising. How the city councils achieve as much as possible is something they should argue about. The IAA in Munich, the city of traffic transition – this is not just an experiment, but also an opportunity.