Keke P. Merz
Bio
Coming from a small car-dependant village in South Germany, Keke personally experienced a decarbonisation journey by moving from car to cycling culture.
Spreading the joy of this experience is the reason why they pursue a PhD at TUM on Wider Economic Benefits of Bicycle Infrastructure (WEBBI): to decrease barriers of cycling infra in planning and implementation by providing evidence-based arguments and quantifications of the wider economic benefits of urban cycling infra.
Lately, they have been experiencing challenges with the current world situation of (points at everything) and thus became interested in the direction of collapse research.
Besides cycling, Keke likes to read sci-fi and fantasy stories with bikes and to do archery (not yet from the saddle of a bike though).
Houskeeping
Pronounciation of Keke: [keːkə]. "ke" as in "kettle", not "kiki" like "kitchen"
Info on they/them pronouns: here
Sessione
Collapse is coming - or has it already arrived? The infamous face of collapse constructs a sudden
world-ending event which can only be fought by stock-piling beans and ravioli in the cellar (known
as “prepping”). In real-life such events do occur - and more frequently so these last decades - with
increased natural catastrophes such as floodings (German Ahrtal 2021, Spanish Valencia 2024),
landslide (Italian Niscemi 2026) or wildfires. The lesser known face of collapse, however, is slowly
creeping up in different areas of life that might not seem connected: break down of supply chains for
life-saving medicines (AIDS medicine 2025) or cancellation of the CSD parade (German Magdeburg
2025). How to encounter this looming doom? The appellative activism for quick political measures
seems to be unfruitful in the political shifting climate of today. In the last years, a movement has
emerged which focuses on the social side of prepping (“preppa tillsammans” in Sweden, “solida-
risches Preppen” in Germany) that radically accepts the uncertainty of our social, political, and
environmental future. Often framed as losing hope, this approach opens opportunity for self-efficacy
in the immediate local community and makes space for a structured analysis of potential crises and
communal preparation.
In my research paper, I investigate how cycling infrastructure can contribute from a social prep-
ping perspective: “Mobility Prepping”. At CRBAM, I want to further develop these research questi-
ons: What does collapse mean in the transport sector? How can bicycle infrastructure contribute in
a non-linear collapse and boost the resilience of communities with e-/cargo-bikes? How can we build
reliable bicycle infrastructure for unreliable times? Which wider economic benefit can we deliver by
this?