For three decades, cars were at the centre of transport policy in Tbilisi - until Kakhaber Kaladze was elected as a mayor of Georgia's capital in November 2017.

The former football pro and ex-Minister of Energy and Natural Resources has set himself the goal of limiting automobility in favour of more socially just and environmentally sustainable urban mobility. As part of the CoMoDe research project on the unintended consequences and negative effects of mobility transformation in Eastern Europe, IfL researcher Lela Rekhviashvili took a closer look at these recent policy and infrastrctural changes in Tbilisi.

Then came Corona, the operation of all public transport in Tbilisi was stopped in order to limit people-to-people contacts. In her current blog post, Lela Rekhviashvili describes what this 180-degree turnaround means, especially for the city's residents, but also for her research.