The polysemous nature of the German Verkehrswende—Exploring the role of floating signifiers in shaping mobility futures

• Investigates contested mobility futures in the German transport sector through the lens of the floating signifier. • Applies a discourse network analysis to 456 news articles from 2018 to 2023. • Reveals how exogenous events reorient the discourse and influence the desirability of different mobility futures. • Actors' discursive strategies, including storyline polarisation and adaptation, shape the discourse. • Unpacks the ambiguous role of floating signifiers in the discourse dynamics of transitions. The German transportation sector's negative contribution to climate change amongst broader social, environmental, and economic problems is applying evermore pressure to the prevailing automobility regime to bring about its transformation. However, the vision of this transition, referred to as the Verkehrswende or Mobilitätswende , is highly contested, with varying conceptions of different actors about the future of mobility in Germany. A discourse network analysis (DNA) is performed to examine the development of the related policy debate, identify key problem and solution framings and analyse the overall discourse evolution from 2018 to mid-2023. The findings highlight how recent exogenous events shape and reframe the discourse, inciting debates around viable mobility futures. Further, our analysis uncovers a novel discursive strategy termed repugnostic framing, through which incumbent actors aim to oppose the framings of other discursive agents, leading to increased lines of conflict and polarisation, thus possibly hindering effective policy implementation.