by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Despite governments’ best efforts, traffic is getting worse in many cities, and urban mobility has become increasingly complex. Congestion carries health consequences, in the form of accidents and air pollution. Demographic trends will accentuate today’s strains, which aren’t solely about the movement of people. E-commerce is also growing fast, adding to the demand for urban commercial …
In order to enable mobility planning authorities across Europe to embrace the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) as the European-wide strategic planning approach, both the Civitas Prosperity and SUMPs-Up projects consider the role of the national and regional levels as essential for supporting SUMP take-up. This support encompasses governance, financing and capacity building.
In a bid to tackle air pollution and cut greenhouse gas emissions, many cities across Europe are rolling out plans to encourage people to ditch fossil-fuelled cars and choose public transport, or switch to cycling or walking instead. People are demanding that their cities change for the better.
ICLEI is working on a big demonstration project of sustainable urban mobility solutions: Civitas Eccentric. About 50 mobility measures are being demonstrated in the cities of Madrid, Stockholm, Munich, Turku and Ruse. The Eccentric project focuses on sustainable mobility in suburban districts and innovative urban freight logistics, two important areas that have previously received less …