Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPINE (SMART PUBLIC TRANSPORT INITIATIVES FOR CLIMATE-NEUTRAL CITIES IN EUROPE)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30
Transport systems’ significant contribution to CO2 emissions in the energy sector, highlights the urgent need for Europe to develop solutions that simultaneously reduce these emissions and improve transportation accessibility. The European Commission has recognised this challenge and introduced multiple strategies and policies to tackle this issue. Urban public transport (PT) offers numerous benefits, such as promoting sustainability, enhancing accessibility, affordability, and reducing pollution, congestion, and noise. Despite these advantages, public transport is frequently disregarded, and it faces negative perceptions and underutilisation, particularly among vulnerable groups.
SPINE project aims to expedite the transition to climate-neutral urban mobility by enhancing public transport systems with smart and integrated solutions. By focusing on new mobility services, active modes, micromobility, connected/automated mobility and sharing schemes seeks to improve equity, quality of life and access to PT.
To support this, a network of collaborative Living Labs (LLs) is established in 11 cities, where technological and non-technological innovations will be tested and implemented. A core component of SPINE is its equity design thinking approach, where co-creation plays a central role and the engagement of various stakeholders will be used to evaluate and further develop the proposed measures.
The four Lead cities include Antwerp, Bologna, Tallinn, and Las Palmas. The seven Twinning cities include Barreiro, Valladolid, Zilina, Sibenik, Heraklion, Gdynia and Rouen. These living labs incorporate diverse user perspectives and focus on developing transferable strategies. Furthermore, digital tools and data models will assist in the testing and selecting the best strategies to achieve SPINE’s goals.
The two main goals of the project are the increase in PT modal share and the increase in PT user satisfaction. To measure the project’s impact, an Impact Assessment and Continuous evaluation framework will be developed. This framework will start by evaluating the existing landscape and initial basket of solutions and detailing the baseline, benchmarks and assumptions for measuring the impact of the services. It will also provide guidelines for data collection to calculate and compare the KPIs.
The project’s vision is to enhance the current systems of the cities, evaluate them and apply the identified successful approaches to other cities. A key strategy includes the combination of technological innovation with a strong focus on user needs and societal impact. The integration of social sciences is crucial to the SPINE project. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that the solutions developed are not only technologically sound but also socially inclusive and culturally sensitive. To this end, SPINE will explore behavioral models (simulations), rebranding PT campaigns to raise awareness, an online digital bulletin board (forum) to facilitate open dialogue and exchanges, diffuse policy recommendations, lessons learned and training short courses.
SPINE project aims to expedite the transition to climate-neutral urban mobility by enhancing public transport systems with smart and integrated solutions. By focusing on new mobility services, active modes, micromobility, connected/automated mobility and sharing schemes seeks to improve equity, quality of life and access to PT.
To support this, a network of collaborative Living Labs (LLs) is established in 11 cities, where technological and non-technological innovations will be tested and implemented. A core component of SPINE is its equity design thinking approach, where co-creation plays a central role and the engagement of various stakeholders will be used to evaluate and further develop the proposed measures.
The four Lead cities include Antwerp, Bologna, Tallinn, and Las Palmas. The seven Twinning cities include Barreiro, Valladolid, Zilina, Sibenik, Heraklion, Gdynia and Rouen. These living labs incorporate diverse user perspectives and focus on developing transferable strategies. Furthermore, digital tools and data models will assist in the testing and selecting the best strategies to achieve SPINE’s goals.
The two main goals of the project are the increase in PT modal share and the increase in PT user satisfaction. To measure the project’s impact, an Impact Assessment and Continuous evaluation framework will be developed. This framework will start by evaluating the existing landscape and initial basket of solutions and detailing the baseline, benchmarks and assumptions for measuring the impact of the services. It will also provide guidelines for data collection to calculate and compare the KPIs.
The project’s vision is to enhance the current systems of the cities, evaluate them and apply the identified successful approaches to other cities. A key strategy includes the combination of technological innovation with a strong focus on user needs and societal impact. The integration of social sciences is crucial to the SPINE project. This interdisciplinary approach ensures that the solutions developed are not only technologically sound but also socially inclusive and culturally sensitive. To this end, SPINE will explore behavioral models (simulations), rebranding PT campaigns to raise awareness, an online digital bulletin board (forum) to facilitate open dialogue and exchanges, diffuse policy recommendations, lessons learned and training short courses.
Creation of a structured questionnaire incorporating questions from all WPs on the current situation (baseline foundation) and prioritization of their goals.
Comprehensive overview of the cities SUMPs and other policy documents to understand the current mobility landscape.
Definition of the SPINE Twinning Framework (Scaling, Replicating, Evolving).
Creation of a consolidated file with available and required datasets.
Refinement and description of the solutions to be implemented in all LL – Inception report live document.
Definition of SPINE Urban LLs methodology with the development of a tracking method, knowledge exchange sessions, Event Logbook and Living Lab catalogue.
Development of the impact assessment framework and KPI inventory.
Definition of the SPINE digital tools, customization for the different LLs, digital impact assessment, definition of the use cases and models to be used for simulations.
Cross pollination workshops for co-creation approaches and qualitative evaluation methods.
Over the past eighteen months, SPINE has made significant progress. It has established a baseline understanding of urban mobility systems in participating cities through extensive data collection and analysis. This has enabled the identification of potential solutions and the development of an impact assessment framework. These innovative mobility solutions are now being piloted in lead cities and effective coordination mechanisms are being established. At the same time, foundational digital tools and models are being developed, including a data space, digital impact assessment framework, and citizen-centric applications. The SPINE twinning framework has been defined, actively facilitating the transfer of knowledge and best practices from lead to twinning cities. Finally, the project employs robust project management, risk mitigation, and quality assurance practices, while also promoting gender equality and data management strategies. Collectively, these efforts are laying the groundwork for the successful implementation and the achievement of project objectives.
Comprehensive overview of the cities SUMPs and other policy documents to understand the current mobility landscape.
Definition of the SPINE Twinning Framework (Scaling, Replicating, Evolving).
Creation of a consolidated file with available and required datasets.
Refinement and description of the solutions to be implemented in all LL – Inception report live document.
Definition of SPINE Urban LLs methodology with the development of a tracking method, knowledge exchange sessions, Event Logbook and Living Lab catalogue.
Development of the impact assessment framework and KPI inventory.
Definition of the SPINE digital tools, customization for the different LLs, digital impact assessment, definition of the use cases and models to be used for simulations.
Cross pollination workshops for co-creation approaches and qualitative evaluation methods.
Over the past eighteen months, SPINE has made significant progress. It has established a baseline understanding of urban mobility systems in participating cities through extensive data collection and analysis. This has enabled the identification of potential solutions and the development of an impact assessment framework. These innovative mobility solutions are now being piloted in lead cities and effective coordination mechanisms are being established. At the same time, foundational digital tools and models are being developed, including a data space, digital impact assessment framework, and citizen-centric applications. The SPINE twinning framework has been defined, actively facilitating the transfer of knowledge and best practices from lead to twinning cities. Finally, the project employs robust project management, risk mitigation, and quality assurance practices, while also promoting gender equality and data management strategies. Collectively, these efforts are laying the groundwork for the successful implementation and the achievement of project objectives.
Nothing to report during the first reporting period. This will be explored in the next reporting period as the Lead Cities are in the initial stages of implementing measures and the development of the digital tools is ongoing. Preliminary discussions on potential exploitation pathways have commenced within the consortium and will be further elaborated in subsequent reporting periods.