Final Report Summary - SOLUTIONS (SOLUTIONS: Sharing Opportunities for Low carbon Urban transporTatION)
Executive Summary:
Transport is a key enabler of economic activity and social connectedness. While providing essential services to society and economy, transport is also an important part of the economy and it is at the core of a number of major sustainability challenges, in particular climate change, air quality, safety, energy security and efficiency in the use of resources (EC 2011: Transport White Paper). The overall mission of this project was to support the uptake of innovative sustainable urban mobility solutions in Europe and other regions in the world, in particular in Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean. The project facilitated dialogue and networking opportunities and promoted innovative platforms for knowledge exchange between European cities and cities across the world. Guidance and tailored advice were provided to city officials through regional analyses and implementation examples.
SOLUTIONS focused on urban mobility solutions in six different fields: i) public transport, ii) transport infrastructure, iii) city logistics, iv) integrated planning / SUMP, v) network and mobility management and vi) clean vehicles. The cluster leaders of the SOLUTIONS consortium have formed teams and identified solutions for each cluster theme. For each of the six clusters a team of project partners selected and elaborated a set of potential solutions, which would cover the scope of the cluster and have good transferability potential for cities around the world. Approximately ten solutions per cluster were selected for further elaboration into SOLUTIONS factsheets.
The selected urban mobility solutions were assessed regarding their transferability and the potential for uptake in the target regions. Cities from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean were involved in the project’s activities as Leading cities, Take-up cities or Training cities.
• Leading cities: Barcelona, Bremen, Budapest, Curitiba, Huangzhou
• Take-up cities: Guiyang, Belo Horizonte, Kochaeli, Kochi, Leon
• Training cities: Ammam, Casablanca, Durango, Hanoi, La Serena, Matale, San Jose, Sfax, Xi’an
While SOLUTIONS was strongly based on previous and on-going projects and initiatives, as is the nature of a coordinating action, it also provided added value that went beyond summarising and facilitating knowledge sharing and research and technology transfer. SOLUTIONS bridged the ‘implementation gap’ between the potential of innovative sustainable mobility and transport solutions and the actual level of up-take and quality of the deployment mechanisms
Project Context and Objectives:
Transport is a key enabler of economic activity and social connectivity. While providing essential services to society, transport is also an important part of the economy and it is at the core of a number of major sustainability challenges, such as climate change, air quality, safety, energy, security and efficiency in the use of resources (EC 2011: Transport White Paper).
Cities around the world have a need to establish sustainable transport systems, to provide efficient and safe mobility for their citizens with minimal environmental impacts. With limited opportunity to build new infrastructure, many cities need to increase the efficiency and capacity of their transport systems and are turning to innovative and technically advanced systems to contribute to this objective.
The take-up of urban mobility and transport solutions between global regions is particularly challenging as socio-economic conditions and policy frameworks differ substantially across the regions. Within Europe, a number of projects have successfully demonstrated take-up between cities, which confirms the value of collaborative learning and exchange of experiences within different cultures and planning practices.
Cities, regions and countries around the world often share similar urban mobility challenges with some cities being more or less progressive than others. While there are advantages to sharing best practices, examples and lessons learnt, it is beneficial for city officials and other relevant stakeholders to have a robust methodology in place, which they can follow to implement and harmonise successful urban mobility policies, measures and technologies.
The experience gained by several leading European cities following advanced approaches towards sustainable urban transport can be extremely helpful for other cities, regions and countries seeking to improve urban mobility conditions.
The overall mission of this project was to support the uptake of innovative sustainable urban mobility solutions in Europe and other regions in the world, in particular in Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean. The SOLUTIONS project aimed to support the exchange of innovative and green urban mobility solutions between cities from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean. The project made a substantial contribution to the uptake of innovative and green urban mobility solutions across the world, by facilitating dialogue and knowledge-exchange, promoting successful policies, providing guidance and tailored advice to city officials and fostering future cooperation on research, development and innovation. Project activities are organised around the following six themes:
• Public transport
• Transport infrastructure
• City logistics
• Integrated planning / Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans
• Network and mobility management
• Clean vehicles
Project Results:
1.3. Main S&T results/foregrounds
1.3.1. Identification of sustainable urban mobilty solutions
The cluster leaders who are part of the SOLUTIONS consortium have formed teams and identified about ten solutions for each cluster. During a workshop, the solutions were prioritised according to relevance and transferability potential and a smaller number of solutions were selected for further elaboration into solutions factsheets.
Table 1: SOLUTIONS thematic clusters and respective urban mobility measures and solutions
1.3.2. Regional analysis
The current situation regarding sustainable urban mobility was analysed for the three target regions: Latin America, Asia and the Mediterannean.
Regional analysis Latin America
Over the last two decades, some Latin American countries have implemented a series of measures to improve urban mobility, from more efficient public transport, often including integrated transport systems with specific solutions for high-demand corridors, as well as the development of non- motorised transport solutions.
The research shows that Latin America has a number of urban mobility problems. Mainly characterised by rapid rates of urbanisation, the consequent growth of informal settlements in the region has led to urban sprawl - and the public transport sector has failed to cope. There are high fatality rates among people using sustainable mobility. Car ownership, and motorcycle ownership in some parts of the region, is increasing.
The SOLUTIONS project focused in particular on the situation in Mexico and Brazil. The cities of Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and San José dos Campos, from Brazil, as well as the Mexican cities León and Durango, participated in this project.
Brazil is Latin America’s largest economy. As the region’s largest and most populated country, it has seen a significant growth in its cities over the last decades. The country faces environmental and social challenges driven by economic development and high levels of urbanisation. A growing middle class increased Brazil’s energy-related emissions by more than 21% between 2005 and 2010. Already, 85% of the country’s citizens reside in cities. Population growth is expected to occur in cities over the next 30 years.
Due to the challenges related to this, Brazil adopted a National Policy of Urban Mobility in 2012. The main objective of this policy is to provide a more efficient mobility system, while improving air quality, reducing congestion and reducing deaths and injuries caused by transport crashes. To deliver on this objective, the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) has become mandatory for large and medium-sized cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants with a clear target to build more connected, inclusive and sustainable cities. Engaging with citizens is a key component of sound sustainable urban mobility planning. This is one of the relevant topics where some cities in Brazil have conducted best practices.
Reducing CO2 emissions is an important objective for large and medium-sized cities in Brazil. There is also an interest in clean vehicles (with an emphasis on biofuel), more cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and on public transport, especially for bus priority and BRT. Belo Horizonte already has a continuously growing bike-sharing system, Bike-BH, with plans to have 40 stations with 400 bikes. Currently, the city has 72 km of protected bicycle lanes and it intends to add 308 km more by 2030. Belo Horizonte has already pedestrianised two streets in the city centre, which include bicycle lanes and a BRT terminal. There is a clear opportunity to replicate this measure in other areas of the city, and in other cities in Brazil.
The second most populated country in Latin America, Mexico has experienced largely unplanned growth over the last decades, and an increasing modal share for private transport. In the past 30 years, housing policy has taken a back seat: the need to address the lack of housing led developers to create disconnected, disperse and distant cities. A lack of coordination between transport and urban development planning is responsible for disorganised growth, which the country now needs to address.
The main problem in Mexican cities is private cars are increasing by 4% a year. If this rate continues, in 2030 cities like León will have about 1 million private vehicles, and worse congestion and air quality.
Mexico has taken several important steps towards sustainable mobility in recent years, such as creating a Federal Program for the Support of Mass Transport (PROTRAM), which has pushed forward the modernisation of urban transport in the country’s main cities. Furthermore, the National Strategy for Sustainable Urban Mobility promoted by the Agriculture, Territory and Urban Development Ministry (SEDATU) links policies and sustainable mobility programmes with urban development strategies. This drive to develop integrated public transport systems represents a radical change in the way Mexican cities move and are built.
Part of the requirements established by PROTRAM for cities to qualify for funding is a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). Cities have advanced on this task, but there are a number of shortcomings, such as strengthening the institutional capacity on technical issues to elaborate, implement, evaluate, analyse and monitor a SUMP. Some cities have created autonomous municipal planning agencies (IMPLANs) to address the lack of continuous development plans, and the need of a technically solid institution, which is above the political cycle.
One of the most important components Mexico needs to enhance is institutional arrangements - for example, creating financially and institutionally solid transport agencies in charge of public transport planning, regulation, operation and monitoring.
While Mexico should strengthen institutional and legal frameworks to provide high quality public transport services, solid financial schemes to ensure that public transport investments are financially sustainable should follow. The short period a municipal administration has in office is a big barrier to address. This may lead to designing and implementing immediate but not effective, car-oriented solutions, which – in the worst case – results in more cars on the road, worsening the mobility patterns in Mexican cities. In this regard, SOLUTIONS highly recommends continuing to strengthen agencies such as IMPLAN, which have shown to be quite successful at providing long-term planning instruments to consolidate urban development and transport planning in a comprehensive manner.
Regional analysis Asia
The SOLUTIONS project focused in particular on the situation in China and India. The mobility challenges faced by cities in China and India, ranging from difficulties in the development of cost- effective transport infrastructure to health hazards due the environmental deterioration caused by vehicular demand for urban roads, have made sustainable transport solutions desirable. In addition to improvements to public transport systems and improving the modal share of walking or cycling, these cities reflect a consensual need to restrict the entry of motor vehicles on their busiest or central thoroughfares.
China has seen a rise in its population density and urban population. The shift from China’s traditionally more sustainable mobility patterns and modal shares towards a rapid road infrastructure expansion creates more demand for motorised transport. This is expensive approach which increases energy consumption in the Chinese transport sector. Congestion and air quality are already significant issues in many cities and are at the top of the agenda for most city officials working on urban mobility. As a result, many cities have already invested substantially in traffic and transport infrastructure. With air quality being the greatest issue China has a strong interest in electric mobility. There is rapidly growing interest in developing infrastructure and systems for sustainable transport modes such as walking and cycling. Providing and/or improving the attractiveness of modal alternatives – such as public transport, walking and cycling – is paramount in achieving high modal shares for these modes, limiting road-transport demand, and thus improving the transport system’s overall sustainability. Ensuring slow but free-flowing traffic using Intelligent Transport Systems, combined with other demand-management measures is an area of mutual interest for the EU and China.
An interesting measure discussed in the SOLUTIONS project was bike-sharing. Based on European concepts, many Chinese cities are establishing systems within a very short time-frame, yet at very high level of quality and quantity. A number of cities in China such as Zhongshan, Hangzhou and Foshan, have introduced bike- sharing schemes based on the Parisian model. Several Chinese researchers and city officials mentioned a growing interest in Light Rail Transit (LRT) as a logical next step from Bus Rapid Transit (BRT); some of the key infrastructure, such as dedicated lines and high-capacity stations, is already in place as part of the BRT system. However, the operational funding of these systems is a key problem for public transport services in Chinese cities. The infrastructure cost is less problematic, as loans from domestic banks are readily available and land sales provide a sizeable income for infrastructure investment. The exchange between cities in Europe and China could cover not only technology and policy issues, but also operational and funding structures.
Since a systemic approach to mobility policy and planning is gaining recognition among Chinese mayors, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) concept presented in the project’s workshop was well received; a number of Chinese researchers and city officials acknowledge the need to adopt a more participatory planning approach and emphasised the opportunity for exchanging knowledge between Europe and China in this area. Public transport, in particular BRT, will be a key topic in the exchange between Asian, European and Latin American cities.
India has one of the largest urban systems and some of the most populated cities in the world. Kochi, one of the major ports in India, is located along the Arabian Sea and is the second most important port city on the western coast of India (the first being Mumbai). The population of the Kochi urban agglomeration (UA) has grown rapidly over the past 30 years. The densest part of the city is along major arterial roads, but Kochi has grown in largely unplanned fashion, with major growth along the key arterial highways towards the east.
While historically Kochi mainly depended on walking, cycling and inland water transport, the outward expansion of the city has led to an increase in travel distances and higher demand for motorised mobility. The use of personal vehicles is expanding rapidly with declining use of public transport and increasing income levels. Although public transport users and pedestrians account for 60% of all trips, there are few dedicated pedestrian facilities in the city and a complete absence of cycling facilities. Most roads have no defined footpaths, and where they are present, they are either poorly maintained or encroached upon by parked vehicles. The increase in capacity and the improvement in quality of the transport system has not been compatible with transport demand, which is always increasing the need for both for road space and parking.
Bus transport plays a vital role in meeting the travel needs of city population and together with ferries and auto-rickshaws largely meet the demand for public transport in Kochi. However, the existing public transport system has insufficient capacity for the interurban and suburban routes, as a result of the unhindered development of vast areas as urban extensions, unscientific planning in urban infrastructure development, and the absence of proper links to various forms of transport. Furthermore, the absence of bus bays and supporting infrastructure also causes buses to stop haphazardly, which is a concern for passengers and other drivers.
Likewise, as for other cities in India, planning, implementing and maintaining city transport facilities in Kochi involves multiple agencies. The local governments in Kerala state enjoy some degree of autonomy and have direct control over the developments; however, the state or national government usually controls larger infrastructure projects. While 64% of the land given to roads is for local streets which the Kochi Municipal Corporation maintains, the responsibility for the rest lies with other departments like the public works department, national highways, and Greater Cochin Development Authority.
In July 2012, the state government approved a metro rail project for Kochi, together with integrated water ransport, and created the Kochi Metro Rail Corporation (KMRL) to complete it. The KMRL acts as the umbrella transport authority for the city, coordinating all transport improvement projects in the city. A sovereign loan from the French Development Agency funds the metro rail project, while KfW, the German government-owned development bank, is financing the integrated water transport project.
Urban transport in Kochi is fragmented, with different departments involved in a single urban transport project, and the coordination between departments further delays the planning and implementation process. In the case of Kochi, the KMRL acts as a unified metropolitan transport authority, minimising institutional barriers.
Regional analysis in the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) are diverse in their urban mobility characteristics. These include rapid rates of urbanisation, the consequent proliferation of informal settlements leading to urban sprawl, the difficulties for public transport to meeting growing demand, and increasing incomes and car ownership rates in different parts of the region.
Efficient and well-integrated public transport systems as well as the development of the appropriate infrastructure for promoting sustainable transport modes, such as walking and cycling, prove to be high priorities for the region due to their appropriateness in addressing the severe congestion present in most Mediterranean cities.
City authorities have also started favouring an integrated approach towards urban planning, realising the benefits that may be derived for the local community if the principles of the SUMP concept are followed. There is less attention placed on city logistics, but city authorities recognise the importance of addressing the negative externalities of urban freight operations. Overall, Mediterranean cities can greatly benefit from European experiences in addressing the urban mobility problems they are currently facing, paving the way towards sustainability.
Three MPC were selected for a detailled analysis: Turkey, Israel and Morocco.
Israel’s high population density, with over 370 people per km2, has a great impact on its transport system. To address traffic congestion, which many Israeli cities experience, a number of local and national actions have been undertaken to improve the public transport system, enhance existing transport infrastructure, address the negative impacts of urban freight operations and achieve a more holistic and integrated approach to urban planning. More specifically, the country’s first Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are operational in Jerusalem and Haifa, respectively. Additional lines in these cities and new lines in other cities (e.g. LRT in Tel Aviv and BRT in Netanya) are currently in various stages of planning and implementation.
Outside Tel Aviv, Israeli cities do not follow holistic approaches to urban transport planning, but other cities are adopting elements of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) process while updating their municipal master plans. Within this process, some municipalities are also involving relevant stakeholders and are introducing monitoring and evaluation measures, which are mandatory for a SUMP.
Introducing sustainable urban mobility solutions in Israel is often challenging. Main difficulties relate to the division of responsibilities between the National Public Transport Authority and the various local transport authorities. Some policy goals have already been defined, in line with the sustainable transport agenda, for certain areas such as the strategic road network, public transport and walking and cycling. Public transport policy is highly centralised with several regulations (e.g. for buses, trains, etc.) formulated at a national level.
Governance on responsibilities between the national transport authority and local municipalities, and within local municipalities, is not appropriate. In most cases, several organisations share responsibilities; there is an extra challenge in reaching consensus and implementing a transport policy. Furthermore, the absence of regional bodies to manage transport in metropolitan areas also imposes a number of challenges.
Despite the aforementioned challenges, some policy drivers have facilitated the implementation of sustainable urban mobility solutions in Israel. Israeli citizens can also drive policy to a certain extent.
The transport sector plays a major socio-economic role in Morocco. It represents 6% of the country’s GDP and 9% of the tertiary sector. It is also responsible for employing 80% of the workforce, and accounts for 34% of national energy consumption. Road transport is predominant within Morocco, responsible for 90% for domestic trips and 75% of goods transport on the 60,000 km road network.
The economic development of Morocco is quite limited with government structures often being poor throughout the country. Public transport and cycling are associated with a low social status while the public regard private cars as more prestigious. Religious constraints generally exclude women from cycling or using scooters and motorcycles (with the exception of Marrakech). The Ministry of Transport is responsible for funding the majority of transport projects and provides policy directions. However, targeted policies towards sustainable urban transport are still quite limited with current urban transport plans (PDUs) covering broader transport planning. There is also no appropriate framework for adopting an integrated policy, as most existing regulatory frameworks are piecemeal.
In Casablanca, transport infrastructure has not developed as desired, failing to cope with the daily demand of citizens. The urban public transport system, which mainly consists of buses, trams, trains, and big taxis operating on certain routes, is poor, mainly due to the significant imbalance between transport supply and demand, and the low level of education of professional drivers. The high number of taxis further supports this imbalance.
Casablanca is currently working on the development of an urban transport plan according to the concept and vision of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). This is a good basis for integrated urban transport planning, and addresses several challenges and sets specific targets. To this end, sharing knowledge and exchanging experiences of the development of SUMPs in Europe is much needed and will provide significant benefit to the city officials.
Positively, there are indications that existing transport policies encourage the reduction of car use. Rabat, for example, has introduced increases in parking charges, encouraging the use of public transport, and built a tramway to increase accessibility in public transport, thus relieving the already congested road network especially during peak hours.
Introducing new public transport modes and appropriate policies can efficiently reshape the urban transport system in Moroccan cities. Developing the relevant transport infrastructure and prioritising public transport vehicles will greatly enhance accessibility to public transport for all citizens and result in higher quality services. Morocco should also develop efficient mechanisms for ensuring the active cooperation of all relevant stakeholders in the urban transport planning process. The need to address social exclusion is a very important driver for improving the public transport system.
Buses and minibuses (Dolmuş) are the main providers of public transport services in Turkey, while some major cities, such as Istanbul, have also implemented Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. Although buses are mostly preferred for urban trips, the number of minibuses is also quite high.
Several Turkish cities are interested in increasing the use of public transport over private cars, and specific targets have been set within their urban transport plans for achieving this goal. The dependency on private cars for urban trips often leads to bad congestion - a major issue for most Turkish cities. The lack of integrated urban mobility planning further intensifies the existing problems.
Urban sprawl is responsible for several urban transport problems in Turkey. Cities are mostly car-oriented, causing severe traffic congestion and significant safety and accessibility issues for the urban public transport system. Although cities promote cycling as a sustainable alternative to cars, the lack of the appropriate infrastructure hinders its wider use by Turkish citizens. On the positive side, due to the existence of various public transport modes, municipalities have significant knowledge and efficiently operate integrated public transport systems.
Following the example of Istanbul, several other Turkish cities are interested in BRT systems and developing rail transport, with several large cities undertaking major construction projects over the last decade, using both EU and central government funds. However, as all of these projects fall under the responsibility of the central government, conflicts often occur with the provincial transport master plans.
Managing fares and implementing smartcard systems are also major priorities for Turkish cities to further increase the share of public transport and provide high-quality services.
Turkey has not yet developed targeted and carefully planned strategies and policies dedicated to urban freight transport systems, which, as a result, are disorganised. Kocaeli is an exception, however, developing and implementing its urban freight master plan several years ago. Istanbul also has started work on a urban freight master plan. The presence of several industrial and logistics facilities in many Turkish cities actually urges the efficient development and organisation of urban freight transport operations. To this end, connecting Turkish cities efficiently with their surrounding hubs (i.e. ports, airports, etc.) is an emerging priority. ITS applications, such as the ones implemented in Konya and Istanbul for traffic control and management may further support this process. The Provincial National Police is implementing a new ITS system, which will enable municipalities to better control traffic operations.
One of Turkey’s main barriers to developing sustainable transport policy is the focus of transport master plans on large infrastructure projects rather than on smaller, softer measures. There is no specific provision for sustainable urban transport and no audit body for the planning process. Turkish cities often have the necessary legislative power to impose changes in their urban area; when they do not exercise this power, it is mainly because of the lack of political capital, the fear of public rejection or opposition from bodies with vested interests.
A government-led initiative forces Turkish municipalities to develop urban transport master plans. This approach ensures that all urban areas have a transport planning method in place. However, in most cases, there is little focus on sustainability. With the development of such plans often outsourced, the municipality holds little ownership of the proposed measures, and there is no method for holding the municipality, mayor or governing body to account if they do not implement the plan. On the other hand, if they implement an action not included in the master plan, there can be repercussions. Turkey’s central government is familiar with the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) concept, which fits well with the existing process of developing transport master plans. Local authority urban planners also appreciate SUMPs, but do not have a detailed understanding.
Considering that there is already a process requiring the development of transport master plans, the central government in Turkey should take sustainability issues into account within this process. It needs, for example, a coherent sustainable approach to better manage bus services. The heavy dependence of passengers on buses for their daily movements presents an opportunity for Turkish cities in achieving the goal of sustainable urban mobility.
Nationally, there is a clear need to reorganise urban public transport systems and achieve a better level of integration between different urban transport modes. Better transport infrastructure and technical support for successfully implementing relevant projects is a high priority. Aiming to cope with the increased levels of traffic congestion, a direct result of rapid population growth and migration from rural to urban areas, Turkish cities need to allocate adequate resources for a reliable, efficient and green urban public transport system. Within the SUMP concept, cities should also build capacity for the efficient integration of public transport and non-motorised modes. However, as most city officials are not fully aware of SUMPs, municipalities should efficiently map out its main.
Potential Impact:
1.4. Potential impact and main dissemination activities and exploitation results
1.4.1. The SOLUTIONS network
As a continuation of the SOLUTIONS project this network aims to sustain the collaboration on sustainable urban mobility implementation action among researchers and practitioners. This will build on activities from the SOLUTIONS project, such as the e-learning, trainings, research and policy advice. The network acts as a pool of experts, for example for short-term assignments, conference speeches, trainings etc.
As continuation of the cooperation within the SOLUTIONS project we aim to establish a global network on sustainable urban transport, building on the SOLUTIONS consortium members and expanding on that with organisations involved in the various project activities. This would then also provide the opportunity to have specific regional activities and exchange. Collaboration among the research partners of the network could include:
• Support for the implementation actions initiated by SOLUTIONS
• Joint publications on thematically related topics and projects
• Joint research initiatives
• Knowledge exchange and transfer
• Staff exchange and secondments
• Joint thesis’ supervisions
Members
Beyond the SOLUTIONS consortium, new members of the SOLUTIONS network can include other interested organisations working on urban mobility issues. Interested organisations can join the SOLUTIONS network for free, but partners are asked to bring in relevant projects and initiatives that provide relevant knowledge, dialogue and/or dissemination opportunities to the network. This aims to complement the research and implementation activities of network partners by generating synergies between research and policy activities with a particular focus on transferability to and from developing and emerging countries.
Structure and operations
SOLUTIONS will continue to support implementation action in cities and work on maintain the legacy beyond the project´s lifetime. This includes support for city-take-up and project twinning activities to continue our cooperation with cities in key emerging economies. This will be supported by the European Commission (through the FUTURE RADAR project) and UN-Habitat will be used primarily to continue the take-up actions in the existing partner cities and gradually expand these activities. These activities will also contribute to the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI). The coordination of the network will be supported by the Wuppertal Institute in close cooperation with partners who are willing to contribute to this task.
Towards low-carbon, sustainable urban mobility
The SOLUTIONS network will help delivering on the Paris Agreement and the NDCs in the context of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It will establish an international partnership to support national and local governments to develop action plans and concrete implementation measures to boost low-carbon urban mobility. The partners will work together on developing national action plan and local implementation concepts in key emerging economies with a high mitigation potential. The plans will include an assessment of the political, technological, socio-economic and financial viability. The local implementation concepts will be developed into bankable projects, focusing on the infrastructure and policy measures with the highest mitigation potential. This process will then be replicated regionally with support of the pilot country partners. Areas of cooperation between network partners include:
• Testing the transferability of low-carbon urban mobility concepts,
• Identifying appropriate funding solutions and facilitate dialogue with relevant funding agencies,
• Analysing the political and institutional framework and the facilitation of stakeholder dialogue to establish coalitions for the implementation of selected measures,
• Upscaling at the national level with the establishment of national city-to-city cooperation networks,
• Facilitation of exchange between local, regional and national level policy makers to harmonise policy objectives and measures,
• Global upscaling with an international platform to replicate the success in the initial pilot countries.
The SOLUTIONS network will aim to make a substantial contribution to a 1.5 Degree Celsius stabilisation pathway and will also contribute to making human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable by providing access for all to adequate, safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable mobility services and infrastructure.
The SOLUTIONS network will work on the development of national action plans for low-carbon urban development and local implementation concepts to deliver on the New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement. This will support national and local action and international dialogue linked to the UNFCCC and Habitat III processes.
To assess the gap between the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the action required for a 1.5 Degree Stabilisation Pathway national and city-level decarbonisation pathways and action plans for pilot countries will be developed in close cooperation with a network of partners from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Together with the city networks city-to-city exchange partnerships will be established, which will be dedicated to support the implementation process of low-carbon urban mobility solutions.
1.4.2. Training and exchange activities
The SOLUTIONS project held two programmes of e-learning courses in 2015 for professionals working in the field of urban mobility. The free online courseswere organised for those interested in bringing innovative transport solutions to their town, city or region, and who wished to expand their knowledge and share their experiences with participants from around the world. Each course, was designed to include tailored tasks and interactions with experts and other participants.
Nearly 1,800 participants from 232 cities in 73 countries – covering all inhabitable continents – had the opportunity to learn about innovative solutions for fostering sustainable urban mobility in cities and regions around the world. This included transport planners and decision-makers from public authorities, advisors and consultants from the private sector, as well as students and post-grads.
In addition, the SOLUTIONS project offered five free webinars for mobility experts. The webinars were conduced in November and December 2015 and covered the topics: City Logistics, Electric Vehicles for cleaner cities, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, Sustainable Public Transport, Light Electric Vehicles for cleaner cities.
SOLUTIONS to organised knowledge sharing workshops and trainings to disseminate innovative and green urban transport solutions to a wider set of cities of the target. The events were organised alongside major events in the target regions in order to maximize synergies.
1.4.3. Publications
A high number of publications resulted from the SOLUTIONS project. Different publication format were used to reach out to different target groups. The SOLUTIONS consortium published 12 peer reviewd articles, thereof 11 open access publications, 5 articles or sections in a book/ or book series and 2 papers in conference proceedings. Besides that, SOLUTIONS produced several publications that accessible on the project’s website and the Eltis platform including about 50 factsheets on urban mobility policies or measures and case studies on the successful implementation of the measure. For each of the six SOLUTIONS thematic cluster a Knowledge sharing kit and a Training kit were published that can be applied in training and capacity building activities beyond the project duration.
1.4.4. Events
SOLUTIONS organised a number of side events to existing renowned events to initiate a broad dialogue on sustainable urban mobility solutions and to provide targeted input to the project.
SOLUTIONS partners attended numerous local and international events where they presented and promoted the project to a wide and international audience. SOLUTIONS contributed to several events with presentations, panel discussions or side events. Examples of notable events include:
• EU-China Urbanisation Dialogue (Foshan, China – May 2013)
• COP 19 Transport Day (Warsaw, Poland – November 2013)
• Transport Research Arena (Paris, France – April 2014)
• World Urban Forum (Medellín, Colombia – April 2014)
• CIVITAS Forum, (Casablanca, Morocco – September 2014)
• X-International Congress for Sustainable Transport (Mexico City, Mexico – October 2014)
• Integrated Conference of BAQ 2014and Intergovernmental 8th Regional EST Forum in Asia (Colombo, Sri Lanka – November 2014)
• Michelin Challenge Bibendum, (Chengdu, China - November 2014)
• Transportation Research Board (Washington D.C. USA – January 2015)
• International Transport Forum (Leipzig, Germany – May 2015
• COP 21 (Paris, France - December 2015)
• 3rd European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (Bremen, Germany – April 2016)
• World Clean Air Congress and Better Air Quality Conference (Busan, Korea – August 2016)
• Habitat III (Quito, Ecuador - October 2016)
• Liveable Cities Symposium (Sapanca, Turkey – October 2016)
• COP 22 (Marrakech, Morocco – November 2016)
Furthermore, the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative, which is supported by the SOLUTIONS project, was promoted at several events.
SOLUTIONS held a number of multiplier workshops where the key results of the project were presented to practitioners from all target regions. The focus of the workshops was on the deployment of innovation in urban transport. Each workshop lasted one day and included between 25 and 50 participants.
Notable multiplier workshops include:
• CIVITAS Forum, (Casablanca, Morocco – September 2014)
• CODATU (Istanbul, Turkey – February 2015)
• Mayors Summit – Cities of the Future and the Cities & Transport International Congress (Rio, Brasil – September 2015)
• CIVITAS Forum 2015 (Ljubljana, Slovenia – October 2015)
• 3rd European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (Bremen, Germany – April 2016)
Beyond the events listed here, the SOLUTIONS partners have been involved in a number of events to promote the project and its aims and objectives.
List of Websites:
http://www.urban-mobility-solutions.eu
Transport is a key enabler of economic activity and social connectedness. While providing essential services to society and economy, transport is also an important part of the economy and it is at the core of a number of major sustainability challenges, in particular climate change, air quality, safety, energy security and efficiency in the use of resources (EC 2011: Transport White Paper). The overall mission of this project was to support the uptake of innovative sustainable urban mobility solutions in Europe and other regions in the world, in particular in Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean. The project facilitated dialogue and networking opportunities and promoted innovative platforms for knowledge exchange between European cities and cities across the world. Guidance and tailored advice were provided to city officials through regional analyses and implementation examples.
SOLUTIONS focused on urban mobility solutions in six different fields: i) public transport, ii) transport infrastructure, iii) city logistics, iv) integrated planning / SUMP, v) network and mobility management and vi) clean vehicles. The cluster leaders of the SOLUTIONS consortium have formed teams and identified solutions for each cluster theme. For each of the six clusters a team of project partners selected and elaborated a set of potential solutions, which would cover the scope of the cluster and have good transferability potential for cities around the world. Approximately ten solutions per cluster were selected for further elaboration into SOLUTIONS factsheets.
The selected urban mobility solutions were assessed regarding their transferability and the potential for uptake in the target regions. Cities from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean were involved in the project’s activities as Leading cities, Take-up cities or Training cities.
• Leading cities: Barcelona, Bremen, Budapest, Curitiba, Huangzhou
• Take-up cities: Guiyang, Belo Horizonte, Kochaeli, Kochi, Leon
• Training cities: Ammam, Casablanca, Durango, Hanoi, La Serena, Matale, San Jose, Sfax, Xi’an
While SOLUTIONS was strongly based on previous and on-going projects and initiatives, as is the nature of a coordinating action, it also provided added value that went beyond summarising and facilitating knowledge sharing and research and technology transfer. SOLUTIONS bridged the ‘implementation gap’ between the potential of innovative sustainable mobility and transport solutions and the actual level of up-take and quality of the deployment mechanisms
Project Context and Objectives:
Transport is a key enabler of economic activity and social connectivity. While providing essential services to society, transport is also an important part of the economy and it is at the core of a number of major sustainability challenges, such as climate change, air quality, safety, energy, security and efficiency in the use of resources (EC 2011: Transport White Paper).
Cities around the world have a need to establish sustainable transport systems, to provide efficient and safe mobility for their citizens with minimal environmental impacts. With limited opportunity to build new infrastructure, many cities need to increase the efficiency and capacity of their transport systems and are turning to innovative and technically advanced systems to contribute to this objective.
The take-up of urban mobility and transport solutions between global regions is particularly challenging as socio-economic conditions and policy frameworks differ substantially across the regions. Within Europe, a number of projects have successfully demonstrated take-up between cities, which confirms the value of collaborative learning and exchange of experiences within different cultures and planning practices.
Cities, regions and countries around the world often share similar urban mobility challenges with some cities being more or less progressive than others. While there are advantages to sharing best practices, examples and lessons learnt, it is beneficial for city officials and other relevant stakeholders to have a robust methodology in place, which they can follow to implement and harmonise successful urban mobility policies, measures and technologies.
The experience gained by several leading European cities following advanced approaches towards sustainable urban transport can be extremely helpful for other cities, regions and countries seeking to improve urban mobility conditions.
The overall mission of this project was to support the uptake of innovative sustainable urban mobility solutions in Europe and other regions in the world, in particular in Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean. The SOLUTIONS project aimed to support the exchange of innovative and green urban mobility solutions between cities from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean. The project made a substantial contribution to the uptake of innovative and green urban mobility solutions across the world, by facilitating dialogue and knowledge-exchange, promoting successful policies, providing guidance and tailored advice to city officials and fostering future cooperation on research, development and innovation. Project activities are organised around the following six themes:
• Public transport
• Transport infrastructure
• City logistics
• Integrated planning / Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans
• Network and mobility management
• Clean vehicles
Project Results:
1.3. Main S&T results/foregrounds
1.3.1. Identification of sustainable urban mobilty solutions
The cluster leaders who are part of the SOLUTIONS consortium have formed teams and identified about ten solutions for each cluster. During a workshop, the solutions were prioritised according to relevance and transferability potential and a smaller number of solutions were selected for further elaboration into solutions factsheets.
Table 1: SOLUTIONS thematic clusters and respective urban mobility measures and solutions
1.3.2. Regional analysis
The current situation regarding sustainable urban mobility was analysed for the three target regions: Latin America, Asia and the Mediterannean.
Regional analysis Latin America
Over the last two decades, some Latin American countries have implemented a series of measures to improve urban mobility, from more efficient public transport, often including integrated transport systems with specific solutions for high-demand corridors, as well as the development of non- motorised transport solutions.
The research shows that Latin America has a number of urban mobility problems. Mainly characterised by rapid rates of urbanisation, the consequent growth of informal settlements in the region has led to urban sprawl - and the public transport sector has failed to cope. There are high fatality rates among people using sustainable mobility. Car ownership, and motorcycle ownership in some parts of the region, is increasing.
The SOLUTIONS project focused in particular on the situation in Mexico and Brazil. The cities of Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and San José dos Campos, from Brazil, as well as the Mexican cities León and Durango, participated in this project.
Brazil is Latin America’s largest economy. As the region’s largest and most populated country, it has seen a significant growth in its cities over the last decades. The country faces environmental and social challenges driven by economic development and high levels of urbanisation. A growing middle class increased Brazil’s energy-related emissions by more than 21% between 2005 and 2010. Already, 85% of the country’s citizens reside in cities. Population growth is expected to occur in cities over the next 30 years.
Due to the challenges related to this, Brazil adopted a National Policy of Urban Mobility in 2012. The main objective of this policy is to provide a more efficient mobility system, while improving air quality, reducing congestion and reducing deaths and injuries caused by transport crashes. To deliver on this objective, the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) has become mandatory for large and medium-sized cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants with a clear target to build more connected, inclusive and sustainable cities. Engaging with citizens is a key component of sound sustainable urban mobility planning. This is one of the relevant topics where some cities in Brazil have conducted best practices.
Reducing CO2 emissions is an important objective for large and medium-sized cities in Brazil. There is also an interest in clean vehicles (with an emphasis on biofuel), more cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and on public transport, especially for bus priority and BRT. Belo Horizonte already has a continuously growing bike-sharing system, Bike-BH, with plans to have 40 stations with 400 bikes. Currently, the city has 72 km of protected bicycle lanes and it intends to add 308 km more by 2030. Belo Horizonte has already pedestrianised two streets in the city centre, which include bicycle lanes and a BRT terminal. There is a clear opportunity to replicate this measure in other areas of the city, and in other cities in Brazil.
The second most populated country in Latin America, Mexico has experienced largely unplanned growth over the last decades, and an increasing modal share for private transport. In the past 30 years, housing policy has taken a back seat: the need to address the lack of housing led developers to create disconnected, disperse and distant cities. A lack of coordination between transport and urban development planning is responsible for disorganised growth, which the country now needs to address.
The main problem in Mexican cities is private cars are increasing by 4% a year. If this rate continues, in 2030 cities like León will have about 1 million private vehicles, and worse congestion and air quality.
Mexico has taken several important steps towards sustainable mobility in recent years, such as creating a Federal Program for the Support of Mass Transport (PROTRAM), which has pushed forward the modernisation of urban transport in the country’s main cities. Furthermore, the National Strategy for Sustainable Urban Mobility promoted by the Agriculture, Territory and Urban Development Ministry (SEDATU) links policies and sustainable mobility programmes with urban development strategies. This drive to develop integrated public transport systems represents a radical change in the way Mexican cities move and are built.
Part of the requirements established by PROTRAM for cities to qualify for funding is a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). Cities have advanced on this task, but there are a number of shortcomings, such as strengthening the institutional capacity on technical issues to elaborate, implement, evaluate, analyse and monitor a SUMP. Some cities have created autonomous municipal planning agencies (IMPLANs) to address the lack of continuous development plans, and the need of a technically solid institution, which is above the political cycle.
One of the most important components Mexico needs to enhance is institutional arrangements - for example, creating financially and institutionally solid transport agencies in charge of public transport planning, regulation, operation and monitoring.
While Mexico should strengthen institutional and legal frameworks to provide high quality public transport services, solid financial schemes to ensure that public transport investments are financially sustainable should follow. The short period a municipal administration has in office is a big barrier to address. This may lead to designing and implementing immediate but not effective, car-oriented solutions, which – in the worst case – results in more cars on the road, worsening the mobility patterns in Mexican cities. In this regard, SOLUTIONS highly recommends continuing to strengthen agencies such as IMPLAN, which have shown to be quite successful at providing long-term planning instruments to consolidate urban development and transport planning in a comprehensive manner.
Regional analysis Asia
The SOLUTIONS project focused in particular on the situation in China and India. The mobility challenges faced by cities in China and India, ranging from difficulties in the development of cost- effective transport infrastructure to health hazards due the environmental deterioration caused by vehicular demand for urban roads, have made sustainable transport solutions desirable. In addition to improvements to public transport systems and improving the modal share of walking or cycling, these cities reflect a consensual need to restrict the entry of motor vehicles on their busiest or central thoroughfares.
China has seen a rise in its population density and urban population. The shift from China’s traditionally more sustainable mobility patterns and modal shares towards a rapid road infrastructure expansion creates more demand for motorised transport. This is expensive approach which increases energy consumption in the Chinese transport sector. Congestion and air quality are already significant issues in many cities and are at the top of the agenda for most city officials working on urban mobility. As a result, many cities have already invested substantially in traffic and transport infrastructure. With air quality being the greatest issue China has a strong interest in electric mobility. There is rapidly growing interest in developing infrastructure and systems for sustainable transport modes such as walking and cycling. Providing and/or improving the attractiveness of modal alternatives – such as public transport, walking and cycling – is paramount in achieving high modal shares for these modes, limiting road-transport demand, and thus improving the transport system’s overall sustainability. Ensuring slow but free-flowing traffic using Intelligent Transport Systems, combined with other demand-management measures is an area of mutual interest for the EU and China.
An interesting measure discussed in the SOLUTIONS project was bike-sharing. Based on European concepts, many Chinese cities are establishing systems within a very short time-frame, yet at very high level of quality and quantity. A number of cities in China such as Zhongshan, Hangzhou and Foshan, have introduced bike- sharing schemes based on the Parisian model. Several Chinese researchers and city officials mentioned a growing interest in Light Rail Transit (LRT) as a logical next step from Bus Rapid Transit (BRT); some of the key infrastructure, such as dedicated lines and high-capacity stations, is already in place as part of the BRT system. However, the operational funding of these systems is a key problem for public transport services in Chinese cities. The infrastructure cost is less problematic, as loans from domestic banks are readily available and land sales provide a sizeable income for infrastructure investment. The exchange between cities in Europe and China could cover not only technology and policy issues, but also operational and funding structures.
Since a systemic approach to mobility policy and planning is gaining recognition among Chinese mayors, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) concept presented in the project’s workshop was well received; a number of Chinese researchers and city officials acknowledge the need to adopt a more participatory planning approach and emphasised the opportunity for exchanging knowledge between Europe and China in this area. Public transport, in particular BRT, will be a key topic in the exchange between Asian, European and Latin American cities.
India has one of the largest urban systems and some of the most populated cities in the world. Kochi, one of the major ports in India, is located along the Arabian Sea and is the second most important port city on the western coast of India (the first being Mumbai). The population of the Kochi urban agglomeration (UA) has grown rapidly over the past 30 years. The densest part of the city is along major arterial roads, but Kochi has grown in largely unplanned fashion, with major growth along the key arterial highways towards the east.
While historically Kochi mainly depended on walking, cycling and inland water transport, the outward expansion of the city has led to an increase in travel distances and higher demand for motorised mobility. The use of personal vehicles is expanding rapidly with declining use of public transport and increasing income levels. Although public transport users and pedestrians account for 60% of all trips, there are few dedicated pedestrian facilities in the city and a complete absence of cycling facilities. Most roads have no defined footpaths, and where they are present, they are either poorly maintained or encroached upon by parked vehicles. The increase in capacity and the improvement in quality of the transport system has not been compatible with transport demand, which is always increasing the need for both for road space and parking.
Bus transport plays a vital role in meeting the travel needs of city population and together with ferries and auto-rickshaws largely meet the demand for public transport in Kochi. However, the existing public transport system has insufficient capacity for the interurban and suburban routes, as a result of the unhindered development of vast areas as urban extensions, unscientific planning in urban infrastructure development, and the absence of proper links to various forms of transport. Furthermore, the absence of bus bays and supporting infrastructure also causes buses to stop haphazardly, which is a concern for passengers and other drivers.
Likewise, as for other cities in India, planning, implementing and maintaining city transport facilities in Kochi involves multiple agencies. The local governments in Kerala state enjoy some degree of autonomy and have direct control over the developments; however, the state or national government usually controls larger infrastructure projects. While 64% of the land given to roads is for local streets which the Kochi Municipal Corporation maintains, the responsibility for the rest lies with other departments like the public works department, national highways, and Greater Cochin Development Authority.
In July 2012, the state government approved a metro rail project for Kochi, together with integrated water ransport, and created the Kochi Metro Rail Corporation (KMRL) to complete it. The KMRL acts as the umbrella transport authority for the city, coordinating all transport improvement projects in the city. A sovereign loan from the French Development Agency funds the metro rail project, while KfW, the German government-owned development bank, is financing the integrated water transport project.
Urban transport in Kochi is fragmented, with different departments involved in a single urban transport project, and the coordination between departments further delays the planning and implementation process. In the case of Kochi, the KMRL acts as a unified metropolitan transport authority, minimising institutional barriers.
Regional analysis in the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) are diverse in their urban mobility characteristics. These include rapid rates of urbanisation, the consequent proliferation of informal settlements leading to urban sprawl, the difficulties for public transport to meeting growing demand, and increasing incomes and car ownership rates in different parts of the region.
Efficient and well-integrated public transport systems as well as the development of the appropriate infrastructure for promoting sustainable transport modes, such as walking and cycling, prove to be high priorities for the region due to their appropriateness in addressing the severe congestion present in most Mediterranean cities.
City authorities have also started favouring an integrated approach towards urban planning, realising the benefits that may be derived for the local community if the principles of the SUMP concept are followed. There is less attention placed on city logistics, but city authorities recognise the importance of addressing the negative externalities of urban freight operations. Overall, Mediterranean cities can greatly benefit from European experiences in addressing the urban mobility problems they are currently facing, paving the way towards sustainability.
Three MPC were selected for a detailled analysis: Turkey, Israel and Morocco.
Israel’s high population density, with over 370 people per km2, has a great impact on its transport system. To address traffic congestion, which many Israeli cities experience, a number of local and national actions have been undertaken to improve the public transport system, enhance existing transport infrastructure, address the negative impacts of urban freight operations and achieve a more holistic and integrated approach to urban planning. More specifically, the country’s first Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems are operational in Jerusalem and Haifa, respectively. Additional lines in these cities and new lines in other cities (e.g. LRT in Tel Aviv and BRT in Netanya) are currently in various stages of planning and implementation.
Outside Tel Aviv, Israeli cities do not follow holistic approaches to urban transport planning, but other cities are adopting elements of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) process while updating their municipal master plans. Within this process, some municipalities are also involving relevant stakeholders and are introducing monitoring and evaluation measures, which are mandatory for a SUMP.
Introducing sustainable urban mobility solutions in Israel is often challenging. Main difficulties relate to the division of responsibilities between the National Public Transport Authority and the various local transport authorities. Some policy goals have already been defined, in line with the sustainable transport agenda, for certain areas such as the strategic road network, public transport and walking and cycling. Public transport policy is highly centralised with several regulations (e.g. for buses, trains, etc.) formulated at a national level.
Governance on responsibilities between the national transport authority and local municipalities, and within local municipalities, is not appropriate. In most cases, several organisations share responsibilities; there is an extra challenge in reaching consensus and implementing a transport policy. Furthermore, the absence of regional bodies to manage transport in metropolitan areas also imposes a number of challenges.
Despite the aforementioned challenges, some policy drivers have facilitated the implementation of sustainable urban mobility solutions in Israel. Israeli citizens can also drive policy to a certain extent.
The transport sector plays a major socio-economic role in Morocco. It represents 6% of the country’s GDP and 9% of the tertiary sector. It is also responsible for employing 80% of the workforce, and accounts for 34% of national energy consumption. Road transport is predominant within Morocco, responsible for 90% for domestic trips and 75% of goods transport on the 60,000 km road network.
The economic development of Morocco is quite limited with government structures often being poor throughout the country. Public transport and cycling are associated with a low social status while the public regard private cars as more prestigious. Religious constraints generally exclude women from cycling or using scooters and motorcycles (with the exception of Marrakech). The Ministry of Transport is responsible for funding the majority of transport projects and provides policy directions. However, targeted policies towards sustainable urban transport are still quite limited with current urban transport plans (PDUs) covering broader transport planning. There is also no appropriate framework for adopting an integrated policy, as most existing regulatory frameworks are piecemeal.
In Casablanca, transport infrastructure has not developed as desired, failing to cope with the daily demand of citizens. The urban public transport system, which mainly consists of buses, trams, trains, and big taxis operating on certain routes, is poor, mainly due to the significant imbalance between transport supply and demand, and the low level of education of professional drivers. The high number of taxis further supports this imbalance.
Casablanca is currently working on the development of an urban transport plan according to the concept and vision of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). This is a good basis for integrated urban transport planning, and addresses several challenges and sets specific targets. To this end, sharing knowledge and exchanging experiences of the development of SUMPs in Europe is much needed and will provide significant benefit to the city officials.
Positively, there are indications that existing transport policies encourage the reduction of car use. Rabat, for example, has introduced increases in parking charges, encouraging the use of public transport, and built a tramway to increase accessibility in public transport, thus relieving the already congested road network especially during peak hours.
Introducing new public transport modes and appropriate policies can efficiently reshape the urban transport system in Moroccan cities. Developing the relevant transport infrastructure and prioritising public transport vehicles will greatly enhance accessibility to public transport for all citizens and result in higher quality services. Morocco should also develop efficient mechanisms for ensuring the active cooperation of all relevant stakeholders in the urban transport planning process. The need to address social exclusion is a very important driver for improving the public transport system.
Buses and minibuses (Dolmuş) are the main providers of public transport services in Turkey, while some major cities, such as Istanbul, have also implemented Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. Although buses are mostly preferred for urban trips, the number of minibuses is also quite high.
Several Turkish cities are interested in increasing the use of public transport over private cars, and specific targets have been set within their urban transport plans for achieving this goal. The dependency on private cars for urban trips often leads to bad congestion - a major issue for most Turkish cities. The lack of integrated urban mobility planning further intensifies the existing problems.
Urban sprawl is responsible for several urban transport problems in Turkey. Cities are mostly car-oriented, causing severe traffic congestion and significant safety and accessibility issues for the urban public transport system. Although cities promote cycling as a sustainable alternative to cars, the lack of the appropriate infrastructure hinders its wider use by Turkish citizens. On the positive side, due to the existence of various public transport modes, municipalities have significant knowledge and efficiently operate integrated public transport systems.
Following the example of Istanbul, several other Turkish cities are interested in BRT systems and developing rail transport, with several large cities undertaking major construction projects over the last decade, using both EU and central government funds. However, as all of these projects fall under the responsibility of the central government, conflicts often occur with the provincial transport master plans.
Managing fares and implementing smartcard systems are also major priorities for Turkish cities to further increase the share of public transport and provide high-quality services.
Turkey has not yet developed targeted and carefully planned strategies and policies dedicated to urban freight transport systems, which, as a result, are disorganised. Kocaeli is an exception, however, developing and implementing its urban freight master plan several years ago. Istanbul also has started work on a urban freight master plan. The presence of several industrial and logistics facilities in many Turkish cities actually urges the efficient development and organisation of urban freight transport operations. To this end, connecting Turkish cities efficiently with their surrounding hubs (i.e. ports, airports, etc.) is an emerging priority. ITS applications, such as the ones implemented in Konya and Istanbul for traffic control and management may further support this process. The Provincial National Police is implementing a new ITS system, which will enable municipalities to better control traffic operations.
One of Turkey’s main barriers to developing sustainable transport policy is the focus of transport master plans on large infrastructure projects rather than on smaller, softer measures. There is no specific provision for sustainable urban transport and no audit body for the planning process. Turkish cities often have the necessary legislative power to impose changes in their urban area; when they do not exercise this power, it is mainly because of the lack of political capital, the fear of public rejection or opposition from bodies with vested interests.
A government-led initiative forces Turkish municipalities to develop urban transport master plans. This approach ensures that all urban areas have a transport planning method in place. However, in most cases, there is little focus on sustainability. With the development of such plans often outsourced, the municipality holds little ownership of the proposed measures, and there is no method for holding the municipality, mayor or governing body to account if they do not implement the plan. On the other hand, if they implement an action not included in the master plan, there can be repercussions. Turkey’s central government is familiar with the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) concept, which fits well with the existing process of developing transport master plans. Local authority urban planners also appreciate SUMPs, but do not have a detailed understanding.
Considering that there is already a process requiring the development of transport master plans, the central government in Turkey should take sustainability issues into account within this process. It needs, for example, a coherent sustainable approach to better manage bus services. The heavy dependence of passengers on buses for their daily movements presents an opportunity for Turkish cities in achieving the goal of sustainable urban mobility.
Nationally, there is a clear need to reorganise urban public transport systems and achieve a better level of integration between different urban transport modes. Better transport infrastructure and technical support for successfully implementing relevant projects is a high priority. Aiming to cope with the increased levels of traffic congestion, a direct result of rapid population growth and migration from rural to urban areas, Turkish cities need to allocate adequate resources for a reliable, efficient and green urban public transport system. Within the SUMP concept, cities should also build capacity for the efficient integration of public transport and non-motorised modes. However, as most city officials are not fully aware of SUMPs, municipalities should efficiently map out its main.
Potential Impact:
1.4. Potential impact and main dissemination activities and exploitation results
1.4.1. The SOLUTIONS network
As a continuation of the SOLUTIONS project this network aims to sustain the collaboration on sustainable urban mobility implementation action among researchers and practitioners. This will build on activities from the SOLUTIONS project, such as the e-learning, trainings, research and policy advice. The network acts as a pool of experts, for example for short-term assignments, conference speeches, trainings etc.
As continuation of the cooperation within the SOLUTIONS project we aim to establish a global network on sustainable urban transport, building on the SOLUTIONS consortium members and expanding on that with organisations involved in the various project activities. This would then also provide the opportunity to have specific regional activities and exchange. Collaboration among the research partners of the network could include:
• Support for the implementation actions initiated by SOLUTIONS
• Joint publications on thematically related topics and projects
• Joint research initiatives
• Knowledge exchange and transfer
• Staff exchange and secondments
• Joint thesis’ supervisions
Members
Beyond the SOLUTIONS consortium, new members of the SOLUTIONS network can include other interested organisations working on urban mobility issues. Interested organisations can join the SOLUTIONS network for free, but partners are asked to bring in relevant projects and initiatives that provide relevant knowledge, dialogue and/or dissemination opportunities to the network. This aims to complement the research and implementation activities of network partners by generating synergies between research and policy activities with a particular focus on transferability to and from developing and emerging countries.
Structure and operations
SOLUTIONS will continue to support implementation action in cities and work on maintain the legacy beyond the project´s lifetime. This includes support for city-take-up and project twinning activities to continue our cooperation with cities in key emerging economies. This will be supported by the European Commission (through the FUTURE RADAR project) and UN-Habitat will be used primarily to continue the take-up actions in the existing partner cities and gradually expand these activities. These activities will also contribute to the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI). The coordination of the network will be supported by the Wuppertal Institute in close cooperation with partners who are willing to contribute to this task.
Towards low-carbon, sustainable urban mobility
The SOLUTIONS network will help delivering on the Paris Agreement and the NDCs in the context of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It will establish an international partnership to support national and local governments to develop action plans and concrete implementation measures to boost low-carbon urban mobility. The partners will work together on developing national action plan and local implementation concepts in key emerging economies with a high mitigation potential. The plans will include an assessment of the political, technological, socio-economic and financial viability. The local implementation concepts will be developed into bankable projects, focusing on the infrastructure and policy measures with the highest mitigation potential. This process will then be replicated regionally with support of the pilot country partners. Areas of cooperation between network partners include:
• Testing the transferability of low-carbon urban mobility concepts,
• Identifying appropriate funding solutions and facilitate dialogue with relevant funding agencies,
• Analysing the political and institutional framework and the facilitation of stakeholder dialogue to establish coalitions for the implementation of selected measures,
• Upscaling at the national level with the establishment of national city-to-city cooperation networks,
• Facilitation of exchange between local, regional and national level policy makers to harmonise policy objectives and measures,
• Global upscaling with an international platform to replicate the success in the initial pilot countries.
The SOLUTIONS network will aim to make a substantial contribution to a 1.5 Degree Celsius stabilisation pathway and will also contribute to making human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable by providing access for all to adequate, safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable mobility services and infrastructure.
The SOLUTIONS network will work on the development of national action plans for low-carbon urban development and local implementation concepts to deliver on the New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement. This will support national and local action and international dialogue linked to the UNFCCC and Habitat III processes.
To assess the gap between the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the action required for a 1.5 Degree Stabilisation Pathway national and city-level decarbonisation pathways and action plans for pilot countries will be developed in close cooperation with a network of partners from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Together with the city networks city-to-city exchange partnerships will be established, which will be dedicated to support the implementation process of low-carbon urban mobility solutions.
1.4.2. Training and exchange activities
The SOLUTIONS project held two programmes of e-learning courses in 2015 for professionals working in the field of urban mobility. The free online courseswere organised for those interested in bringing innovative transport solutions to their town, city or region, and who wished to expand their knowledge and share their experiences with participants from around the world. Each course, was designed to include tailored tasks and interactions with experts and other participants.
Nearly 1,800 participants from 232 cities in 73 countries – covering all inhabitable continents – had the opportunity to learn about innovative solutions for fostering sustainable urban mobility in cities and regions around the world. This included transport planners and decision-makers from public authorities, advisors and consultants from the private sector, as well as students and post-grads.
In addition, the SOLUTIONS project offered five free webinars for mobility experts. The webinars were conduced in November and December 2015 and covered the topics: City Logistics, Electric Vehicles for cleaner cities, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, Sustainable Public Transport, Light Electric Vehicles for cleaner cities.
SOLUTIONS to organised knowledge sharing workshops and trainings to disseminate innovative and green urban transport solutions to a wider set of cities of the target. The events were organised alongside major events in the target regions in order to maximize synergies.
1.4.3. Publications
A high number of publications resulted from the SOLUTIONS project. Different publication format were used to reach out to different target groups. The SOLUTIONS consortium published 12 peer reviewd articles, thereof 11 open access publications, 5 articles or sections in a book/ or book series and 2 papers in conference proceedings. Besides that, SOLUTIONS produced several publications that accessible on the project’s website and the Eltis platform including about 50 factsheets on urban mobility policies or measures and case studies on the successful implementation of the measure. For each of the six SOLUTIONS thematic cluster a Knowledge sharing kit and a Training kit were published that can be applied in training and capacity building activities beyond the project duration.
1.4.4. Events
SOLUTIONS organised a number of side events to existing renowned events to initiate a broad dialogue on sustainable urban mobility solutions and to provide targeted input to the project.
SOLUTIONS partners attended numerous local and international events where they presented and promoted the project to a wide and international audience. SOLUTIONS contributed to several events with presentations, panel discussions or side events. Examples of notable events include:
• EU-China Urbanisation Dialogue (Foshan, China – May 2013)
• COP 19 Transport Day (Warsaw, Poland – November 2013)
• Transport Research Arena (Paris, France – April 2014)
• World Urban Forum (Medellín, Colombia – April 2014)
• CIVITAS Forum, (Casablanca, Morocco – September 2014)
• X-International Congress for Sustainable Transport (Mexico City, Mexico – October 2014)
• Integrated Conference of BAQ 2014and Intergovernmental 8th Regional EST Forum in Asia (Colombo, Sri Lanka – November 2014)
• Michelin Challenge Bibendum, (Chengdu, China - November 2014)
• Transportation Research Board (Washington D.C. USA – January 2015)
• International Transport Forum (Leipzig, Germany – May 2015
• COP 21 (Paris, France - December 2015)
• 3rd European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (Bremen, Germany – April 2016)
• World Clean Air Congress and Better Air Quality Conference (Busan, Korea – August 2016)
• Habitat III (Quito, Ecuador - October 2016)
• Liveable Cities Symposium (Sapanca, Turkey – October 2016)
• COP 22 (Marrakech, Morocco – November 2016)
Furthermore, the Urban Electric Mobility Initiative, which is supported by the SOLUTIONS project, was promoted at several events.
SOLUTIONS held a number of multiplier workshops where the key results of the project were presented to practitioners from all target regions. The focus of the workshops was on the deployment of innovation in urban transport. Each workshop lasted one day and included between 25 and 50 participants.
Notable multiplier workshops include:
• CIVITAS Forum, (Casablanca, Morocco – September 2014)
• CODATU (Istanbul, Turkey – February 2015)
• Mayors Summit – Cities of the Future and the Cities & Transport International Congress (Rio, Brasil – September 2015)
• CIVITAS Forum 2015 (Ljubljana, Slovenia – October 2015)
• 3rd European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (Bremen, Germany – April 2016)
Beyond the events listed here, the SOLUTIONS partners have been involved in a number of events to promote the project and its aims and objectives.
List of Websites:
http://www.urban-mobility-solutions.eu
