Participatory planning of transport, the core area of the first workshop of European project SMART-MR in Ljubljana
| Subject: Mobility and Transport, International Relations
The objective of the project, which is expected to run for five years, is to contribute with sustainable measures for transport and mobility in metropolitan areas. The AMB presented the Mobility Council at the Slovenian city, as a success case of governance and participatory planning of mobility.
From 14 to 16 September, Ljubljana hosted the first workshop of the SMART-MR project (Sustainable Measures for Achieving Resilient Transport in Metropolitan Regions), which wants to contribute to the transition to an urban future with low carbon emissions, with sustainable measures for transport and mobility in cities. Held in the framework of the European Week on Sustainable and Safe Mobility, the meeting gathered representatives from all partner metropolitan areas: Oslo-Akershus (Norway), Helsinki (Finland), Goteborg (Sweden), Budapest (Hungary), Rome (Italy), Porto (Portugal), the AMB (Spain) and Ljubljana (Slovenia), which is the leader, as well as the European Transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc.
This first workshop, centred in the importance of governance and the participation of stakeholders in the entire process to plan for sustainable mobility, allowed the exchange of good and bad practices on participation in transport planning and sustainable mobility.
Representatives of the Sustainable Mobility Services Division and the AMB International Relations Area, jointly with L'Hospitalet de Llobregat City Council and the Association for the Promotion of Public Transport, both involved in the project, participated in the ‘Whom to involve' session on the identification of regional stakeholders (administrations, opinion leaders, civil society, universities...), how to include the weakest groups, which legislation supports it, as well as tools that can be used to motivate the stakeholders.
In this context, the AMB presented the creation of the Mobility Council, the new advisory and participatory body, born in July 2016, that brings together over 200 metropolitan players connected to mobility and committed to its sustainability. The other partners also set out their cases and experiences in their metropolitan areas. The rest of the sessions focused on more practical issues, such as possible ways to handle unpopular measures (such as delays opening a new metro line), control and evaluation of the results, as well as innovative tools to promote the participation of relevant agents.
The workshop also included a tour of the centre of Ljubljana, during which partners could see some examples of the pacification of transit in the city centre, such as the Bicikelj service (public bicycles), the parking policy, electric vehicles and car sharing.
The SMART-MR project
The general objective of SMART-MR (Sustainable Measures for Achieving Resilient Transport in Metropolitan Regions) is to support local and regional authorities in improving transport and mobility policies, and to provide sustainable measures to achieve resilient transport and mobility with low emissions in metropolitan areas.
The project is for a five-year period, broken down into two phases: a first three-year phase, which started in April 2016, for exchanges, learning and writing of action plans, and a second two-year phase for their implementation. It has a total budget of €2,215,566, of which €1,954,409 will be subsidised by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg Europe programme.
The AMB shall participate in the workshops to exchange good practices, and will develop a sustainable urban mobility plan starting with its competences, and the Metropolitan Urban Mobility Plan. It will also be in charge of organising the final project conference in Barcelona in 2020.