Eltis calls for stakeholders and city authorities to update their listed Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and help refresh the resource.
The Eltis City Database is an information repository featuring Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) and Transport plans from across Europe. To retain relevance the database requires regular updates; Eltis is now undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of the database’s structure and usability.
The end goal of the City Database is to include accurate SUMP information for all European cities, with 1,313 cities already covered. At this scale, the assistance of stakeholders and city authorities is incredibly useful.
The latest draft Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) guide aims to provide guidance to urban mobility practitioners, policymakers, school management, and both public and private employers who wish to implement mobility management measures in their jurisdictions.
The latest SUMP guide from Eltis is currently in draft form and will focus on five main areas where transport planning can better include mobility management: urban developments, public authorities, companies, the education sector, as well as the tourism and leisure sectors. Each sector will be fully explored, outlining key recommendations, and examples of excellent practice from across Europe.
“The first draft of the Topic Guide has been developed by the Policy Support Group of the CIVITAS ELEVATE Coordination and Support Action, which consists of experts from five organisations (European Platform on Mobility Management, Klimaaktiv mobil, Tisséo Collectivités, Alba Iulia Municipality, Gdansk Municipality), the CIVITAS Policy Advisory Committee, TRT (Trasporti e Territorio), and a group of stakeholders from the mobility management sector.
The public is warmly invited to participate in the consultation process. Public consultation is an important step of the process, as it allows stakeholders to contribute to the development of the Guide, as well as ensure that it is relevant to all urban mobility actors.”
To contribute to the SUMP Guide’s public consultation, visit the Eltis website, here. The window for feedback is open until Tuesday 13 December 2022.
Sustainable urban mobility planning (SUMP) provides an approach to dealing with the complex urban transport problems across Europe. The new guide offers insight to planners in cities with a population of less than 100,000 and is now newly published in Hungarian to increase accessibility further.
Translated and published by Magyar CIVINET, the guide will support cities in developing more and better SUMPs. Eltis shares, “Smaller cities and towns often have fewer resources and expertise for strategic mobility planning, making it more difficult to develop SUMPs. They also tend to have a stronger car dependency and weaker public transport, which can make it feel even more daunting to pursue a sustainable vision. On the other hand, smaller cities and towns often have well-connected social communities and more walkable and bikeable distances, offering ideal opportunities for sustainable mobility.”
Four European sustainable mobility champion locations were recently unveiled in Brussels by Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility.
The four awards and victors were; European Mobility Week Award 2021 for larger municipalities, Kassel (Germany); European Mobility Week Award 2021 for smaller municipalities, Valongo (Portugal); the 10th annual Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP), Tampere (Finland); and the EU Road Safety Award, Rethymno (Greece).
European Mobility Week is an annual event, running from 16-22 September. Cities and towns across Europe can take this opportunity to trial new ideas, promote infrastructure and technologies, and track their own air quality. Residents become involved with and begin discussions surrounding sustainable mobility, heralding a social change towards a greener world. The event saw record-breaking levels of participation in 2021 with over 3,100 towns joining the scheme.
Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for Transport, commended the award winners’ and finalists’ achievements, sharing:
“I would like to extend my congratulations to the winners of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards as well as to all finalists. These cities have taken concrete actions to tackle transport emissions, noise, and congestion through innovative actions. With the new EU Urban Mobility Framework, we will support better planning of sustainable urban mobility, putting public transport, walking, and cycling at the core of local authorities’ efforts to improve people’s everyday lives.”