Course categories

SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY PLANNING (SUMP) PROCESS THROUGH:

Extending the strategic policy planning horizon for the next 30 years to achieve city visions, including carbon reduction targets and the development of more tailored implementation strategies for the next 5 years to enable more effective delivery of specific measures  

A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) is a strategic plan designed to satisfy the mobility needs of people and businesses in cities and their surroundings for a better quality of life. It builds on existing planning practices and takes due consideration of integration, participation, and evaluation principles.

Since the publication of the SUMP concept in 2013, the process of developing and implementing a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan has been applied in many urban areas across Europe (and worldwide). Tailored guidance to develop and deliver SUMPs exists (SUMP Online Guidelines | Eltis) for cities to follow (Guidelines for developing and implementing a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, second edition).

While the SUMP process is now considered the de facto urban transport planning concept for all European urban areas, a number of shortcomings and gaps have been highlighted though its application by cities. The SUMP-PLUS project looks to address several of these gaps through the provision of additional guidance in two main areas: 

1. Developing TRANSITION PATHWAYS, extending the strategic policy planning across sectors and longer timescales to achieve ambitious city visions, including net-zero carbon by 2050. 

2. Developing more TAILORED IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES, for the next 5 years to enable more effective delivery of specific measures, particularly for small- and medium-sized cities that often lack the resources and competencies to deliver the implementation strategies detailed in the existing SUMP Guidelines.

TAILORED TOOLS FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY PLANNING DEVELOPMENT

Many towns and small cities lack the skills, data and other tools/resources to fully apply the recommended SUMP procedures, making as much use of open source data and simple, user-friendly tools as possible.
Our ambition is to provide European cities with the knowledge and tools to enable them to implement more efficient, sustainable and liveable hubs of human mobility and activity, working closely with other urban sectors, and to encourage them to embrace new technologies and to be resilient against potential adverse effects – by building on the existing rich SUMP heritage.

FOSTERING THE ACCELERATION OF SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT TO REGIONS AND AUTHORITIES THROUGH CAPACITY BUILDING AND KNOWLEDGE

Local authorities across Europe are motivated to take bold and swift action now to accelerate the rate of sustainable change in the mobility and transport sector. However, it is not easy for local authorities to keep pace with insights regarding what works, where, why, and how to transform innovations into worthwhile, reliable and rapidly-implemented mobility solutions. Practitioners may lack the time and resources to focus on innovation in their day-to-day work, while limited funding may prevent innovative ideas from coming to fruition. FastTrack helps local authorities across Europe to accelerate their transformation by addressing these knowledge, capacity, governance, data, evidence and funding challenges, and sharing insights from this process with stakeholders around the world who serve to benefit from them. FastTrack familiarises practitioners with new areas of innovation, and supports them to develop plans for rapid implementation. The project delves in the marketplace of mobility innovations to help local authorities procure and implement innovation that is appropriate to their local context, fits into their broader Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (where these exist), and address local challenges and opportunities.


FastTrack’s 24 local authorities (including four “Local Ambassadors” and 20 “Local Affiliates”) have identified what “smart and clean innovations” mean to them, and what they need to address the barriers to rapid implementation. This enables FastTrack to respond to real challenges faced by local authorities.


Through connecting and engaging stakeholders, FastTrack develops capacity and shares knowledge to meet the identified needs – both internally and for the benefit of audiences across Europe. Databases of solutions, a best practices portal, and capacity-building and knowledge-sharing events will illuminate new opportunities for technically, culturally and geographically-relevant innovation. Finally, FastTrack local authorities will be supported in action planning to fast track their chosen sustainable transport projects.
The FastTrack LA learning programme features online knowledge-building activities, in-person learning opportunities like site visits, and Capacity Building Weeks that bring the whole FastTrack community together. To ensure that all local areas can benefit from FastTrack – and not just the project’s 24 LAs – FastTrack will share a State of the Art report and online tool, learning reports from each cluster, and final recommendations and fact sheets.


Zero emission transport based on electric vehicles


Site announcements

SUMP-PLUS co-hosts 10th ICF

by Jordi Bosch -

ICF

What should we do first? Build cycle lanes or wait until there are enough cyclists to push for change? According to the panellists at last month’s Informed Cities Forum, if you want people to change their mobility habits, you need to make them aware of their impact and provide them with the context to make that change – i.e. build the cycle lanes. This was just one of the many questions debated among the participants during the 3-day event co-hosted by SUMP-PLUS and the European Green Capital 2022 Grenoble (France), which focussed on behavioural change for sustainable mobility. [Read full report…]

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