Rise of a New Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning Paradigm in Local Governance: Does the SUMP Make a Difference?

Abstract

The EU Green Deal sets challenging goals for cities, including a 90% reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from transport by 2050. This requires an integrated and coordinated approach to urban mobility planning, represented by Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), and encouraged by European legislation. However, the experience of cities with SUMPs varies substantially among the EU Member States. Using qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis, this paper aims to explore the institutional settings, practices, and barriers to sustainable mobility in Czech cities and differences between cities with and without a SUMP. The data were collected using interviews and an online questionnaire survey among stakeholders who substantially influence the urban planning praxis. The data reveal that monitoring, evaluation, and public involvement are underestimated by analyzed cities and the perception of a need for a significant transport behavior change is still quite low among local politicians. A SUMP brings substantial benefits to Czech cities of all sizes, even in the initial phase of its implementation. The cities that have developed a SUMP apply various sustainable transport measures more often, create more participation activities, and are better at evaluation than cities without a SUMP.

Evaluating the public acceptance of sustainable mobility interventions responding to Covid-19: The case of the Great Walk of Athens and the importance of citizen engagement

“…Indeed, in such projects, motor traffic is usually re-organised and emphasis is set on public transport and non-motorised mobility (cyclists and users of micromobility) while pedestrian movement is strengthened. Through sustainable mobility interventions “a street as a road becomes a street as a space” ( Jordová & Brůhová-Foltýnová, 2021 ) and “the road network functions as a toolkit for positive city transformation” ( Tsigdinos et al, 2022 ). In that way, safety and security levels may be increased; the same happens to sociability levels, as Francis (2016) confirms with a study on active citizenship in public spaces.…”

Exploring Modal Choices for Sustainable Urban Mobility: Insights from the Porto Metropolitan Area in Portugal

“…Efficient and sustainable urban mobility is crucial in contemporary cities, demanding a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing individuals' modal choices [1][2][3]. Like many urban regions, the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP) in Portugal faces numerous transport-related challenges, including traffic congestion, air pollution, and the health implications of sedentary lifestyles [4][5][6].…”

“…It is noteworthy that private motorized vehicles (PMVs) account for nearly 70% of all regional trips, as Rocha et al highlighted [8]. This congestion not only leads to time delays but also contributes to increased fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [4,6,9,10].…”

A Two-Stage Simulation Approach of Urban Transport Emission Evaluation Towards Carbon Peak: A Case Study in Suzhou, China

“…Wen et al (2022) made use of high-density traffic monitoring data to estimate link-based emissions and adopted a generalized additive model to identify the nonlinear relationships between population, urban form and emissions. Other studies proposed analytical frameworks to explore the influencing factors of transport-related emissions, such as Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (Jordová and Brůhová-Foltýnová, 2021), spatial-modal scenarios (Chow, 2016) and compact city policy instruments (Lee and Lim, 2018). However, few studies have established an analytical framework from macroscopic scenario analysis to microscopic carbon emission estimation, so as to find a viable path towards carbon peak.…”