By 2050, the European Green Deal aims to cut transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by 90%. To reach this target, our European leaders have been setting ambitious targets to make mobility sustainable, smart and resilient. One all-encompassing strategy emphasized in many policy documents that combines sustainable and integrative planning processes for urban areas is Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs).
But what exactly are SUMPs?
A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan 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
Module 1 :
SUMPs in an EU Policy Context
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There have been various EU policy documents promoting and supporting the take-up of SUMPs
Action Plan on Urban Mobility The first action proposed in this document is to increase the adoption of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in Europe by providing guidelines, encouraging the exchange of best practices, setting benchmarks and supporting training for urban mobility specialists.
Through this White Paper, the European Commission recommended to explore the feasibility of making Urban Mobility Plans a requisite for cities of a particular size.
Establishes the concept of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in the annex, including the goals and objectives, a long-term vision and implementation plan, assessment of current and future performance and the integration of technical, infrastructure, policy-based, and soft measures to improve the accessibility of urban areas and provide high-quality and sustainable mobility. An evaluation on this package identified numerous shortcomings that prevented the take-up of SUMPs in European cities. Click on these slides that give a summary of the 2013 Urban Mobility Package evaluation.
Developing and Implementing a SUMP
This document, prepared for the European Commission was developed with the intention of guiding mobility practitioners and other stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. The guidelines are supplemented by references to tools as well as several good practices from all over Europe demonstrating how specific tasks and activities were carried out in each phase.
The second edition of these guidelines was issued in 2019 and can be viewed here.
The New EU Urban Mobility Framework
By the end of 2022, the Commission assured to publish
a Commission Recommendation to Member States to assist municipalities in the implementation of effective sustainable urban mobility plans. Some of the key actions include an upgraded SUMP concept, setting clear priorities to favor active, public, and shared mobility, fully integrating resilience aspects such as Sustainable Urban Logistics Plans (SULP) and providing further funding and financing support.