CH4LLENGE Follower CIties meet to overcome barriers in SUMP
On Thursday February 26th 2015, several partners of the CH4LLENGE project and 5 Starter Follower cities met in Brussels for a knowledge exchange workshop. Three barriers to the planning and the implementation of SUMPs have been discussed and best practice and experience from partner cities and experts was provided for the Starter Follower cities.
The main aim of the CH4LLENGE project - to address the most pressing challenges in the development and implementation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) - was at the very core of the workshop. The following three most pressing barriers as identified in a preceding project survey were discussed: the difficulty of selling the SUMP idea to politicians and decision makers; the lack of national framework for SUMP and the development of SUMPs with limited resources.
Three most pressing barriers
General presentations of the barriers and the potential solutions were held by CH4LLENGE expert partners and were followed by presentations of experiences from CH4LLENGE partner cities. The Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (UIRS) introduced the first barrier and provided key advice to overcoming the difficulty of selling the SUMP idea. The Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK) shared its own experience in this area and stressed the importance of communication to convince both politicians and transport stakeholders of the SUMPs benefits.
Then, Rupprecht Consult gave an overview of the current situation regarding the presence or absence of national framework for SUMP in European countries. On this topic, the city of Brno explained the drawbacks of the absence of national framework for SUMP in Czech Republic but furthermore also highlighted the flexibility and the room for innovation it creates.
Finally, Polis presented a typology of helpful tools to use to plan and implement SUMPs with limited resources (both financial and skills-related). Then West Yorkshire Combined Authority gave a presentation about the tools and the methodology they used to secure funding for the planning and the implementation of the local SUMP and also about the way to manage available skills.
Key knowledge for Starter Follower cities
Through discussion with experts and more experienced partner cities, representatives from Starter Follower cities of Koprivnica (Croatia), Tartu (Estonia), Kaunas (Lithuania), Tirgu Mures (Romania) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia) received precious knowledge regarding their own SUMP preparation process. Cities also had the opportunity to upgrade their knowledge about SUMPs on TIDE/SOLUTIONS training event which took place in the same venue the previous day.
The results of this workshop will present one of important inputs for the upcoming development of tailored CH4LLENGE roadmaps on starting SUMP preparation process.
CH4LLENGE Roadmap Development Workshop Selling the SUMP idea
CH4LLENGE Roadmap Development Workshop No national framework for SUMP
