CityMobilNet - our Croatian experience

Having the Dubrovnik conference and the 3^rd transnational seminar close in both – dates and locations – enabled CityMobilNet to pick up speed in its task: on the one hand, the European SUMP conference provided a large set of best practises, ideas on improvements and practical work on local challenges and solutions in a dense two day offer. Inspiring presentations, different approaches by champion cities as well as obstacles met in many European cities produced an external view on the specific local circumstances for the SUMP development. Especially approaches and measures realised elsewhere were taken up with great interest for the coming work of CityMobilNet partners in selecting suitable measures for their SUMPs.

The very topic of measure selection and planning for the urban mobility development of the coming decade(s) were at the core of the 3^rd transnational seminar in Zadar, directly the following week after the Dubrovnik conference. Work was organised in three large packages: the presentation of experiences and case studies on measures for SUMPs concluding in an exchange market, the workshop on producing a measure plan for a SUMP as well as a World Café on the topical tasks of local group work and its stakeholder and citizen participation.

All partners were invited to present their very own experiences and best practises of sustainable urban mobility measures. These were added up by examples from across Europe given from the networks experts. This comprehensive range of measure cases was fed into the knowledge exchange market: Partners made use of the opportunity to address each other for the measures of interest for their own use and to discuss the challenges and success factors needed to transfer the respective measures to their local situation.

The workshop on creating a measure plan opened a new aspect of measure selection and planning: how to deal with resources at hand when developing the SUMP’s measure packages. The task was to create a measure plan for the fictional city “Anytown” meeting the starting point that financial and staff resources as well as time are not able to cover all measures called for. Using a matrix of time and resources available and measure designed in the same dimensions, the CityMobilNet partners discussed and concluded on the measure plan to realise in two groups – taking the difficult decision which measures to drop or postpone to the next urban mobility plan period. Both group decided to abolish large and costly measures such as the extension of the metro lines in favour of a comprehensive measure package of smaller and more efficient measure!

Taken the work of the previous two blocks, CityMobilNet partners discussed the set-up of local work and participation for the measure selection, the measure plan and communication on these two issues. The chosen format – a World Café – proved both, useful and entertaining, since all partners were able to take part in the discussion of these three issues. Results led e.g. to a stepped approach for setting up a measure plan starting with the assessment of new measures, leading to stakeholder consultations and producing a consensus including a back-up plan for the implementation.

After the two recent transnational seminars, CityMobilNet partners are now fully busied with the set-up of visions and priorities and the selection of suitable measures to come up to the targets for the priorities. For the next transnational seminar 7^th – 9^th of June in Braga (PT), CityMobilNet will take a step back from the rapid development process of its SUMPs and takes a look in detail at local achievements and obstacles to come to joint solutions for the SUMPs’ development.