Overview
Poly-SUMP, Polycentric Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, aims to develop a sustainable mobility planning methodology in polycentric regions – areas characterised by several centres, where services and goods, and therefore transport needs, are scattered in different towns.
Planning mobility in these areas is complex, as several municipalities, sometimes even from different countries, and many stakeholders are involved. Poly-SUMP offers a methodology for poly-centric regions to overcome barriers and to build a constructive dialogue among all involved actors in order to reach a common vision of sustainable mobility.
The six participating regions in Europe, represented by Regione Marche (Italy), Central Alentejo (Portugal), Central Macedonia (Greece), the Heart of Slovenia (Slovenia), Rhine Alp (Austria) and Parkstad Limburg (the Netherlands), test concrete planning processes towards the adoption of mobility plans, and check the transferability of the approach to six other regions in Europe.
In Poly-SUMP, the Future Search methodology will be used to gather stakeholders around the topic of polycentric sustainable mobility action plans first at European Level (European Future Search Workshop – EFSW) and then at local level (Local Future Search Workshop - LFSW).
Future Search is a learning laboratory for 'getting everybody involved in improving the whole system'. It is typically a three days meeting gathering 60 to 100 people who share a common purpose. Future Search enables organisations and communities to learn more together than any one person can discover alone.
Results
- The project prepared detailed guidance on how to implement a participatory approach that engages citizens and stakeholders in a poly-centric region to develop a shared vision of sustainable mobility. See 'The Poly-SUMP Methodology - How to develop a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for a polycentric region'.
- The Poly-SUMP Methodology was applied and tested in six regions in Europe including Regione March (IT), Central Alentejo (PT), Central Macedonia (Greece), Parkstad Limburg (NL), Rhine Alp (AT) and The Heart of Slovenia (Sl). This confirmed the suitability of the approach and highlighted numerous benefits: common interests are identified; new ideas born; cooperations are initiated; a momentum for regional urban mobility planning is established.
- Ten poly-centric accessibility and mobility indicator have been identified that help measure the degree of polycentrism in a region and help understand the regional structure and mobility patterns.
Other results
The Poly-SUMP Methodology can help developing a regional vision and actions toward more coordinated and effective urban mobility planning. It can help improve cooperation across government levels, and aid dialogue between neighbourhoods, civil society actors and other stakeholders. It can help create momentum toward the development fo a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for the whole region.