Overview
Transplus is an EC supported project under the 'City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage' key action, which is one of the four key actions under the European Commission's Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development research programme. This key action aims to address challenges of urban air quality, noise, traffic congestion, waste, economic competitiveness, employment, security, infrastructure and the built environment.
The mission of TRANSPLUS was to identify best practices in the organisation of land use and transport (LUT) policies in order to achieve a sustainable pattern of transport and land use in European cities and regions, promoting economic, social and environmental improvement.
The project's methodology incorporated the development of a framework for the analysis of Land-Use and Transport Case Studies in Europe, and identification of a list of Case Studies that illustrate not only best practice, but also the valuable experiences of real-life planning initiatives. This has involved the analysis of trends in land-use and transport planning, and an assessment of future trends.
Funding
Results
TRANSPLUS has produced the following results:
1) development of best practice case studies and evaluation of integrated land use and transport policies;
2) assessment of best ways to combine policies neutralising barriers, ensuring compatibility and transferability between countries and cities;
3) identification and development of a consistent set of indicators to evaluate the success of integrated land use and transport (packages of) policies towards the goals of sustainability;
4) identification of practical criteria for land use and transport policies/infrastructures impacts evaluation;
5) harmonisation of the national land use and transport planning and policy frameworks in the EU member states (transferability of good practice);
6) support to the application of the EU Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) directive in the EU member states;
7) promotion of the European Spatial Development Perspective in the EU member states. The need to build up networks of politicians, civil servants, representatives of private stakeholders, NGOs and citizens groups, expert research and universities with competence in the transport and land use sectors was also emphasised.
Policy implications
The policy implications of the TRANSPLUS research are relevant to:
(1) Transport and land use authorities by means of:
- Creation of a common understanding and awareness of new more sustainable planning concepts and practices at all the levels of government: local, regional, and national.
- Knowledge of the barriers to the transferability and environmental impacts of the most effective practices to encourage the harmonisation of the national land use and transport planning and policy frameworks in EU Member States.
(2) Policy makers by means of:
- The TRANSPLUS guidelines, drawn from the relevant experiences of the case study cities, showing pros and cons of each of alternative, cause-effect relationship between strategic objectives and tactical approaches, and identifying the most effective tools for city planning based on the best practice selection.
- The set of indicators to evaluate the sustainability of integrated land use and transport (packages of) policies.
(3) Practitioners, by means of the above mentioned TRANSPLUS guidelines and set of indicators as well as an Internet database of integrated land use and transport policies.