International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 18 CIVITAS 2MOVE2 project Putting sustainable mobility into practice in European cities E-mobility, non-motorized mobility, public transport, information services Increasing urban traic and its consequences such as congestion, accidents and pollution pose a major challenge for European cities. The adverse side-efects of urban mobility are directly afecting the attractiveness and the competitive position of cities. Therefore, transport and mobility are of the highest priority for local decision makers and practitioners. Against this background, in the year 2000 the European Commission conirmed the need for action and launched the CIVITAS initiative, designed as a program “of cities for cities.” In one sentence, the heart of CIVITAS is to explore “innovative solutions to the challenges posed by creating a more sustainable urban mobility culture.” Authors: Patrick Daude, Wolfgang Forderer K nowing that every city is diferent and has to address the particularities of its own situation, CIVITAS helps to identify similarities and to ind solutions that meet the needs of a city faced with a challenge in the ield of urban mobility. This is mainly achieved through the implementation of joint projects and the organization of study visits and workshops that provide general guidance as well as technical assistance to cities. The program also aims to support the exchange of ideas and experiences between politicians, professionals and technicians. Currently 228 cities across 34 countries exchange knowledge and develop joint projects to implement sustainable urban transport measures. The CIVITAS Forum is the main conference where cities and local authorities involved in the program meet every year in a diferent European city. Four member cities of the “CIVITAS Family” are part of the 2MOVE2 project, a European mobility initiative under the current CIVI- TAS Plus II program dealing with innovative solutions in the ield of clean urban transport. Diferent cities - similar realities The 2MOVE2 consortium scores with the strong participation of four cities: The municipalities of Stuttgart (Germany, leading partner), Brno (Czech Republic), Málaga (Spain) and Tel Aviv-Yafo (Israel) are cooperating closely, relying on a solid basis of cooperation that they have built in the course of previous European programs. The cities are supported by the transport engineers of SSP Consult and the University of Stuttgart (both Germany), the public transport company of Brno (DPMB) and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. 2MOVE2’s main objective is to achieve concrete and visible improvements in the mobility situation of the participating cities by fostering or creating energy-eicient and environment-friendly urban transport systems. The 2MOVE2 project was launched oicially in June 2013 at a kick-of meeting on the political level (see figure 1). Government representatives from the four cities as well as key urban mobility stakeholders discussed the challenges of the project and of urban mobility in general in the current European context. Up to now, two annual Consortium Meetings have taken place in Tel Aviv-Yafo (2014) and Málaga (2015). The next one will be held in the city of Brno in Figure 1: Delegates at the 2MOVE2 kick-of in Stuttgart Photo: City of Stuttgart StrategieS Sustainable Urban Mobility Sustainable Urban Mobility STRATEGIES International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 19 2016. The events are aimed at strengthening the relations between the cities on the political and technical levels. Usually, they are combined with public workshops for national stakeholders involved in the respective topics. In line with the idea of deining and implementing similar measures and initiatives in the partner cities, the 2MOVE2 partners are working on the development of a total of 23 measures. Even if the legal framework difers in the respective countries, the cities themselves face comparable situations regarding the impact of motorized traic, the need to improve air quality, and the infrastructure for environmentfriendly transport and public space. In many cases, instead of reinventing the wheel, the authorities need only to take the successful experiences from another city and adapt their actions to the speciic needs of their own location. A good example for this approach is the cooperation between the cities of Málaga and Brno. Representatives of the Czech city made a study visit to Málaga to learn how this city had built up a system for the management of on-street parking using wireless sensors installed in parking places in order to inform drivers on parking availability. The discussions and site visits have provided the technicians of Brno with valuable information that will help them install an on-street parking system in selected urban streets in 2015. The development and implementation of similar projects and initiatives in the four cities will allow the evaluation and comparison of the results and impacts, which can lead to improvements in urban mobility. In addition, the measures have been selected to allow transfer and applicability to other small and medium-sized towns, especially in Europe. Capacity building - a requisite for anchoring sustainable mobility in the municipality The training of municipal technicians working in the areas of mobility management and transport planning is a key issue for the CIVITAS Program in general and the 2MOVE2 project in particular. Several workshops and study visits have been organized with the aim to deepen the knowledge of municipal staf and to strengthen their capacity to plan and implement ambitious mobility measures in their cities. These events were mostly ofered in conjunction with the annual Consortium Meetings, which are attended by all partners. Where possible, such trainings are organized together with the CIVITAS Secretariat and the sister project DYN@MO. The CIVITAS Forum that is taking place every year in a diferent European city is a platform for 2MOVE2 partners to meet and exchange knowledge and experiences with their peers from other cities. This opportunity to make personal contact and build lasting relations between the municipalities is very important because it helps to share best practices, to inform the other parties on failures and to take the right decisions. A broad approach - from freight transport and ITS to cyclists and pedestrians The project covers a broad range of topics. 2MOVE2 gives special emphasis to e-mobility, freight transport and ITS-based traic management. An additional focus is the continuous alignment of the projects with the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) as well as with urban development plans. Other important topics that are addressed in the scope of the measures are the promotion of non-motorized mobility and public transport, as well as corporate mobility management and information services for companies and citizens. The partner cities share the view that a long-lasting efect of all activities can only be achieved if these measures are not isolated, but part of a comprehensive system combining all eforts in the ields of urban planning, environment, traic and transport, and civil society in general. The 23 measures are complemented by awareness campaigns, workshops and educational and information events for citizens and stakeholders in order to give the project and its results a strong visibility on the local and national levels. The 2MOVE project covers activities in seven thematic categories of the CIVITAS Program: 1. Clean fuels and vehicles 2. Collective passenger transport 3. Demand management strategies 4. Mobility management 5. Car-independent lifestyles 6. Urban freight logistics 7. Transport telematics In the last couple of years the City of Stuttgart has faced major problems with air quality in some areas of the inner city due to its basin-like topographic location and the high number of car trips. Stuttgart has 590,000 inhabitants and nearly as many jobs. Every day 400,000 cars are passing the city borders from outside. There are a limited number of main arteries for car traic, which are congested at peak hours despite the valuable eforts of the Integrated Traic Control Center. The city is currently implementing a test site on a stretch of 6 km on a main artery in the city center to investigate how the reduction of stop-and-go traic can lead to a more steady low of traic and if this will have a measurable impact on traic-related emissions and air pollution. By introducing a dynamic speed limit that allows responses to rising air pollution levels caused by congestion or thermal inversion, the City of Stuttgart intends to develop an emissionbased traic control model for the inner urban area and to test and validate the model in a ield trial (igure 2). At the same time, the municipality will strive to mitigate any negative efects on pedestrians, public transportation and bicycle traic (igure 3). Equally important, the Figure 2: Emission-based traic management in Stuttgart Photo: City of Stuttgart STRATEGIES Sustainable Urban Mobility International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 20 priority traic network should be maintained to avoid crowding of surrounding residential areas. The measure also allows the comparison between the efectiveness of “hard” and “soft” measures: While there is a mandatory speed limit on some sections of road, there is another part of the same road where there is only a recommended speed - the beneit for car drivers who adapt their speed are green lights at the next two big intersections. The municipality expects a reduction in emissions on the test site especially during peak hours: -10 % for NOx and -15 % for PM10. The City of Málaga, second largest city of the Andalusia Region, is also dealing with the topic of air quality using a very innovative concept. The measure consists in installing mobile sensors for air quality measurement on the top of four buses of the public transport leet (figures 4 and 5). The sensors will provide reliable data on the evolution of air quality in several areas of the city that are not covered by the four ixed stations currently existing in Málaga. This measure constitutes an innovative approach since air quality measurement in cities normally involves only the use of ixed monitoring stations. The buses equipped with the sensors will follow itineraries where other demonstration measures will be implemented. This will allow to dynamically measure air quality levels and to estimate the measures’ air quality improvement efect. The mobile sensors will complement the information on CO, NO x and ozone emissions provided by ixed stations in several areas of the city (mobile measuring of PM 10 is not possible). All data is collected in the Málaga Mobility Management Center (MOVIMA). The center will assess the air quality levels before and after the development of the other measures to be carried out within the 2MOVE2 project. Many European cities are developing strategies for the smart control of traic. The quality of life of the citizens is negatively impacted by excessive congestion, noise and pollution. The City of Brno faces the challenge of maintaining its relatively high share of public transport and fostering Figure 4: Mobile sensors for air quality measurement in Malaga Photo: City of Malaga Figure 5: Malaga public transport bus equipped with mobile sensors for air quality measurement Photo: City of Malaga Figure 3: Light rail in Stuttgart Photo: VVS Sustainable Urban Mobility STRATEGIES International Transportation (67) 1 | 2015 21 the use of sustainable transport systems. In the scope of 2MOVE2, the City of Brno is planning to signiicantly expand its Transport Information Center along with the acquisition of new sources of telematics information, particularly by exploiting the latest technologies for data transfer to users (igure 6). The data acquired through telematics or other sources will be evaluated together with data from public utilities owned by the public transport company and BKOM, a company responsible for maintaining the city’s streets. Exploiting this information will ofer several beneits: reduction of the transport load and motorized individual traic, promotion of parking in designated parking lots and venues. Furthermore, it will help enhance traic safety and reduce the environmental impact of transport. This information will be available online and through a stand-alone mobile application available for download. The City of Brno will use the resources from the 2MOVE2 project to complement the data of public utilities and to create and evaluate the system used to monitor the occupancy of parking places located in paid-parking sectors. However, 2MOVE2 encompasses not only technical solutions. A good example for a soft measure is the “green artery project” in the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo (igure 7). The inancial, economic and cultural center of Israel has been working on curtailing the predominance of motorized vehicles for individual transport through the creation of green arteries as a fundamental building block towards a social and sociable environment. The green arteries concept is one way of implementing the green backbone approach within the existing city street network, in line with Tel Aviv-Yafo’s municipal policies, which encourage the use of nonmotorized transportation in the city. In the past, the streets of Tel Aviv-Yafo not only acted as an urban transit network, they were the heart of urban life, a place for commerce, cafés and interaction between people. Until recently, pedestrians and the life and activity they bring to the streets were increasingly pushed aside. The street space deteriorated and its function as a nonmotorized environment eroded. The aim of the measure is to raise public awareness of the value of green arteries as an environment that is both a social and a sociable space, as well as part of a synergy of land use, transport planning and promotion of non-motorized transport modes. As a major component of the urban renewal policy, a green artery along the eastern part of the city (Quarter 9), linking schools, local gardens and urban parks, is being created. The measure also has a social impact due to the fact that the green artery reaches a part of the city that used to be segregated from the rest of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The green arteries include a high-quality infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians combined with leisure facilities. For more information on the EU project 2MOVE2 please visit the oicial CIVITAS website at http: / / www.civitas.eu/ content/ 2move2 ■ Patrick Daude, M.A. Project Dissemination Manager 2MOVE2, Mobility Department, City-of Stuttgart patrick.daude@stuttgart.de Wolfgang Forderer Project Coordination 2MOVE2, Head-of Policy Planning, Mobility Department, City of Stuttgart wolfgang.forderer@stuttgart.de Figure 7: Green arteries in Tel Aviv-Yafo Photo: City of Tel Aviv-Yafo Figure 6: Integrated Mobility Center in Brno Photo: City of Brno