Image by Elke Franchois
The third and final CIVITAS ELEVATE Regional City Exchange Workshop took place in Brno on 19-20 September 2022, back-to-back with the Urban Mobility Days 2022. This workshop focused on sustainable mobility planning at the city-regional level. Sharing, learning, and active contribution to the discussion were critical components of the workshop.
The workshop consisted of two parts. An afternoon of sessions on 19 September held in English and attended by international participants hailing from across Europe, and a morning of sessions on 20 September held in Czech for Czech-speaking participants.
International portion
The sessions held in English revolved around three essential questions:
- Should there be metropolitan sustainable mobility plans, and, if so, what should be the role of the region in this?
- How to get public support to implement urban/regional sustainable mobility solutions?
- How to strengthen people’s engagement in mobility transition in a broad and cost-effective way?
These three questions were introduced by presenters, who provided a basis to ground interactive discussions. Participants then moved through ‘World Café’ facilitated discussions, which emphasised:
- metropolitan SUMPs have great potential if tailored to local realities; regions should play a facilitator role and provide regional-level data
- the importance of constant and targeted communication; partnering with local stakeholders that hold the trust of community members; fostering sustainable mobility even among primary school students
- consider three groups: active in transition, interested in transition, and neither; use push and pull techniques targeting each; consider all the reasons people could be motivated, including less obvious ones
The international portion of the workshop concluded with a guided visit of Brno in a historic local tram, which enabled participants to see concrete examples of the mobility interventions discussed throughout the afternoon.
Czech portion
These session brought together mobility leaders from Czechia and Slovakia – including deputies of Czech and Slovak cities, and representatives of city-owned companies – to discuss integrated cooperation approaches to metropolitan-level mobility planning, sharing their experiences and discussing challenges faced related to metropolitan/regional cooperation.
Key speakers presented the ways that the Brno Metropolitan Agglomeration currently functions and facilitates cooperation. A moderated discussion with all participants then delved into key questions, drawing on their experiences.
Next, two working groups were formed to focus on setting-up cooperation of key mobility actors, with discussions structured around two scenarios and accompanying questions:
- Scenario 1: The core city implements a system of transport terminals throughout the metropolitan agglomeration, which serve as transfer points from private vehicles to public transport and other modes (e.g. shared bikes). The city would like to work with stakeholders across the territory to create a single check-in system at these new terminals (for parking, public transport ticket, bike sharing). Who has to be involved? Why? How should the resulting system be designed?
- Scenario 2: The city would like to create a user-friendly campaign to engage passengers from across the agglomeration. Questions remain to define the target of the campaign, and to decide if there should be campaign ambassadors. If so, who are the right persons to fill such a role?
Insights from the workshop will inform an interactive e-publication highlighting lessons from Brno that can be applied by other ambitious cities. Click here for a sneak peek into the upcoming e-publication.
For more information on the workshop speakers, view the programmes from Day 1 (ENG) and for Day 2 (CZ).
