Overcoming administrative barriers to SUMP development
At this year's CIVITAS Forum, the three CIVITAS Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) projects PROSPERITY, SUITS and SUMPs-Up organised a World Café session to identify solutions for challenges related to institutional cooperation.
Stakeholder involvement and engagement, alongside institutional cooperation, pose serious challenges during SUMP development: those working on SUMP projects often have to deal with complicated and complex governance systems.
One question formed the focus of the session - how can we work best within existing governance structures to increase SUMP take-up?
To find answers, participants explored how collaboration between different governance structures inside and outside city administrations might be enhanced.
Representatives from three cities in countries with low SUMP take-up - Bulgaria, Hungary, and Greece - discussed their experiences of working in challenging governance systems.
Professor Lucia Ilieva - representing the Sustainable Development Civil Society Association, Bulgaria, and CIVITAS PROSPERITY - explained that knowledge of mobility is lacking in Bulgaria, with no higher state level institution dealing with mobility and SUMPs.
László Sándor Kerényi - representing BKK, the Centre for Budapest Transport, Hungary, and CIVITAS SUMPs-Up - described the intricacies involved in aligning the interests of Budapest's 23 city districts and Mayor. This is complicated by the fact that the interactions occur between representatives at different political levels.
Ioannis Krinoss - representing the Municipality of Kalamaria, Greece, and CIVITAS SUITS - pointed out that Kalamaria encounters numerous urban mobility problems because of proximity to the city of Thessaloniki, especially in terms of traffic and air pollution. The municipality and city are working together to establish better cooperation structures.
- SUMP development is a way to encourage urban sustainability and involve the public in a process that serves to bring them a higher quality of life, without cars.
- Finding ways to align and meet the interests of the different districts within a city is vitally important.
- Sharing knowledge among cities and having a clear understanding of a city or region's needs are crucial to success.
CIVITAS PROSPERITY, CIVITAS SUITS and CIVITAS SUMPs-Up are members of the European Platform on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.
For more information on the CIVITAS SUMPs projects, click here.
