Regional City Exchange Workshop Aachen

Aachen  is  the  most  western  city  in  Germany,  located  in  North  Rhine-Westphalia,  close  to  the borders  of  Belgium  and  the  Netherlands.  It  is  part  of  the  so-called “StädteRegion  Aachen”, a regional area made up of ten neighbouring municipalities, which encompass about 700 km² and 560,000  inhabitants.  The  City  of  Aachen  has  a  long  tradition  of  ambitious  and  effective sustainable mobility planning.
 
Over  the  years,  the city’s mobility department has rolled-out  a  number  of  sustainable  mobility measures.  In  2012,  wishing  to  build  on  this  experience,  the  City  of  Aachen  joined  the  CIVITAS DYN@MO  project,  with  the  goals  of  exploring  new  approaches  to  structure  their  sustainable mobility processes, and to bolster cooperation amongst local and regional mobility partners.  
 
The project improved partners’ understanding of cooperation opportunities and shaped their ways of thinking about mobility issues. An overview of all of the measures the city implemented during the project is available here.
 
Although the project ended in 2016, Aachen has spent the years since then ensuring that plans, insights and processes explored during DYN@MO were taken forward.
 
Now,  five  years  later,  Aachen,  together  with  the  other  cities  involved  in  the  project,  will provide an update on what was catalysed in DYN@MO, and reflect on what work remains.  
 
This workshop will ask:

• Have participating cities been able to continue the sustainable mobility momentum they had during DYN@MO, or have other circumstances slowed down sustainability transition?
• Did measures stop after DYN@MO – and associated financial support – concluded? If not, how did cities find other financial solutions, and which have been most effective?
• Have  measure  impacts  continued  to  grow,  or  has  progress  with  respect  to  monitored indicators slowed or stopped in the five years since DYN@MO?
• What can other cities learn from Aachen’s experiences?

In sum, this workshop will reflect on the lasting impacts of CIVITAS projects, and will explore what conditions can ensure that impacts are sustained long-term.

Questions explored in the topical deep-dive sessions

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) – Uwe Müller & Armin Langweg - City of Aachen

•    What steps have been taken in European cities to create and implement effective SUMPs during DYN@MO and beyond?
•    Has the ever-increasing importance of climate action boosted the creation and implementation of SUMPs in DYN@MO cities?
•    How has COVID-19 influenced sustainable mobility planning and public participation?
•    Do sustainable mobility targets match political decisions on redesigning streets and supporting sustainable modes?

Clean vehicles – Kristine Hess-Akens & Axel Costard - City of Aachen

•    What has been achieved in the field of e-vehicles during and since DYN@MO?
•    Has accepting and embracing e-mobility become mainstream?
•    What are the trickiest barriers and most important challenges to achieving climate neutral vehicles?
•    What are today’s actual targets and strategies, and are these as ambitious and effective as they need to be?

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – Reyhaneh Bosshammer - AVV (public transport management organisation) & Isabell Brenner - ASEAG (public transport operator)

MaaS helps people to plan, book and access multiple mobility options in one integrated place. Cities and mobility actors must understand the obstacles that prevent communities from understanding and making use of these options, and try to overcome them. Furthermore, cities must ensure that MaaS technology is user-friendly for everyone.

•    What measures were taken in DYN@MO to address MaaS? What have been their impacts?
•    How have things changed in the last five years, and what are the latest innovations and measures in MaaS?
•    What are cities planning for the next five years?

Projects

Back to Events