About the project

CIVITAS ECCENTRIC worked to make sustainable mobility a reality for people and places forgotten in urban mobility policies and planning. Its solutions focused on cities’ peripheral areas. Crisscrossed by urban highways and often based on car-centric design, their pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and public transport connectivity is lacking when compared with central areas.

To counter this, ECCENTRIC implemented solutions to bring clean transport and urban freight to people living in such areas in five places across Europe: Munich (Germany), Madrid (Spain), Ruse (Bulgaria), Stockholm (Sweden), and Turku (Finland). Each city had its own Living Lab focused on one neighbourhood where measures were tested.

Local consortia were formed in each city, integrating a variety of stakeholders from administrations, private companies, universities and civil society. Together, they showed how new mobility is possible for all beyond urban centres. In total, it applied 50 measures were applied across six main areas.  

Inclusive urban planning, new parking policies and mobility management

Each ECCENTRIC city empowered groups traditionally neglected in the planning process - such as women and vulnerable groups - to contribute via meetings, debates, training, surveys, and co-creation activities. This meant the resulting policies (including parking), measures, and indeed urban environment, reflected their specific needs. Such active exchange and user involvement from such an early stage also increased awareness and acceptance of the sustainable mobility solutions.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) for and by all

ECCENTRIC was one of the first European projects to test the MaaS concept, tackling it from different angles. It highlighted how the service approach to mobility requires a new way of cooperating with companies, for journey options to be communicated clearly to users, and that public transport forms the core of MaaS offers. ECCENTRIC created guidelines advise on MaaS in local contexts.

Enabling safe walking and cycling

Cities introduced a range of physical interventions and policy alternatives to improve the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and other road users. Other measures implemented included improvements to the design and maintenance of infrastructure, along with a fleet enabling citizens to test e-bikes. This combination of increased (actual and perceived) safety and improved environments for walking and cycling boosted active mobility in ECCENTRIC cities.

Promoting the uptake of clean vehicles

The project sought to overcome key barriers linked to e-vehicle uptake: charging infrastructure, knowledge, and costs. Test fleets of EVs, light EVs, and light commercial vehicles were offered to selected target groups, whilst new public charging infrastructure was installed. The demands of such infrastructure on public space also became apparent – ECCENTRIC was clear it cannot be to the detriment of active modes.

Efficient and clean public transport and new shared mobility solutions

ECCENTRIC worked on the basis that quick, clean public transport is the backbone of a sustainable mobility system: it sped up core bus routes and added hybrid and electric buses to fleets. At the same time, ECCENTRIC cities introduced shared mobility services to complement public transport, enable multimodality, and discourage private car use. Pilot intermodal (e-)mobility stations offered multiple shared mobility options.

Towards better and cleaner urban freight logistics

To clean up urban freight, ECCENTRIC analysed economically viable and efficient supply chains, tested clean freight vehicles, and trialled innovative delivery solutions. The latter included consolidation centres on city peripheries, cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries, and off-peak deliveries with e-vehicles. These reduced heavy and light duty traffic, energy consumption, and emissions. What was also apparent was the need to integrate urban logistics into wider transport policies.

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