Rupprecht Consult staff member Sebastian Bührmann held a Master Lecture on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans at the well-attended PIMMS CAPITAL Conference in Birmingham on 25th September.
The PIMMS CAPITAL project (<link http: www.pimms-capital.eu _blank>www.pimms-capital.eu/) is an EU-funded scheme to encourage modal shift towards sustainable transport by introducing high quality Mobility Management projects in Europe’s regions. The final conference, attended by around 120 participants, was titled “Mobility Management, the Low Carbon Economy and the ERDF”. Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) were one of the highlight topics, covered by Rupprecht Consult’s Master Lecture and a workshop that discussed challenges for the introduction of SUMPs on the local level. One of the key messages was that the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans can become an important success factor for European cities and regions. Quality of life, business development and excellent mobility options are crucial factors. Advanced cities that have been implementing SUMP for many years such as Freiburg and Gent prove this. DG REGIO representative John Walsh, who gave a keynote speech, stressed that cities with an SUMP demonstrate clearly that they have a strategic framework for the development of urban transport and mobility. While funding from the regional development and cohesion funds will not be directly linked to the existence of a certified SUMP in the near future, it will nevertheless be highly beneficial to have an SUMP when applying for European funding for urban transport and mobility schemes. Local and regional authorities at the SUMP workshop stressed that there are still many challenges ahead to develop and implement SUMPs in many European regions (e.g. fragmented regional responsibilities, lack of stakeholder and citizen engagement). A European support framework for SUMP such as the one currently under discussion in the European Commission could be an important contribution to support cities and regions willing to make the change towards sustainable urban mobility planning.SUMP Video Part 1 SUMP Video Part 2 SUMP Video Part 3SUMP case studies, best practice examples and document library via www.mobilityplans.eu
![[1] SUMP various downloads](/fileadmin/migratedNewsAssets/Images/5e3f69364f.jpg){kind=link}