Mastering Mobility Training Series supports local practitioners from 76 cities in developing their SUMPs

 

Consultants, planners and experts from cities and countries around the world gathered in seven training sessions during November and December 2021 to learn and exchange about sustainable urban mobility planning. The trainings covered key topics of interest for our member cities, including sessions related to the different phases of the SUMP cycle (data collection, financial assessment) as well as common challenges during the SUMP preparation (e.g. understanding and integrating air quality, reforming paratransit and planning for active and walkable cities). 

A total of 25 expert speakers from AFD and GIZ, Codatu, Ademe, ITDP as well as our case study speakers from multiple regions shared among others their knowledge and insights from the fields of transport and urban development with the 328 participants throughout the training series. 

The Mastering Mobility Month started off with a training on ‘fundamentals of data collection’ in early November, developing around the experience of the City of Medan during their SUMP preparation. Different methods of data collection were introduced and critically reviewed. The insights from the Medan SUMP for instance suggested that while big data might be more available, it is at the same time limited to specific social groups and thus non-inclusive and insufficient if used on its own. 

"Without data you can only make assumptions, and assumptions are often biased." (Ferdinand Marterer, Project coordinator at Egis)

The session Tramways as sustainable mass-transit systems: Ex-post evaluation of Moroccan tramways drew upon examples of the tramways in Rabat and Casablanca to discuss how this mode of transport can bring forward sustainable mobility in other cities. Apart from positive effects on the mobility of urban dwellers in Rabat and Casablanca, negative externalities such as an increase in housing prices along the tramway line were also discussed during the session. 

Air quality, a topic that is highly relevant in the context of urban transport, was covered in two sessions with experts from AFD and Ademe. While one session focused on ‘understanding air quality’, the second one was dedicated to ‘integrating air quality into sustainable urban mobility planning’. 

As paratransit is responsible for as much as 40-90% of modal shares in cities in the global south, the Mastering Mobility Month dedicated a prolonged session to this informal mode of transport. ‘Reforming paratransit with MobiliseYourCity’s catalogue of measures’ discussed the challenges related to the reform of the sector and accompanied the launch of the eponymous publication as part of the paratransit toolkit. 

In the sixth session of the series, ‘Getting to know your potential: Conduct a financial assessment of your city’ encouraged participants to consider economic opportunities and constraints in the development of their SUMPs. 

In the final session of the mastering mobility month, participants engaged with experts from ITDP on making their cities active and walkable. Showcasing the example of the green mobility corridor in Kochi, India and including several interactive elements, the session was dedicated to ‘Reflecting about barriers and co-creating solutions for active and walkable cities’.

“Walking and cycling cities are the city of the future. If we think about gender, climate change and all the other issues of our times we need to invest in them to contribute to a solution.” (Aimee Gauthier, Chief Knowledge Officer at ITDP during the session on active and walkable cities)

Five of of the seven sessions were simultaneously translated from English and French. Recordings, as well as presentations for all sessions, are available on our knowledge platform. 

Are you interested in conducting similar trainings on sustainable urban mobility? We are creating training materials to help replicate this training, including commented power-point presentations, interactive tasks for group work, quizzes and more. If you want to learn more and stay updated on the development of those materials, please write to contact@mobiliseyourcity.net