Tracking Progress: MobiliseYourCity's Global Monitor 2024
As has now become a tradition for the MobiliseYourCity Partnership, the beginning of each new year prompts reflection on the achievements of the preceding one.
Eight years into existence, the MobiliseYourCity Partnership remains dedicated to working together with all its partners to shape low-carbon mobility systems that contribute to economically vibrant, safe, and just cities for all urban residents of today and the future.
For the Global Monitor 2024, data collection was followed by updating over 50 factsheets on our member cities and countries. After analysing the data and aggregating results of our work throughout the year and around the world, three distinctive points characterise the journey of the past year:
1. Our success in leveraging finance for implementing SUMPs has resulted in an increased budget for MobiliseYourCity's activities
The preparation of SUMPs and NUMPs following support from MobiliseYourCity has helped member cities and countries mobilise more than 1.75 billion euros for implementation, primarily for public transport infrastructure, roads, public spaces, walking and cycling, and public transport vehicles.
Moreover, MobiliseYourCity partners are offering additional support to fill the gaps, as you will read in the newly added "Implementation Support" chapter. With an additional 5 million euros from AFD, the partners' contributions now amount to over 54.7 million euros in grants supporting the preparation of 32 SUMPs and 9 NUMPs.
2. Enhanced Knowledge Sharing and Methodological Development
With over 50k views during the year, MobiliseYourCity is a knowledge hub, offering tailored tools and methodologies and fostering the exchange of insights and expertise. In 2023, we have uploaded 62 new products on our new, more accessible knowledge platform. Notable new publications include the guidelines for developing sustainable urban mobility plans in MobiliseYourCity geographies, the Paratransit Toolkit 2.0, and the expansion of training materials, resulting in a 45% increase in visitors to MobiliseYourCity knowledge products.
Moreover, MobiliseYourCity's Emissions Calculator - with more than 8,000 downloads- has been used in various additional cities, such as Antofagasta in Chile and Ambato in Ecuador, to project the impact of sustainable transport measures on GHG emissions. These projections emphasise the importance of aligning ambitious targets with plan implementation and remind us of the need for a comprehensive approach to achieve the GHG reduction goals.
Finally, our knowledge-sharing efforts were enhanced through 15 training sessions and 2 regional Community of Practice meetings.
3. More SUMPs and NUMPs moving fast into implementation
In the past year, six cities successfully complete their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) with the support of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The cities of Abbottabad, Ahmedabad, Arequipa, Baixada Santista, Bouaké, and Dakar have brought our total completed MobiliseYourCity SUMPs to 19. 13 of 19 completed SUMPs and 4 of 6 completed NUMPs have been linked to finance and are moving into implementation. This milestone signifies the culmination of comprehensive mobility planning and the exciting launch of a new phase dedicated to implementation.
Moreover, thanks to our implementing partners, the Partnership has taken significant action to improve the data collection and analysis, resulting in more detailed diagnoses and an increased pool of examples and lessons learned. For example, three Indian cities have published online urban mobility observatories. Antofagasta, Chile, has also published an online tool to track urban mobility indicators to follow up on SUMP’s implementation. These will facilitate data-driven decision-making and accountability for urban mobility transformation.
Clearly, while progress has been made, there's room for improvement. We analysed that out of the 19 completed SUMPs, only four include a section on diagnosing a city’s climate vulnerability and risks, and only one SUMP includes climate change adaptation in its proposed actions. Recognising the pressing need for resilience in the face of climate change impacts, concerted efforts are underway to improve the integration of climate change adaptation in our SUMPs and NUMPs planning, particularly in diagnosing vulnerability, formulating actions, and proposing infrastructure resilient to climate challenges.
These key points summarise MobiliseYourCity's multifaceted approach to advancing sustainable urban mobility, addressing specific challenges such as climate change adaptation and data collection while promoting knowledge sharing and mobilising funds.
Download the Global Monitor 2024 to delve deeper into our results and share it on social media with the hashtag #GlobalMonitor2024 to encourage more cities to embark on a journey towards sustainable urban mobility!