Active Travel Network Tackling transport problems by promoting walking and cycling in small and medium sized cities

Final Report

Contents

Preface 3 Active Travel and Mobility Management 5 Local Action Plans 9

Weiz (Austria) 9 Ljutomer (Slovenia) 13 Norderstedt (Germany) 17 Novara (Italy) 21 Riccione (Italy) 25 Sebeş (Romania) 29 Serres (Greece) 33 Skanderborg (Denmark) 37 University of Graz (Austria) 41

Good Practise Implementations 45

Pedelec Rental System at local car dealers (Weiz, Austria) 45 Active Mobility Day (Ljutomer, Slovenia) 46 Thematic Loop Routes for Pedestrians and Cyclists (Norderstedt, Germany) 47 Raising Eco Awareness at an Early Age (Novara, Italy) 48 Hotel Bike System (Riccione, Italy) 49 Social Walking Bus (Sebeş, Romania) 50 Awareness Raising Campaign “By bike to Work“ (Serres, Greece) 51 “The Extraordinary“ (Skanderborg, Denmark) 52

Statements 53 Policy Recommendations 57

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans or Local Acton Plans 61

3 PREFACE

OSWIN DONNERER TOWN COUNCILLOR, CITY OF WEIZ

Until the 19th century there were only a few means It was only natural that after the end of this project of transport enabling mobility. Coaches and horses the City of Weiz applied for another international were the only means of transportation for people. project aiming at promoting soft mobility measures. Thus the speed of travelling was restricted. Through After submitting the project proposal and after being the expansion of the railroads travelling speeds succesfully accepted by the URBACT secretary the gradually increased. Railroad tracks were built project could start. As Denmark is a leading coun- everywhere. Travelling became more convenient and try regarding bicylce paths and the use of bikes, a goods could be shipped more easily. But the time Danish project partner as a model for good practice, tables of the railroad limited travelling and it must be was to be integrated in this project. The Danish pro- said that not all places had a railway station. ject partner turned out to be the City of Skanderborg. Regarding the other partners, we wanted to have After the invention of the automobile a big change partners coming from the north, Central Europe and took place: many people could now move from one south of Europe. Already in the first partner meeting place to another. The flexible and fast shipping of in Weiz all our project partners were enthusiasti- goods contributed to an economic boom. In the cally working together and from the very beginning 1960s it was a widely accepted fact that motorized it could be seen that in this project there was a very mobility had absolute priority and city planning had positive working atmosphere and team spirit. This to integrate this kind of mobility as much as possible. positive team spirit was present in all international Unfortunately this development had a serious disa- meetings and led to the fact that each project part- dvantage: increasing emissions, noise and bad air ner developed very ambitious Local Action Plans. quality in many European cities. Permanent conges- By mutual learning and the permanent exchange of tions and the demand for new roads worsened the knowledge all project partners were able to improve situation enormously. their competence and their lobbying skills regarding To reverse this trend radical measures regarding the promotion of soft mobility measures. motorized traffic have to be taken. So called „soft mobility“, that is to say the use of bicycles and wal- To conclude, I would like to thank all project partners king and public transport, are the only solution for for their contributions to the project and also for the the traffic and transport problems in European cities. outstanding hospitality we could all enjoy at the diffe- First of all, the necessary infrastructure has to be rent international partner meetings. I would also like built and more importantly people have to change to say a special big Thank You to Barbara Kulmer, their mobility habits. To reach this goal special PR the project coordinator, and to Robert Pressl, the activities and awareness raising campaigns have to lead expert of the City of Weiz. be carried out. Finally I would like to express the hope that most From 2003 to 2006 the City of Weiz took part in the of the ideas developed in the different Local Action EU-project “viaNova“. In this project Weiz was able Plans will be realised and put into practice. In my to gather a lot of knowledge regarding „soft mobility view the project Active Travel Network has made an measures“ by working together with international important contribution to promoting „soft mobility“ in partners in this project. The main focus of “viaNova“ European cities. May this project find many followers was PR-activities to motivate citizens to change their in other European cities! mobility habits. 4 ACTIVE TRAVEL and MOBILITY 5 MANAGEMENT – a combination to solve transport problems in cities

ROBERT PRESSL LEAD EXPERT

When asking citizens, transport is by far the most The use of bicycles for every day trips depends on often mentioned problem area in cities. Problems many elements. The only thing that mobility deve- regarding emissions, noise, safety and lack of space lopment doesn’t follow is a natural law. We can’t but also costs often annoy people and they are often say that (car)traffic is increasing and we have to get confronted with overwhelming car use. along with it. Quite the contrary. Mobility is something The ongoing trend of car use in European cities, as that can be influenced. It only needs clear policies well as the steady increase of motorisation in new and courageous politicians and planners. There are member states, leads to a significant reduction of many good examples. Cities in Denmark and the quality of life in our cities. Netherlands are leaders but also cities in Public transport which is often mentioned as the only Germany or Italy have done a lot to boost the bicycle real alternative can’t solve these above mentioned as a means of every day transport. Also regards wal- problems alone due to its high costs and due to the king, there are a lot of very active cities in Europe. fact that although many trips are quite short, they are often tackled by cars. Often up to 25 % of all car trips in cities are not longer than 3 km – a distance that could easily be cycled. Data from the Austrian City of Graz (approxi- mately 260,000 inhabitants) can be taken as an example to show the enormous potential that lies in a shift of short distance from car trips to walking and cycling. Even for short distances e.g. up to 1 km, 6 % use the car – this is the same as an average pedestrian trip length in Graz.

So, for small and mid sized municipalities the focus on active travel modes is an appro- priate approach to tackle transport problems.

Modal Split of successful European Cities that promote walking and cycling, Source: www.epomm.eu/tems

It is worth mentioning that these cities are not within one specific geographical area or belong to a cer- tain cultural identity, but can be found all over the continent. Cycling habits also don’t relate purely to climatic conditions. An argument against cycling is always that it is too cold to cycle due to a northern position or it’s too rainy all year round. But then, why Car trips based on distances in Graz, Austria are people in Dutch cities cycling so much, where it Source: Mobility Behaviour, Graz 2008 also rains a lot? Or why do people in the Finish city of Oulu, close to benefit from successfully implemented mobility ma- the Arctic Circle cycle all through the year? nagement campaigns and measures. 6 Is it the available infrastructure? Of course, the Da- nes e.g. built a lot of infrastructure for their cyclists. What are the main benefits of Mobility The network in cities like Aarhus, Odense or Copen- Management? hagen is dense and uninterrupted. The cycle paths are wide and convenient and very often separated Compared to rather expensive and time-consuming tracks from the road. The same is often argued for infrastructure building information, awareness raising Dutch cities, although more than 70 % of all cycle or marketing is quite cheap and quick to implement. trips in the Netherlands are carried out on standart If perhaps the measure doesn’t bring the expected roads in mixed traffic. results, a modification or a step back is much easier than if one has e.g built a bridge at the wrong place. This is common practise – especially for roads with a high volume of cars and/or where the speed of car Since the project Active Travel Network is dealing traffic is high. But on the other hand separate cycle with walking and cycling as means of transport and paths are costly and need space which isn’t always since the consortium has chosen the approach of available in European city centres with narrow Mobility Management to enhance the use of wal- streets. king and cycling in cities, it is important to mention that both areas overlap and positively support each But even for areas and cities where space and other. Mobility Management is a horizontal approach money is limited and where a continuous cycle while walking and cycling as means of transport are network isn’t available, promotion of cycling makes vertical fields of activities. sense. There are lots of successful low-budget mea- sures and campaigns available which can be easily Cycling and walking are environmentally friendly. implemented. Mobility Management is an approach They are energy efficient. They are the quickest of the Active Travel Network project and is an appro- means of transport in many European city centres priate way to change behaviour towards a sustainable for a distance of up to 5 km (door-to-door), especially transport system with a considerable share of active during peak hours. In the following, some specific modes of transport. arguments are mentioned that show the benefit of cycling and walking as means of transport for cities which so far not have not often been used. But what can be understood under the term Mobility Management? Bike lane connectivity and speed li- The European Platform on Mobility Management mits EPOMM defines:Mobility management is a concept to promote sustainable transport and manage the Bike lane connectivity is one of the most important demand for car use by changing travellers’ attitudes determinants of cycling as a means of transport. As and behaviour. At the core of mobility management mentioned above, it isn’t necessarily the network of are „soft“ measures like information and communica- separated tracks. Mixed transport solutions are very tion, marketing, organising services and coordinating often sufficient if the overall speed limit is reduced activities of different partners. to 30 km/h and this speed limit is enforced. The Austrian City of Graz introduced as the first city in Many people say that in order to reduce car traffic, Europe an area-wide speed limit of 30 km/h (main hard measures like infrastructure must be adopted. roads excepted). Many of these 30 km/h-roads could Information campaigns and educational efforts alone have been promoted as cycle lanes. Approximately do not achieve anything. However, the best way 800 km from the overall 1,000 km road network was to produce visible results is a combination of both. traffic calmed over night. Without clear limitations on car traffic, the volume of motorised transport will not only stay the same, but Within the first year of implementation, a reduction of will continue to grow in the years to come. Informa- 24 % of severe injuries was measured. Cycling now tion campaigns and educational efforts also have feels safe, comfortable and convenient in many parts some effect, because there is a clear lack of infor- of the city. mation among the potential users of alternatives to the car as well as a lack of awareness among decisi- To increase the connectivity, direct connections on makers on benefits and impacts. for cyclists and pedestrians should be established: This means that both main target groups, decision shortcuts where cars have to make detours or re- makers and stakeholders as well as end users stricted access to city centres. Space for people – the re-allocation of Good Cost-Benefit Ratio public space 7 What should be avoided – but is common practise Mobility management measures do not necessarily in cities when they want to increase the space for require large financial investment and may have a cyclists – is to take the space from pedestrians. high cost-benefit ratio compared to infrastructure Sidewalks that were first exclusive for pedestrians measures. The same is valid for investment in cyc- shouldn’t be reduced by marking half of it now as ling (even when including infrastructure measures). a cycle path. In most of the cases this only causes For each invested 1 Euro in cycling, a return of 3 to conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists. Cities like 4.5 Euro can be gathered Munich or Odense used car travel space by trans- (Source: Philip Darnton: Making the economic case forming car lanes into bicycle lanes. They set clear for cycling). priorities and communicated that to their citizens. Citizens and especially cyclists can recognise that Other cost-benefit analysis of cycling measures the authority favours cycle use. About 90 % of all carried out by PTV show a cost-benefit ration of space used for stationary traffic (car parks, public 1:2.43 (for activities in Berlin) to 1:2.74 (for activities transport stops and surroundings, public cafes and in Hamburg). benches, bicycle parking facilities etc.) is used to In the view of end users walking and cycling are the park cars in, even when the modal split does not cheapest means of transport. show a share of 90 % for cars.

The use of public space has to be reconsidered. Do we want to give it to people to increase quality of life Health arguments are striking or do we want to give it to machines? A very striking argument for investing in cycling as a means of transport is the health benefit. Each indivi- dual that switches from car to bicycle (e.g. for work trips) reduces his mortality rate significantly. E.g. the quantified relative risk of all-cause mortality for cyclists compared to non-cyclists in Copenhagen is 0.72 (Source: Lars Bo Anderson et al 2000). Similar surveys come to similar results. E.g. for Fin- land with 0.78. This factor includes on the one hand the health benefits, mainly reduced cardiovascular disease, and on the other hand the increased accidents and pollution. WHO suggests doing at least 30 minutes physical Bicycle lane that was formerly a car lane in Munich. activity per day. This would reduce the risk of a heart Source: www.eltis.org attack or a stroke by 50 – 60 %. Also diabetes type II and some kinds of cancer are less likely if one keeps active. So why not kill two birds with one stone by Estimated mortality costs and benefits per individual switching transferring physical activity into an from car to bicycle for work trips* in large European cities every day routine and switch short car trips to walking or cycling?

Health gain from cycling 1310€/yr Even more impressive is the situa- tion when taking a look at the esti- Societal gain from reduced pollution 33€/yr mated mortality costs and benefits per individual switching from car to Health reduction, Individual pollution -19€/yr bicycle for work trips in European cities. Health reduction, crash injury risk -53€/yr The health and social benefits from cycling a 2x5 km daily roundtrip -200 0 500 1000 1500 2000 (5 days per week at 46 weeks per year) compensate for the health risks due to pollution and potential * 2x5 Km daily roundtrip, 5 days per week , 46 weeks per year Error bars represent upper and lower (% confidence intervals). injury risks. Source: Rabl and de Nazelle, 2012 The benefit of regular physical activity for children Quite the contrary, clients coming by bicycle or as has been surveyed in a study in Vienna. Children pedestrians usually shop in their living or working 8 who walk to school suffer 34 % less from depres- areas and therefore contribute more to the sup- sion, 22 % less from anxiety and 23 % less from port daily demand of goods. Therefore they also aggression. (Source: CEHAPE, 2005) strengthen the local shopkeepers position regarding competition compared to shopping centres.

The local economy benefits from cyc- lists and pedestrians Outlook Shop keepers very often cry out for more car par-

king. They are not aware of the big contribution By 2050 the CO2 emissions have to be reduced by cyclists and pedestrians provide for their businesses. 50 % of the volume from 1990. For Europe this

They often only see the amount of money that their means that 80 – 95 % of the actual CO2 emissions car using clients spend when doing their weekly have to be reduced – quite a challenge. Fossil ener- shopping. But they don’t recognise that although gy sources will still be available, but not as many cyclists and pedestrians visit their shops more often and of course not as cheap as they are at the – they spend less on one visit. In the end, they often moment. spend more than clients coming by car, as surveys have shown in Bristol (source: SUSTRANS) and in Hence, cities with less car transportation will six French agglomerations. In the French survey adapt easier to the new situation than cities with high (source: Brichet 2003) pedestrians spend approxi- shares of car use. This means that cities which are mately EUR 40.4 per week, cyclists spend EUR 24.4 already preparing themselves for the time of high oil and car users only EUR 21.7 per week on average. prices will have an economical advantage by then. Besides the support of alternative forms of energy, In the survey from Bristol, shopkeepers e.g. estima- the change of the modal split – more active transport ted 41 % of their clients came by car while in reality modes, walking and cycling trips – will be an appro- only 22 % use the car and more than 50 % walk to priate strategy. To reach these long-term goals the shop regularly. “city of short distances” should be achieved.

The perception of the shopkeepers regarding the di- Mobility management approaches provide sup- stance their clients travel to their shops is very simi- porting tools to change human behaviour. The cur- lar. Shopkeepers estimate that only 10 % live closer rent developments like the renaissance of urban life, than ½ mile and 40 % live more than two miles the trend of young people to be multimodal mobile away. In fact, 42 % live closer than ½ mile and 86 % instead of owning a car, the aging population and live within a distance of two miles from the shops. their modified transport demands and the common trend to a healthier lifestyle are determinants that For these clients, no big areas have to be provided have to be taken into consideration when planning for parking at malls on the outskirts of the cities. the cities of tomorrow. 9 LOCAL ACTION PLANS

Weiz (Austria) Inhabitants: 9.000 Area: 5,07 km2

The City of Weiz is located in the eastern part of the Province of Styria, 27 km north-east of the Province capital Graz. It lies at the beginning of a valley enclosed by the mountains of the Fischbach Alps in the north. In the southern part of this valley you can find the typical landscape of the East Styrian Hill countryside.

Weiz is the centre of the District of Weiz and the sur- rounding region and has a very dynamic economy. The main players are Siemens, Andritz, Mosdorfer and Pichler, all companies working in the field of electrical engineering (e.g. transformers, generators, overhead power supply lines etc.), the construction industry and many medium sized companies in the service industry. Furthermore there are many shops, supermarkets and authorities such as the local administration authority for the District of Weiz. In addition to that, Weiz has twelve schools including a grammar school and higher vocational schools for technology, eco- nomics and domestic science. 3,900 pupils attend these schools; many of them are commuters from the surrounding region.

The general motto of Weiz is „Town Full Of Energy”. Weiz is regarded as a very dynamic town, making many new ideas in all fields of urban life possible. Local challenges and aims Weiz is the “Town Of Short Distances”. The area of the City of Weiz is only 5 km². The longest distances 10 in the city are around 2.5 km. Most of the distances The leading problem is the high volume of car traffic. to the villages around Weiz are shorter than five km. Weiz is surrounded by five municipalities (Krotten- The local challenge is to reduce the high amount dorf, Mitterdorf, Mortantsch, Naas, Thannhausen). of car traffic and to promote “Alternative Mobility” Approximately 20,000 people live in this region. Most through walking, cycling and using public transport. of them have a job in the City of Weiz or go to school The share of car traffic should be reduced in the next here. ten years by 20 %.

Every day 7,600 commuters come into the city and 1,600 commuters go out. 88 % of them use a car to commute to work, because public transport by bus and train is no useful alternative. Only around 5 % walk or use a bike because there is no closed net for walking and cycling from outwith the city. 80 % of the commuters have a distance shorter than 20 km to work.

In addition to that, 3,900 pupils attend one of the twelve schools in town every day, around 2,000 of them come from out of the city and take the bus or train to school. The remaining 1,900 pupils walk or cycle and around 500 of them are brought to school by car by their parents or use their own car. During rush hour in the morning and at midday traffic jams are particularly bad, which leads to air and LAP-planned activities noise pollution. The planned activities are divided into three main areas:

Planning Activities: • Close the gaps in the walking and cycling net • Create walking friendly zones • Create a walking information system

Awareness Campaigns: • Car-free center • Car-free to place of work • Walking and cyc- ling to school • Car-free into the city • Car free in the city

Implement Public Relations: • Campaign for “Walking and Cycling” • Install an “Office for Walking and Cycling Comp- laints“ How does the LAP fit to existing poli- cies or strategic plans 11 The Local Action Plan (LAP) is part of the overall strategy of the Municipality of Weiz for traffic plan- ning. It will be decided by the city council in Decem- ber 2012. The realisation of the LAP will gradually take place over the next ten years (2012 – 2022).

In addition to this, the LAP will be evaluated and further developed together with the ULSG. We con- sider the LAP of Weiz to be an on going project.

Target groups

Our main target groups are the car drivers in the City of Weiz and in the surrounding areas. They should change their habits of car usage. They should cycle and walk much more. Pedelecs for the municipal employees Our special target groups: • Commuters • Pupils • Shoppers

Annual Weiz Bike Exchange Market („Weizer Fahrradbörse“) Lessons learnt from ATN 12 One positive aspect that we learnt is the importance of installing productive cooperation between town councillors, traffic planners, citizens and special stakeholders. A general change of attitude regar- ding traffic planning and traffic habits was achieved through this. The citizens participation led to new planning ideas and activities.

We also learnt that the working process needs strong motivators. Working together with the part- ners of ATN requires much administrative work and there is too much bureaucracy.

For it to be effective, there should not only be a budget for the development of LAP, but also money for the realization of it.

With the help of our partners of ATN in the other countries we benefited from the international ex- change of knowledge, new ideas, motivation and best practice examples.

Meetings of the Local Action Group

ATN audit at Weiz City Hall Ljutomer (Slovenia) 13 Inhabitants: 18.000 Area: 107 km2

The Municipality of Ljutomer is a small community On “Glavni trg“ (Main square) there is a monument with around 18,000 inhabitants in the north eastern dedicated to Mary: On its pedestal there are statues part of Slovenia close to the Croatian border. The of St. Rok and St. Boštjan. It was put up in 1729 by City of Ljutomer is the centre of the municipality and the mayor. Before that this place had been a pillory the heart of the region Prlekija. The town was first for offenders, so other people could make fun of mentioned as a settlement in 1242 and it became a them. borough in 1265. It was devastated by plagues and On “Miklošičev trg“ there is St Florien Chapel which fires and it had to defend itself against Turkish and was built in 1736 and which is a part of the church Hungarian attacks. walls.

The concept of the United Slovenia was embodied The church of John the Baptist dating from the end here in the first mass meeting of nationally minded of the 17th century has five altars, one with the pic- Slovenes in 1868. The first horse-racing association ture of John the Baptist, then there is one with on the Slovene territory was founded here in 1875, St. John, one with Rosary, one with the Holy Cross the forerunner of the trotting club today. The first and one with Janez Nepomuk. There are three bells Slovenian films were shot in Ljutomer as early as in the bell tower. There used to be a graveyard 1905. Ljutomer was given town status in 1927. around the church. Today the bust of the linguist The tradition of the Slovenian National Awakening Franc Miklošič is in front of the church. of the 19th century is continued by the library, the museum, the art gallery, the Horsemen’s Association Today Ljutomer is a modern, European and tourist- and different clubs. friendly city of film and wine.

There are three main squares in the city centre, each boasting its own shrine. On “Stari trg“ (Old square) there is St. Ana Chapel dating from 1756. Local challenges and aims Primary schools 14 “Mobility Week: Move yourself, have fun, drive Local action plan of Ljutomer focuses on the issues me” raised by the Municipality of Ljutomer in the The same activity as for the nurseries but this time management of the active and sustainable mobility. only for the first grades at primary schools. The core of the LAP represents areas in which sus- Implementation period: every school year from 2013 tainable approaches are needed. Problems of active until 2020. mobility management in Ljutomer are the following: Traffic Snake Game Campaign • Lack of experience in promoting sustainable This campaign aims to stimulate children and road transport with special emphasis on parents in primary school to travel in a safe and en- energy efficiency, environmental conservation vironmentally friendly way to school for at least one and social impact (sustainable planning) week. • Unhealthy travel habits of citizens Implementation period: already implemented in April • The fall in the use of public transport 2012 and will be repeated every school year until • Conditions for walking and cycling are quite 2020. good, but somehow not recognized • Higher level of motorized traffic in the city – Traffic Diary Campaign poorer quality of life This campaign aims to stimulate children to travel • Level of motorization: 48 vehicles per 100 in a safe and environmentally friendly way to school population (statistical data from 2009). over one week or more. Implementation period: every school year from 2013 All these problems present areas where “soft” mo- until 2020. bility measures to promote active and sustainable mobility are needed! Secondary school Common goals and aims of the “soft” mobility mea- “Bike check” Activity sures are to reduce negative impacts of the moto- Organization of workshops about the proper use rized traffic, to reduce number of car trips on short of bicycles. At the same time bicycle experts will distances and to increase the share of environmen- carry out professional inspections on bicycles of all tally friendly means of transportation, especially students who come to school on that day by bike. cycling and walking which represent an alternative Implementation period: already implemented in June mode of transportation over short distances. The 2012 and will be repeated every school year until goal of the “soft” mobility measures is also to reduce 2020. the number of vehicles per 100 inhabitants and to stop planning and construction of new parking spots Promotional “Pimp my Bike” Activity in Ljutomer. Presentation of pimped bikes by the young innova- tor with the aim to encourage other students to use bicycles more often and to show that even if their bikes are old they can be repaired/pimped and used LAP-planned activities again. Implementation period: already implemented in June Planned awareness-raising, promotional and com- 2012 and will be repeated every school year until munication campaigns/activities for different target 2020. groups in Ljutomer are as follows:

Organizations and companies “By bike or on foot to work” Nurseries “Home For The Elderly Ljutomer“ will organize the “Mobility week: Move yourself, have fun, drive competition for the most kilometres covered in an me” environmentally friendly manner of all employees. Over a certain period, nurseries will give push scoo- Implementation period: every year from 2013 until ters and balance bikes to their pupils to take home, 2020. and then on the next day they have to use them to come to nursery on with their parents. “Establishment of new covered and secured Implementation period: Every school year from 2013 bicycle storage with 40 parking spots in front of until 2020. the school” Implementation period: 2017. General public How does the LAP fit to existing poli- One-day event called “Active Mobility Day in cies or strategic plans? 15 Ljutomer“ Several awareness-raising campaigns such as a bike check activity, a health check activity, a funny Local Action Plan is a strategic document since it competition in bike riding, a walk through the city, a involves systematic implementation of “soft” mobility children polygon, the promotion of the new electric measures for different target groups in the Municipa- bicycles, etc. are part of an one-day event. lity of Ljutomer until 2020. In the same period as the Implementation period: already implemented in May LAP was created, the Transport Strategy of Ljutomer 2012 and will be repeated every year until 2020. has been prepared, which aims to develop a com- prehensive and intelligently woven network of diffe- “Billboards with City Map” rent traffic systems which will balance the offer of all The maps will contain bus stops and walking paths modes of transportation. to the train station. Implementation period: 2018. Establishment of actions and their implementation “Awareness-raising Promotional Brochure with represent important steps towards improving the Ljutomer Walking-Map and Cycling-Map” offer of sustainable modes of transportation. The purpose of this brochure is to highlight all jour- neys that can be done on foot or by bicycle. In both Actions in the Transport Strategy of Ljutomer relating city center maps there are marked routes which take to the areas where changes are necessary: 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 minutes on foot or by bike. • Sustainable planning of mobility Implementation period: already produced in May • Complete promotion of walking 2012 and this brochure will be used as promotional • Encourage bike owners to cycle material in all upcoming promotional awareness-rai- • Attractive public transport and sing campaigns and activities in next months/years. • Optimized road traffic.

Prepared LAP and especially proposed “soft” mobi- lity measures will help to achieve all the goals and objectives that are set out in the Transport Strategy of Ljutomer.

Traffic Snake Game. Target groups 16 • Pupils in nurseries • School children • Students • Parents • Teachers • Principals • Home for Elderly Ljutomer employer • Home for Elderly Ljutomer employees (90 employees) • Municipality representatives • General public

Gatherings of Generations” or “European Mobility Week”. By doing this we can expect a huge number of participants at the first expanded event.

An awareness-raising promotional brochure with the Ljutomer Walking-Map and Cycling-Map is a great piece of promotional material, therefore it is neces- sary to disseminate it and give it to the local Tourist Agency who will be responsible for its dissemination and distribution to all the citizens and tourists. In this way, active and sustainable mobility will be promo- ted every day. Nurseries, primary schools, the secondary school and the general public would like to participate in Lessons learnt from ATN (especially the implementation of various awareness-raising, the working with ULSG) promotional and communication activities and campaigns. However, due to a lack of funds, desires In the past, collaboration between municipality and remain unfulfilled. other stakeholders (schools, companies and citi- zens) was not particularly good. The LAP has im- To ensure the sustainability of all the awareness-rai- proved integration and cooperation between them. sing activities and campaigns it is essential that the Once good cooperation was established between all municipality can guarantee funding from its annual involved actors, the implementation of various budget for the promotion of the active and sustain- activities and awareness-raising campaigns for diffe- able mobility (to purchase different promotional ma- rent target groups was much easier. terials for nurseries, schools, etc., organizing events, All Local Support Group members have become publicity, etc.). good friends with each other and even now, when the LAP of Ljuto- mer is finished, it is possible to see that they continue to cooperate activly and try to carry out new ideas concerning active and sustainable mobility. The one-day event carried out in Ljutomer in May 2012 will become a traditional event which further confirms that LAP has contributed significantly.

What we also have learnt in Ljutomer is that the topics of active and sustainable mobility should be included in the existing and estab- lished events or activities such as “European Day of Movements and Norderstedt (Germany) 17 Inhabitants: 75.000 Area: 58,1 km2

Norderstedt is a young city, founded in 1970 by the appointment of the Schleswig-Holstein govern- ment to merge four communities: Friedrichsgabe, Garstedt, Glashütte and Harksheide. In the middle of these four villages a new center was founded, Norderstedt-Mitte, which is a new neighbourhood of 12,000 residents.

Today, about 75,000 people live here, in the fifth largest city of the Federal State (“Bundesland”) Schleswig-Holstein. Norderstedt is a city of 58.1 km², in a green environment and part of the booming area of the metropolitan region of Hamburg and is still growing (www.norderstedt.de).

Compared with the population of 75,000 people living in Norderstedt today, there are actually about 35,000 people working here. Nevertheless, this is a good relation between inhabitants and work places, more than 18,000 inhabitants leave Norderstedt every day to work (most of them in the direction of Hamburg), but more than 21,000 people come in to work in Norderstedt.

Norderstedt is a prosperous city with a high density of cars. Due to this and to the geographical location there is a lot of traffic on the roads despite a regional train connection to the north and an underground line to the City of Hamburg in the south. In addition to the inner-city traffic there is transit traffic passing east to west to reach the motorway A7 and north to south in direction to the City of Hamburg.

Norderstedt is located very close to the Airport of Hamburg, which as well as being an advantage to local infrastructure, it causes problems because of the aircraft noise.

For a long time Norderstedt had the image of being a green city and it still is in the heads and hearts of the people living here. For example, there are three raised bogs as sites of community importance rela- ting to the Habitats Directive. They are part of the green landscape, being an important and characte- ristic element of Norderstedt. Local challenges and aims LAP-planned activities 18

The number of cars in Norderstedt is very high. In Norderstedt’s Local Action Plan is based on the 2011 there were 692 motorised vehicles per 1,000 Noise Action Plan of 2008, which was the first one inhabitants (some years ago the rate was up to 722). in Europe regarding the EC directive 2002/49/EC. The design of the streets is more suited to the former The Noise Action Plan is a good background and smaller community and their than traffic needs. start. But the Local Action Plan goes far beyond that, using the same idea of strengthening active travel on As a result, road traffic is one of the main prob- foot as well as by bike. lems in Norderstedt. This was one of the results of Norderstedt’s Noise Action Plan – and this applies Carried out so far are for instance the following not only to noise impact. The modal split of measures as multifaced parts of an environmentally Norderstedt is as follows: friendly infrastructure, and an offer for mobility • cars 57 %, changes: • bikes 17 %, • the development and promotion of a program- • walking 16 %, me for a bicycle friendly City of Norderstedt with • public transport 10 %. several measures, • a signposting conception for all important bicycle The average number of trips per day is 3.9. About routes in the city, adapted to the superior classi- 50 % of all trips are done within a 6 km distance, for fication, which biking and walking are comfortable alterna- • the signage of all main routes for local and regi- tives. Due to the expected growth of Norderstedt, onal traffic and of all recreational routes for local traffic in general will rise by about another 25 % by bike traffic within the city area, 2020. Experts do expect that the modal split will not • the construction of two new bicycle routes, be modified without new strategies, especially those • a deficit analysis of parking areas for bikes, to enforce the use of non-motorised traffic. • preliminary talks and first planning steps to build a first bicycle station in the centre of Norderstedt, Resulting from the traffic, especially private transport • concept and marketing for two new thematic loop including the trucks, many people suffer as a result routes for pedestrians and cyclists (as a follow- of noise pollution. More than 67 % of the Norderstedt up/supplement of the “Loop Route of Sounds”) population have poor sleeping conditions, over 7 % • the publication of several new brochures for envi- are health endangered by road traffic noise and over ronmentally friendly traffic in Norderstedt – the 2 % by air traffic noise. “Mobilfalter“ shows the diversity of the existing offers, the maps for the existing three loop routes With the help of the Transport Development Plan – the „Loop Route of Sounds“, the „Loop Route and the Noise Action Plan, Norderstedt is trying to in Alsterland“, the „Loop Route in the Trapenbek manage the noise problems over the next few years. Lowlands“ – show their position and give some information about the topics and educational Therefore the main objectives are elements, • the planning of a bike route seperate from streets • to change the modal split by strengthening active as a prolongation of a highly frequented and very travel on foot as well as by bike and popular so called “Quiet Route” • to make Norderstedt more sustainable and • a conception for a pedestrian friendly traffic infra- attractive, achieved by reducing the number structure, taking into account the specific needs of inhabitants who are severely and medically of handicapped persons, effected by traffic noise, on a short-to mid-term • a concept for “Mobility Stations” – that means: perspective. infrastructure for connecting pedestrian, bicycle and public transport, if possible also car sharing – at some strategically important location within the municipal area • marketing for non-motorised traffic in Nor- derstedt, • concept and marketing for car-free days in Norderstedt to promote the benefits of non-moto- rised traffic (in 2012 with a new record of rounda- bout 40,000 participants). The effect of these measures to strengthen active travel will be seen by the changes of modal split. 19 Within a period of five years there will be an expec- ted increase of bicycle traffic of 5 % of all trips, which will help to reduce the car traffic in Norderstedt:

How does the LAP fit to policies or strategic plans? Target groups

The Local Action Plan fits with the Noise Action Plan regarding to the EC directive 2002/49/EC. It‘s Mainly our target groups are based on the general planning framework of the city, e.g. the General Land Use Development Plan (FNP • all inhabitants of Norderstedt, 2008), the General Mobility Plan of the City (VEP • in-commuters and out-commuters, 2008), the Landscape/Nature Protection Plan (LP • the administration of the City of Norderstedt, 2008) and the Integrated City Development Concept • the elected politicians, (ISEK 2009). • several NGO-groups being active in Norderstedt, • schools, day childcare, kindergarten, It is also part of the Local Agenda 21 Strategy of the • Advisory Committee of Elderly People. city to reduce CO2 immissions as part of the climate change policy of Norderstedt. In regard to Agenda 21 a high level of participation of the inhabitants in all these planning and implementation processes was achieved.

Loop Route of Sounds („Rundweg der Klänge“) Lesson learnt from ATN 20 Traffic is always a sphere of activity where nearly everybody is emotionally involved and engaged. This makes it so difficult to discuss arguments and perspectives or to change mobility-behavior and attitudes on a rational basis.

In a wealthy city like Norderstedt there may be two reasons in particular for this:

• Germany has had a strong car industry with a broad acceptance and support for a car orien- ted mobility for a long time. • Starting from this point and experience of a heavily car oriented mobility and behavior all measurements to change the modal split in favour of pedestrians and cyclists are crucial. Success in this field of activity is only to be gained if this change is viewed as an additio- nal offer with freedom of choice and not as a restictive measure.

Hence we need a process of coordinated activities with wide public support which will need many years, if not even decades, to be successful in the long run. Regarding this situation it is important and crucial that there is public support for change manage- ment – especially in the field of mobility and traffic. Therefore, people should be informed and should be involved and engaged in a broad planning participa- tion process.

In this context it is very important to remain open from the very beginning to gain the acceptance of the inhabitants. This is also the background for the important role of our Local Support Group in Carfree Day in Norderstedt Norderstedt.

Looking back this guaranteed the acceptance and the success in the past and should do this in the future again. Novara (Italy) 21 Inhabitants: 105.000 Area: 103 km2

Novara is a town of about 105,000 inhabitants, located in Piedmont, Italy, half-way between Milan and Turin. It was a roman town and it played an important role in the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The old town grew between 1850 and 1970 and be- came an industrial, trade and service centre.

Novara is located at the crossing of the TEN Cor- ridor V (Lisbon – Kiev) and Corridor XXIV (Rotter- dam – Genoa), about 30 km from Malpensa Airport, the main hub of northern Italy, and at about 30 km from Rho-Pero 2015 EXPO Area in the northwest of Milan.

Its main economic products and services are rice and maize, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, intermodal commerce and logistics, banking and insurance services.

Since the 80’s Novara has gone through new econo- mic and productive change, due to industrial trans- formation of the land and in particular, important and fast evolving infrastructural changes have taken place both in the surrounding areas and in the town centre.

Such changes make it necessary to deal with new strategies in order to take advantage of the poten- tial of the land and carry out an urban renewal and to overcome the traditional ideas of the town and surrounding areas. Local challenges and aims 22 Like many medium size cities in Western Europe, Novara faces drawbacks caused by a vehicle-ori- ented mobility system connected to boosting urban growth in the XX. century.

Threats to the town and land are caused by the fast transformation of the town and mobility system and may lead to upsetting physical and functional fea- tures like overgrowth of infrastructural works, soil consumption and sprawl, loss of identity of urban areas and outskirts.

The infrastructure system of the town shows the weakness of the developing process which genera- between downtown and service-residential suburb ted critical issues and low quality public areas. districts. It is a green way through a new carfree In fact, Novara has a radial urban shape with a radial neighborhood with social services, facilities and a accessibility system with main roads leading to the park. town centre, while ring roads allow orbital traffic. Although such a road system is rational and works, “The Easy Way“ is also a pragmatic solution in it causes problems with mobility such as traffic jams urban planning which combines a new planning tool in the city centre, noise and pollution due to traffic, (“Contratti di Quartiere“) with a strong sustainability overcrowded parking areas and poor quality of life oriented concept (Active Mobility). for residents. The ATN-LAP went through the following phases: A new sustainable active mobility approach would let the town ease the mentioned drawbacks, enhan- • Analysis of town needs, context and drawbacks cing environment and health awareness, leading to and stakeholders’ involvement. ecological and economic benefits. • Approval of “Contratti di Quartiere Programme“ based on active mobility approach to urban Novara’s challenge within the Active Travel Network design and including the new green way (“The program is to make the active mobility approach a Easy Way“) as a linking feature between town structural, essential, standard feature of ongoing centre and new district. and future urban planning. The integrated sustai- • Preparation of LAP containing layout and guide- nable development systems (neighborhoods, social lines to include active mobility approach actions integration, citizens’ health care, infrastructures and within urban planning, that is to say: urban layout) should represent the core of future Active mobility as an urban strategy for sut- reprogramming of urban features, as well as the dis- sainability and integration; semination and the fostering of sustainable mobility Active mobility as an urban design concept policies. („The Easy Way“ as urban track, park and connective feature in town); Active mobility as a social integration action; (“The Easy Way“, park and track, as socializi- LAP-planned activities ng and meeting point for young people, fami- lies, old people, sportsmen and pet walkers) The ATN-Local Action Plan, named “The Easy Active mobility as a civic and health educatio- Way”, aims at introducing active mobility policies nal action („The Easy Way“ as a behavioral within planning design as a strategic action to impro- model to strengthen citizens’ and residents’ ve the environmental quality of the town and the citi- health consciousness and identity); zens’ quality of life. • Support for campaigns and actions aims to promote active mobility and environment friendly “The Easy Way” is behaviour such as: an active-mobility Implementation of bike sharing facilities in oriented urban track town; which represents a European Mobility Week “In town without my smart, alternative and car“,“Bimbinbici“ and “amici della bici“ initiati- integrated connection ves How does the LAP fit to existing poli- Target groups cies or strategic plans? 23 Citizens and stakeholders participated in the project ATN “The Easy Way” refers to a specific ongoing through the LSG actions, the audit and dedicated urban plan called “Contratti di Quartiere III” partially meetings. All participants were given the chance to funded by Regione Piemonte, which is also the Ma- express their opinions and make suggestions and naging Authority for the URBACT-project. contributed equally to the events. They shared roles and responsibilities during the event or as part of the Although the actual approach regarding urban mo- overall project. The discussions ensured a mutual bility is based on technical pragmatic data related to understanding about the project and the short term/ flow control, road width and length, number of car long term objectives. All contents have been clearly parks, surface of pavement areas, “The Easy Way” related to the aims/objectives of activities. project is focused on citizens’ awareness, urban quality and sustainability and it considers active mo- The meetings were also a great opportunity for the bility as the basic element to be taken into account development of positive attitudes towards Europe when planning urban solutions and social integration and transnational activities. actions. Target groups and stakeholders are: The introduction of active mobility policies within pl- anning design represent a strategic action to impro- Authorities ve the environmental quality of the town. In this way • Municipality of Novara as approving authority for the Municipalityof Novara means to capitalize past urban design: in particular the department “Ser- experiences and to strengthen ongoing actions of vizio Pianificazione Programmazione Urbanistica urban mobility. e Territoriale, Riqualificazione Urbana, Marketing Territoriale” The LAP has already been included in the urban • Novara Urban Police Office (”Servizio Mobilità”) plan approved by the Municipality, called “Contratti • Regione Piemonte (First Level Control for the di Quartiere III” which sets the rules and guidelines URBACT-programme and finance management for interventions to be carried out in interested areas. for “Contratti di Quatrtiere“)

Companies • The “FNM”, Ferrovie Nord Milano (owner of the area involved in the programme) • A.T.C. “Agenzia Territoriale Per la Casa” (Social Housing Dept.) that will carry out interventions • Residents and Local Support Group • citizens living in the involved areas (“Circoscrizio- ne Nord-Est: Vela, S. Andrea, S. Rocco”)

NGOs • “Comunità di Sant’Egidio”, an NGO association interested in social activities already operating in the area • NGO and associations interested in active mobility and social issues such as “Amici della Bici – Novara” and ACI “Automobile Club Italia – Novara”; • Università del Piemonte Orientale, which is in charge of controlling urban transformation of the town; Lessons learnt from ATN (especially • Raising eco awareness from an early age (children and slow mobility campaigns and 24 the working with ULSG) actions) and promoting sustainable behaviour within the educational process and neighbor- hoods.

The project aims to represent an outstanding ex- ample of urban planning outside conventional urban coding and planning tools and it implies a bottom/ up approach. Actions involve residents and citizens working on campaigns and dissemination, which is rather unusual in Italian town planning.

The guidelines set in the project may be transferred and applied to similar situations (new urban renova- tion programmes) or similar settings (medium size town) because Novara stands as a typical example of common critical issues as regards mobility and renovation.

Lessons learnt from the project may be summarized as follows:

• Conceiving active mobility as an integrated approach to solve the contradictions of medium sized towns urban growth and updating planning tools and methods in a European environment awareness perspective.

• Conceiving active mobility as a priority when re- novating/planning/implementing the urban layout to strengthen urban identity.

• Necessity to integrate theoretical knowledge and planning with citizens‘ participation and aware- ness and building up practical knowledge from good practice.

• The importance of considering stakeholders, Local Support Group, citizens as necessary actors in town governance, fostering coope- ration between decision makers, stakeholders and citizens (shopkeepers, clerks, students and teachers, civil servants) and learning how to disseminate. Riccione (Italy) 25 Inhabitants: 35.855 Area: 17,12 km2

Riccione is the second most populated town in the province of Rimini, with 6 km of coast. Riccione will be celebrating 90 years of independence from Rimini this year.

Its principal business resource is tourism and it has 415 hotels, 95 of which remain open all year round. It also has four campsites, 151 seperate beach accesses and a conference centre accomodating 2,000 people. Riccione has about 205 km of roads and 26.5 km of cycle paths.

Riccione has a great tendency for change where new trends constantly remain a point of reference.

There is still a lot to do. For this reason the town ad- ministration is planning to develop the construction © Stefano Renzi of another 25 km of cycle paths in the future.

This active mobility is a priority for several reasons: starting from it being a useful commodity (you can cover the whole area of Riccione within 3 to 6 km); initially for your health and the benefits for mobility; enjoying the landscape, the scent of flowers and nature.

Over the next few years the population will increase and so will the use of the bicycle. Riccione, with its surrounding area, tourist activities, with many different schools (compulsory schools with 2,299 pupils and high schools with 1,674 pupils) and the structure of medium sized companies is ready to expand. Riccione is ready to move on and to put the best strategies into practise. © Stefano Renzi 26

Brainstorming session of the employees of the Municipality of Riccione. © Stefano Renzi Local challenges and aims

Riccione is a destination for mass tourism (with The goal of the local government is to increase the approximately 690,000 arrivals and 3,350,000 over amount of active mobility from the current 8 % to night stays annually), it peaks during the summer 25 % within five years through clear and verifiable season. As approximately 70 % arrive by car and steps. considering the modal share of residents, the final This goal has been launched by the Local Action result is an unsustainable mobility model. Plan for Active Mobility at Riccione; it is part of a wider innovation strategy that the local government The local government wants to implement an orga- has been pursuing since the beginning of its political nic project aimed at creating a hierarchy of urban mandate. mobility in favour of “active mobility”, discouraging This strategy is based on the concept that the phase car use and favouring the use of bicycle and going of quantitative development is now finished and that on foot. Riccione is an important tourist city visited now is the time for qualitative development based yearly by national and foreign tourists and is com- on valorisation and protection of land as well as of pact. Distances from one point to another (perpen- the environment. This should be done in such a way dicular and longitudinally to the Adriatic coast) are as to elevate the quality of the city and the quality not more than 5 to 6 km. This means that the various of life for residents and tourists. The implementation services, located in the districts concerned or in the instruments of this new policy are the PGTU (Ge- city centre are more easily reached within a few neral Plan of the Urban Traffic) of which the Local minutes by walking or cycling. Plan on Active Travel is an essential part, the POC (Municipal Operational Plans for Buildings), the new These ecological solutions would save time (e.g. RUE (Urban Regulation for Buildings), the Trienni- to look for parking) and money due to the dramatic al Investments Plan, the Commercial Plan and the increase of the petrol prices. Traffic Plan. • Implementation of bike sharing and provision of for public use; electrical vehicles 27

• Informative and educational campaigns for ci- tizens about the benefits of active travel, targeted in particular at young people;

• Projects for the development of the use of bicycles for journeys to school and work;

• Projects for bike shopping with incentives both for clients and for shoppers (discounts and tax reliefs, supply of bicycles to hotel clients, etc.) to encourage it; Children active in the Pedibus project. © Maurizio Catenacci • Construction of large parking lots outside the city centre with bike sharing services, car sha- LAP-planned activities ring, shuttle service to the city centre and service centres; • Launch of Pedibus (walk to school) as part of a wider mobility model change. 70 children invol- • Definition – also through an adaptation of the ved in the initial phase; urban planning instruments – of adequate stan- dards for parking devoted to bicycles and • Creation of a map with four thematic walking- motorcycles, making free parking for electrical cycling itineraries, each one marked by a vehicles. different colour: Family Route; Downtown Route; Panorama Route; Sport and Nature Route. The Boulevard of Landscapes is also indicated in the map. They represent a green ring surrounding the city;

• The improvement of the traffic conditions whilst crossing the city through forcing the traffic along the main roads in such a way as to protect the central areas from congestion;

• The improvement of the traffic conditions whilst departing from and arriving to Riccione, with the reduction of private motorized traffic in favour mainly of the public means;

• The improvement of the conditions of the internal mobility of the city by discouraging the use of private motorized traffic and encouraging cycling and walking;

• Development and improving the quality of the net of cycle lanes and paths. This aims to achieve a new cultural paradigm. When a road for motorised traffic is built, a continuous cycle lane must be built and hence be designed to create links and not only to protect cyclists who otherwise don’t use it. Furthermore, as for car roads the cycle lanes must not be used by wal- kers or by motorists for parking vehicles; at the same time, they must have proper sign posting, at least about distance (also for temporal distan- Sidewalk and cycling path along the harbor. ces), destinations, directions and intersections; © Stefano Renzi Target groups 28 - Hoteliers and their guests - School managers, children, parents - Citizens

Lessons learnt from ATN

The environment, infrastructure, mobility, education sectors/departments of the local government must work together with local support groups and stake- holders. Mobility is a sort of intersection between the fields above that requires a holistic-integrated approach.

From right: Massimo Pironi (Mayor of Riccione), Luca Be systematic in the future: deep changes in mobility Cevoli (President of hotel-keepers association LSG), Lan- patterns require mid to long term efforts. franco Francolini (Councillor of Mobility) and Sandra Villa (Manager for schools group). © Stefano Renzi It‘s beneficial to exchange ideas with other cities par- ticipating in ATN project (especially communication strategy and tools). How does the LAP fit to existing poli- cies or strategic plans? Local Support Group members were the municipality of Riccione, the president of hotel-keepers associati- on, a manager for schools group. The city of Riccione has already initiated this work, with projects and interventions consistent with the above mentioned activities. Some examples are: • Closing off the two promenades (“Lungomare della Libertà” and “Lungomare della Repubblica”) to motorized traffic; • Banning private vehicles from the crossing of the city in the tourist area. Stopping of the transit in the intersection “Ceccarini-Milano”; replication of the action carried out with success during the summer 2011; • Banning of parking in some residential and po- pular tourist areas of the city (south Zone), with availability of collective parking in the vicinity.

© Maurizio Catenacci Sebeş (Romania) 29 Inhabitants: 32.000 Area: 115,5 km2

Sebeş municipality is located in the district of Alba, Arad), Sebeş has always been recognised as an in the county of Transylvania, at 240 meters altitude, important trading centre. During the last decades, lying in the base of the valley with the same name. many industrial businesses located here determining Being surrounded by the Sebeş and Secaş valleys an intensive economical development. that unify downstream, the area has a mild climate, very favourable for tourism. This proved to be very convenient from the financial and political points of view. In 2000, Sebeş being It had been inhabited for a long time. There was a proclaimed a municipality, but that has highly incre- Dacian settlement which later was incorporated into ased the motorized traffic in the area. Thus, despite the Roman Empire, and it flourished economically its pleasant natural environment and cultural values, and politically, especially during the Middle Ages. Sebeş artificially developed as a car-oriented city. Until 2010, there had been no consistent actions From the administrative point of view, the Munici- supporting clean means of transport in terms of fa- patiy of Sebeş is composed of four bodies: Sebeş, cilities and adaptations for cycling and walking, nore Lancrăm, Petreşti and Rahău, covering a total area any dedicated incentives. of 11,545 ha and has approximately 32,000 inhabi- tants. There were only some isolated events organized on urban mobility during the Mobility Week in 2002, The ATN focused on the town of Sebeş, the 2004, 2008 and 2009. In addition, even if the initia- wealthiest of the four however it also poses the tives were well recieved by the people, they didn’t greatest challenges. Due to its location at the cross- seem completely aware of the negative effects in- roads of two important roadways, DN 7 (coming from duced by their excessive car use both, on short and Sibiu to Cluj-Napoca) and DN 1 (linking Sibiu and long terms. • Enforcement of the Network of Walking and (new members, more 30 Cycling Friendly Shops diversified and frequent activities with larger numbers of participants involved, intensification of the communication and exchanges between its members as well as at international level with similar foreign bodies)

• Survey on the mountain bike area and hiring centre to be organised in the Arini Park (in colla- boration with the Pupils Club)

Local challenges and aims • Maintenance and reinforcement of the Local Support Group and of its activities The important industrial development engendered an exponential growth in the transit fluxes as well as • Rendering of the city centre into a pedestrian in the number of cars and in the length of distances zone following the inauguration of Sebeş’s traffic covered using motorized modes of transport. The in- belt planned for the end of 2012 creasingly frequent transit lorries have monopolized the streets in the historic central area thus leaving no • Partnership between the municipality and the place for clean modes of transport and inducing high owner of the “Leul de aur”-Hotel offer free bikes levels of pollution. and advice to the guests willing to visit the city and its surroundings Anxious about the possible rise in injuries (in terms of road safety and health) generated by the consis- • Transformation of the Sebeş Days into a piggy- tent freight transport transiting their city, the inhabi- back event for sustainable mobility promoti- tants have started to use cars more and more even on (with the progressive enhancement of these for very short distances that could be walked in a aspects and of the amplitude of the activities few minutes relaxed walk. Another series of prob- organised in this field) lems resulted from the insufficient number of car par- king spaces and the lack of an acceptable parking • Example of sustainable mobility attitude offe- management system. The lack of urban culture and red by the local leaders and administration the apparent disinterest for non-polluting/alternative employees invited to go to their work place and ways of transport also favoured this dramatic urban to do daily shopping activities on foot or by bike mobility situation. • Promotion of the alternative mobility on the Having in mind that Sebeş is still a compact occasion of special festivals and events like settlement, relatively small and easy to get to know Sebeş Days, Mobility Week or Earth Day on foot or by bike, it is not attractive and not used as such. The activities and measures proposed in • Setting up and maintenance of a cycling rou- the framework of the ATN project aimed to restore te linking the main places in the town and Sebeş’s walk-able and cycle-able dimensions. nearby areas. The proposed route will connect the town centre with the parks and historical sites The main focus was on changing peoples approach located outside the city. In a second phase bike and behavior concerning walking and cycling. The lines could be built to connect Sebeş with its inhabitants policy, as well as the decision makers surrounding settlements. and administration, were encouraged to consider them as proper means of transport and not just lei- • Installation of bike parking facilities along all sure activities. the important junctions and places

• Reconsideration of the local mobility policy in LAP-planned activities order to include the sustainable travel modes and dedicate special funds for their support • Continuation of the Walking Bus as a perma- nent periodical measure with increased com- • Integration of urban mobility priorities in the plexity (longer length and more intense than its Sustainable Urban Developement Strategy of first two editions, larger number of schools and Sebeş participants, different context) 31

How does the LAP fit to existing poli- Target groups cies or strategic plans? The Strategy for Local Sustainable Development • Primary school pupils (Walkin Bus-awareness stipulates the heavy traffic diversion from the city’s raising among young inhabitants about walking core and the non-polluting mobility support for im- and cycling as daily modes of transport in order proving health conditions while favouring the local to generate a change in their behaviour that ulti- economy. mately will result in a daily habit for them); Besides, the traffic belt is mentioned in the roads • Parents (indirectly impacted through their child- section of the National Territorial Plan as well in ren and the actions in which the latest are mobi- Sebes’s General Urban Plan that also includes the lized); provision of some pedestrian areas. The latest have • Teachers (co-opted in the organization of the WB been detailed through the Urban Plan of the Histo- and/or indirectly impacted through the attitudes rical Centre („Plan Urbanistic Zonal Centrul Istoric of the pupils they are teaching); Sebeş“, designed by Proiect Alba SA and approved • Shopkeepers (being demonstrated the advanta- through HCL 83/20.04.2010) proposing re-routes for ges of the active travel modes upon their busi- motorized fluxes and solutions for traffic rethinking nesses, involved into the Network of Walking on sustainable basis. and Cycling Friendly Shops and convinced to support the limitation of motorized traffic in the Furthermore, a feasibility study has been done city centre); concerning the traffic belt (undertaking 70 % of the • Local leaders (determined to reconsider walking transit traffic between Alba Iulia and Sibiu, Alba Iulia and cycling as real modes of transport and integ- and Deva, Sibiu and Deva) and a by-pass road (con- rate them into the local mobility policy); necting DN 7 from Deva with DN 67C from Şugag • Administration employees (invited to go to their for absorbing the industrial heavy traffic serving the work place and to do daily shopping activities on wooden factories in the north of Sebeş. Recently, foot or by bike); the building of the motorway from Orăştie to Sibiu • Inhabitants (presented the positive impact of sus- has been started and the part by-passing Sebeş is tainable mobility upon their health and ultimately planned to be finished at the end of 2012. on their life quality). Lessons learnt from ATN (especially the working with ULSG) 32

• Stakeholders involvement is absolutely ne- once the minimal soft infrastructure is fixed, cessary in the development of a LAP; actions develop by themselves; integration of sustainable mobility – envi • It is difficult for all the Local Support Group- ronment protection awareness – cultural acti - members to join and meet together vities – health education; face to face; • Besides the technical information and know-how, • Phone and email-communication can the international co-operation with project part- help a lot as well as organizing partial work ners from other cities brought consistent moral meetings with the members involved in the support (one is not alone, same problems can be following actions and information of the others found in different places and there are so many through the internet; possible solutions).

• Efforts to integrate sustainable mobility issues into current planning need stakeholders/local actors support;

• Regarding the implementation of your small awareness raising campaign the presentation/communication of an idea is essential, needing an attractive and clear image; working with children (especially primary school ones) is very successful in also motivating adults to use more sustainable travel choices; association of the mobility actions with the environmental, cultural and health themes help promote and obtain better results in all of these fields; Serres (Greece) 33 Inhabitants: 75.233 Area: 601,5 km2

The Municipality of Serres is located in the It is also a pole of educational activities, due to the northern part of Greece (Region of Central Mace- university and technical institutes, situated in the donia). Following a recent legislative reform in the outskirts of the city. Greek local administration, it is an expanded Mu- nicipality (resulting from four former municipalities Since the seventies, Serres has faced intense urba- and two communities of its region) and the largest nization, especially in the city centre. Open spaces in population among the seven municipalities of the were replaced by residential blocks and cars began Regional Unit of Serres. to dominate the streets. Due to the concentration of many activities in the broader centre area (adminis- Serres covers an area of around 600 sq.km and its trative, commercial and recreational ones), the city residential population is 75.233 (2011 census). It is centre attracts many working people and visitors situated in fertile terrain at an elevation of about 70 all day long and it is penalized by congestion as m, 24 km northeast of the Strymon River and 80 km the ring road of the city can not efficiently serve the northeast of the City of Thessaloniki. The city is in- generated traffic. tegrated in the Transeuropean Transport Networks, part of the Egnatia Motorway vertical axe. Mobility conditions are deteriorated by the car addic- tion of many citizens that leads to parking problems Since its complete destruction in 1913, Serres has and less space for other users, like pedestrians and gradually become a remarkable urban administrative cyclists. The relevant infrastructure for walking and and commercial centre with rich traditions, sports cycling needs to be improved and a more balanced and cultural activities in arts and literature. Local approach towards different modes is needed. economy involves agriculture and important trade of tobacco, cereals, and livestock as well as textiles and other manufactured items. Local challenges and aims LAP-planned activities 34 The vision for the city involves the development of Following interactive brainstorming and multiple dis- sustainable mobility culture, as well as the neces- cussions between the Municipality’s representatives sary infrastructures to combine with soft measures and the Local Support Group, the Local Action Plan towards active travel promotion (walking and cycling of Serres focuses on cycling promotion and on the campaigns). enhancement of actions aiming at improving existing and planned infrastructures towards an integrated A major challenge is to beat the car oriented men- cycling network. The overall objective falls under the tality that dominates the practices of the citizens title “Serres: a Model City for Sustainable Mobility – and penalizes especially the city centre. The aim is Emphasis on the Bicycle”. to take advantage of the city characteristics and to Objectives and planned activities include: promote alternatives to private car travel modes. On- going construction projects begin to provide more Objective 1: space to alternative modes and less to cars. A) Recording the number of daily trips by bicycle and of routes followed as well as other characteristics. Parking management is another challenge to be B) Systematic monitoring of daily bicycle trips so as tackled. The aim is to have an integrated approach to evaluate promotion measures. Planned activities: with exploitation of existing park and ride facilities, • Pilot recording, through a structured question- new underground parking installations and a balan- naire of all journeys by all means of transport ced use of infrastructure by all users. (including bicycle) of a focus group of 50 emplo- It is about a “dream with a deadline”: to achieve yees provided with a bicycle by the municipality. soon high standards of sustainable living through Statistical analysis of the data-results of bicycle common efforts. use • Planning of a survey for an extensive assess- The participation of Serres Municipality in Active ment of bicycle users and daily trips-variation. Travel Network was a unique opportunity to obtain Permanent mechanism for recording bicycle trips knowledge of effective methods and practices so as to change travel behavior, strengthen public aware- Objective 2: ness, promote active travel modes and involve citi- A) Filed inspections in the city concerning the propo- zens and local stakeholders in city decision-making. sed planning of cycling infrastructure. B) Active participation of the citizens in the decision- The development of a Local Action Plan (LAP) was a making process on planning real challenge. Focusing on the promotion of cycling C) Collection of Local Support Group proposals after and on actions aiming at the creation of an integra- field inspections. Planned activities: ted cycling network, LAP is considered to be a valu- • Connecting points of interest with the network able development lever. It will be a useful instrument (Hotels, schools, Central Services) for setting priorities and realistic planning of next • Selecting low traffic roads steps, in accordance with existing plans. Making the • Recording all the proposals from the LSG mem- most of the city‘s potential, it engages active citizens bers into a different perspective for a more viable, friendly and people-oriented place to live in. Objective 3: A) Expansion of the Cycling Network (create first the institutionalized one and then other routes) B) Improvement of the existing infrastructures. Plan- ned activities: • Integrated design of the network and setting of implementation priorities, budget issues and re- sources acquisition. Design according to techni- cal specifications • Improvement of existing cycling network by bet- ter road and information signs

Objective 4: A) Traffic and parking management in benefit of active travel B) Minimizing private car use. Planned activities: • Clear political will in favor of active travel • Update of transportation study, by incorporating IVC, a manual that promotes the use of bicycles in add-ups and emphasizing on walking, cycling Serres was created in 2011. It suggested relevant 35 and Public Transportation. Activate existing park infrastructures as well as a large cycling network, & ride facilities. of approximately 20 km in length, integrating routes • Reorganization of controlled parking areas com- suggested by former Traffic Regulatory Decisions, bined with the proposed network and new pricing completed and connected with new paths. policies Finally, through a large infrastructure project “Inte- Objective 5: Changing the attitude of drivers, pe- grated urban reconstruction of road axes in Serres” destrians and cyclists about the cycling network. En- (funded by ERDF), a bi-directional cycling path will hance perceptions of extensive bicycle use. Planned be created passing through the city centre, as a first activities: step for the cycling network development. • Awareness actions (e.g. bicycle races, or group rides). Public awareness campaigns and educa- It is clear that during the last decade, the Municipali- tional programmes ty of Serres places emphasis on sustainable mobility • Further police enforcement and makes a lot of effort to upgrade the city’s image • Better road signs by facilitating walking and cycling through hard and soft actions. Creating and implementing this Local Objective 6: Action Plan is another indication that “we are moving Changing users’ attitude towards everyday broad in the right direction” use of bicycle (not just for leisure). Awareness rai- sing actions about network planning. Planned activi- ties: • Actions and public awareness campaigns (tv spots, events) • Motivation for everyday bicycle use, institutionali- zation of the bicycle ride every Wednesday. Moti- vation for modal shift (from car to bicycle) • Creation of more bicycle parking equipment in visible places • Actions of awareness and promotion of bicycle daily use in schools (primary and secondary education) • Improvement and maintenance of the existing cycling network

How does the LAP fit to existing poli- cies or strategic plans? Target groups Developing a LAP required the contribution of all In the past, the Municipality of Serres worked on stakeholders involved directly or indirectly in active different studies trying to solve traffic problems and travel in Serres. Groups we targeted were primary giving more space to people instead of cars. This (those involved directly in mobility policies) and se- gave pace to important Traffic Regulatory Decisions condary ones (with an indirect role). They formed the for the city, placing emphasis on the extension of the Local Support Group, which became a vital compo- pedestrian network in the centre and urban reform nent of the project from the very beginning. (widening pavements, creating green pathways) as well as on the creation of quite a large cycling The Local Support Group consists of representatives network. of: • Local authorities (Serres Municipality, Traffic Serres participation in the project PIMMS (Partner Police, Municipal Police, Primary and Secondary Initiatives for the development of Mobility Manage- Education Administrations of Serres Prefecture, ment Services), funded by INTERREG IIIC during Municipal non profit Enterprise of Serres) 2005-2007 was extremely helpful and educativ • Educational entities (Technological Educational regarding Mobility Management. Furthermore, Institute of Serres, Department of Physical Edu- through the municipality’s involvement in the sequel cation and Sport Science (Aristotle University of project PIMMS TRANSFER, funded by INTERREG Thessaloniki – Serres Branch) • Local Associations (Serres Consumers Asso- ciation, Walkers’ Association “Agioi Anargyroi 36 Valley”, Cyclists’ Association “MAHITIS”) • Professional associations (Local Bus Operator, Tourist agents and Hotel owners Associations), • NGOs (UNESCO Club of Serres) • Serres Racing Circuit

This pilot implementation revealed high acceptance of this alternative means of transport and gave an insight of its use in Serres in general.

Active Travel Network was a whole new working experience for different agents of the Serres Muni- cipality: local authorities and municipal staff tackling urban issues together with social stakeholders.

However, it should be stressed that:

The Intention to join active travel promotion and vo- Lessons learnt from ATN lunteering for sustainable travel achievement needs to be enhanced and go beyond “wishful thinking”!

Municipality’s participation in the project, cooperation Mistrust towards political will as regards Local Action with the consortium, as well as interaction with LSG Plan implementation and goals achievement needs can be summarized as follows: to be properly tackled. Given the financial cons- traints, realistic goals and scheduling of actions, Experience and knowledge exchange between par- wise use of resources and a diachronic “investment” ticipating cities from different EU countries, offered are required. the Municipality of Serres the opportunity to enhance its potential on sustainable urban mobility achieve- Municipality staff involved in this project and gifted ment and promotion of alternative transport modes . with its heritage of active travel promotion are in Interaction with consortium members was fruitful and need of support and all kinds of resources, human overall cooperation was very constructive. ones included.

Interaction between the municipality staff and LSG Good practices have to be institutionalized and be members was of mutual interest and value. LSG further developed and implemented independently meetings, held in a friendly manner and with a good from changes in the political leadership of the team spirit, provided interesting suggestions on Municipality. active travel promotion focusing on bicycles. It be- came very clear that the best results can be achie- ved through the communication and cooperation of stakeholders on an ongoing basis

The municipality’s awareness raising campaign, “Bike to Work in Serres” was a good start to en- courage municipality staff to use bicycles not only for daily travel to and from work but also for other purposes (e.g. sports, leisure, etc.). Skanderborg (Denmark) 37 Inhabitants: 58.000 Area: 462,5 km2

Skanderborg is a middle sized municipality of about 58.000 inhabitants in the eastern part of Jutland, which is the mainland of Denmark. The municipality consists of several urban areas and areas with farm land, woods etc. Three major cities are situated within 30 km from the town of Skanderborg. Denmark’s second city Aarhus with 315.000 inhabitants is located only 20 km from Skanderborg.

Skanderborg is an old town. In the 12th century the first castle belonging to the Danish King was build in Skanderborg. Only the church is left now. The town got its municipal charter in 1583. Since 1980 the mu- nicipality has been well-known for its annual music festival, “Denmark’s Most Beautiful Festival”, which is held in the beech wood just outside Skanderborg.

Skanderborg is a growing area with a lot of commu- ters to the surrounding municipalities. 16,000 inha- bitants commute everyday out of the municipality. 10,000 travel to Aarhus. The town is situated at the main North – South traffic corridor in Jutland. A mo- torway was built in the 1980’s, so most of the transit car traffic passes outside the town. The main railway provides the municipality with a good train service to the north, south and west. Travelling by bus is also an option. Local challenges and aims Local Action Plan 38 Action plan for climate and sustainability 1. Project „Safe Ways to School“ The strategic plans for the municipality of Skander- Campaign in spring 2012 with the goal of making pu- borg are followed by an action plan for environment pils, parents and teachers more aware of the option (climate) and sustainability, which was adopted by of going to school either by bike or on foot (active the City Council in April 2008. In this action plan, travel). The campaign was launched by closing the sustainable transport is a priority. roads around three of the biggest schools for all car traffic for half an hour prior to school starting in the Municipal Plan morning for a week. In the Municipal Plan 2009 Skanderborg municipality has declared it to be a long-term target that traffic This kind of campaign was provoking to many and safety must be enhanced and particularly on school had the intended impact of creating a debate about roads and for cyclists and pedestrians in each city the options of going to school without being driven centre. Paths which ensure easy access from ho- by parents. mes to schools, recreational facilities, nature, public The campaign also included a competition for the transport and businesses are also a priority.. pupils and a game specially developed for this cam- paign. Health Policy The City Council wants to encourage the inhabitants The objectives are: to be physically active by urging people to use bikes, • Physical activity for all citizens is one of the goals which most Danes have got, or walk instead of using of the municipality of Skanderborg the car. • The Danish Health and Medicine Authority re- A good infrastructure for people walking and cycling commend half an hour of daily physical activity could make this the natural choice. Daily physical for adults and one hour for children activity is a proven action against a lot of diseases • The municipality aims to make the journey to and and can improve your life expectancy. from school safer

• Skanderborg wants to reduce CO2 emissions Focus on Active Travel Denmark is a “bicycle country”, but the share of By increasing active travel to and from schools, all cyclists is decreasing. Only the cities which have these objectives can be achieved. focused on this issue have had an increase in the number of cyclists. 2. In cooperation with DSB, the National Train Company, establish more bike racks at stations Cooperation makes more impact When joining the Active Travel Network Skander- 3. Installation of bike racks at key bus stops, borg decided to create cooperation between three preferably with air pumps departments: • The Municipal Planning Department (which also 4. Lower speeds in built-up areas, for example in

works with energy and CO2 issues). residential areas, near schools and kindergartens, at • The Road and Traffic Department leisure facilities etc. • The Health Department 5. Children playing games on bikes: The munici- This ATN-working group has become an important pality has started a course for teachers to become element in achieving the aims of the plans for the instructors to teach children to cycle safely. In co- municipality. operation with Danish Cyclist Federation (DCF).

6. Bicycle friendly workplaces: Together with Danish Cyclists Federation the municipality wants to develop activities that promote the use of bicycles for commuting to and from work. The aim is to incre- ase the proportion of employees who use bicycles as the chosen form of transportation.

7. Local Bicycle Network that can monitor and con- tribute to the development of active transport. How does the LAP fit to existing poli- Target groups: cies or strategic plans? 39 • Citizens in general The LAP fits very well into the overall plans for the • Parents municipality for climate, traffic and health. The syste- • Pupils matical work with the challenges through input from • Teachers the Urbact Local Support Group, the Active Travel • Politicians Audit and the problem analysis has created a way • Transport companies to pin point the actions to be taken that will give the • The municipal’s administration best outcome. • Commuters

As you can see in the summary of the Local Action Plan during this process we have chosen seven concrete activities.

The ATN-project has created awareness amongst the staff in the municipality to think of active travel when making plans or strategies. Lessons learnt from ATN 40

Cooperation ATN-networking • Cooperation of three departments has given The international networking has resulted in: the project added impact both among the • New knowledge, ideas, inspiration and additional municipality’s politicians and staff, external support stakeholders and media. • The ATN opening up access to newsletters, • The diversity of knowledge, working methods, websites and other networks involved in active external and internal contacts and mutual sup- transport port in a project that requires great commitment • Participating in VeloCity conference: exchange has been invaluable. of ideas, networking outside ATN, views, political currents according to transport, etc. ULSG • The involvement of politicians and the coverage The work in the ULSG has provided: of activities in the media - press, radio and TV - • Early stakeholder involvement have been excellent • Clarification of a number of issues for cycling and • The Municipality of Skanderborg being able to walking focus on active travel which without ATN would • The opportunity to discuss the draft for the LAP not have been possible. It has created a debate • Many ideas to solve problems and move forward amongst citizens, and politicians have granted in continuous development funds for the activities. • Help to secure the project among citizens, including politicians and other stakeholders, for example suppliers of public transport. • On-sight inspection with cyclists regarding condi- tions at selected locations (bike ride) • Formation of a local bike network

Active Travel Audit The use of the Active Travel Audit has helped to prioritize the issues to be taken care of. University of Graz (Austria) 41

The University of Graz was founded in 1585 and has The area is not a planned one but has been develo- almost 4,000 employees and approximately 32,000 ped based upon principle reaction instead of sus- students. It is the biggest of the four Universities in tainable planning. One aim of the University is the Graz, Austria (www.uni-graz.at/en/university/infor- “sustainable and climate-neutral“ University. Mobility mation/about-the-university). plays a crucial role. Therefore a co-operation bet- ween all four universities in Graz has been initiated With these frame conditions it must be seen as one (“UniMobil4U“). of the biggest traffic generators in the city. Compa- red to other universities of this size which are often planned as Campus Universities on the outskirts of The Institute of Geography and Regional Science a city, the University is located directly in the city of of the University of Graz is the partner in the Active Graz and has almost no dislocations. Travel Network project. Local challenges and aims The main aim of the curriculum is to capitalise the students and lecturers as well as the transport pro- 42 fessionals either with methodologies and with practi- To prepare the students for their future career Uni- cal examples of successful implementations from versities are moving on from only teaching theories Active Travel Network partners. Each teaching unit and are therefore offering curricula, teaching and contains thematic foundations, details of examples training materials that contain a high level of real and practical exercises. working methodologies, good practise case studies and process relevant know how. A special focus • Mobility management and Travel Awareness should be put on real implementations of cities / (MM) regions and institutions. • Active Travel Fundamentals: To reach the future transport professionals the Uni- Topics, goals, intentions, partners, versity of Graz as an Active Travel Network project implementations, etc. partner developed a curriculum for the use in Univer- • Project Management and Plan Development sities and higher educational institutions. This curri- (special focus on LAP) culum is planned to be used and further dissemina- Factors of successful project management ted in the academic world. and Network management • Target Groups/Stakeholders Analysis and In- The students should gain the following skills and volvement knowledge: • Active Travel-Audits: • To realize the context between hard policies and Audit methodology, trails and schemes, soft policies and to see the value and impact of assessment of audit processes audit result Travel Awareness and Mobility Management examples • To realize transport problems on site level and • Sustainable Mobility Campaigns to analyse and define these problems, target Design and carry out of campaigns MM groups and stakeholders campaigns/best practice examples • To develop a concept and implementation pro- • Activities for children (examples from Skander- gramme for these sites and situations borg and Sebeş) Walking Bus, Traffic Snake Game, school streets, bicycle parcour, cycle training on official roads, geo-caching, Kindergarten The Curriculum programmes, etc. • Activities to enhance health Transfer physical activities into daily routines, Mobility Management in companies to increase health and fitness, etc. • Event Planning: Car Free Day (example from Norderstedt), combination social health and celebration (example from Ljutomer), Used Bicycle Fair, Lady´s Cycle Repair Night, etc. • Activities to improve situation for tourism: Temporary closure of through traffic in touristic areas, Hotel Bicycle Systems, guided thematic walks/cycle tours (examples from Riccione, Norderstedt, Weiz), Pedelec rental system (example from Weiz) • Transport and Housing Social housing (example from Novara), Cycle path on former railway track (urban Within Active Travel Network a curriculum has been planning and development – land recycling) developed that enables lecturers to deal with the • Evaluation methods, plans, guidelines. topic areas of Active Transport (walking and cycling) on the one hand and Mobility Management as an approach on the other hand. Furthermore, skills and methodologies to run a process of a LAP develop- ment are included. How does the curriculum fit to Based upon the work in the Active Travel Network project and the capacity building and capitalisation existing policies or strategic plans? 43 process that has been carried out regularly during the project meetings and in co-operation with the lead expert, the University has started a process with a series of mobility related project workshops which will result in a sustainable Mobility Manage- ment scheme for the entire University (employees and students).

This task was never planned for the lifetime of the Active Travel Network project but can be seen as a direct output of the involvement of the University.

Target groups

Starting with the work in the Active Travel Network to transfer the best results of the project into curricu- • Lecturers of higher educational institutions and la – both, methodologies and outcomes – it turned Universities that teach urban transport out that the content could be distributed into different • College and university students of second de- existing courses but could also be used as a new gree developed stand alone course (as mentioned in the • Young and mid career transport professionals curriculum the site before).

For the integration into existing courses there exist several opportunities, such as for the area of Human Geography Demography and mobility related topics (mobility solutions for all target groups and ages) as well as for the area of spatial-, regional- and envi- ronmental research (energy efficiency in planning, multi-functionality, environmental impacts on mobility behaviour etc.)

45 Good Practise Implementations

Pedelec Rental System at local car Implementation dealers (Weiz, Austria) The key objectives of the project were as follows: The Pedelec Rental System at local car dealers • Car drivers who have their cars serviced are should motivate car drivers to use Pedelecs or offered the use of a Pedelec instead of being normal bikes in the City of Weiz. By testing new offered a courtesy car. behaviour the shift towards non-motorised traffic • If the car drivers agree to use a Pedelec they get should be accelerated. vouchers for different shops in Weiz as a reward for trying out this new mode of transport. They can go for a ride into the City of Weiz and can cash their vouchers at cafes and various shops. • The idea for this project was conceived by both the City Marketing and the Department for Eniv- ronmental Affairs of the Municipality of Weiz.

After working out an action plan, all nine local car dealers were invited to an initial meeting. In this meeting the project idea was presented. Seven car dealers participated in the meeting and demonstra- ted a willingness to cooperate in the project.

Seven Pedelecs, costing € 1,500 each, were bought Background & Objectives for the project. For public relation purposes the Pedelecs were equipped with a special design for A Pedelec is a bike equipped with an electric motor. the spokes showing the logos of the participating In Austria these bikes are classified as normal bicy- car dealers. Furthermore, roll-ups and leaflets giving cles. The prices for a Pedelec range from € 750 to information about the whole project were produced. € 3,000. The area of the City of Weiz is 5 km² which means that a bike can be used both for commuting Conclusions to work and going shopping. The project was successful in fulfilling the key objec- The Pedelec can also be driven by older people tives. The added value was in establishing contact and is an ideal means of travel to promote changing with a new target group for Pedelces. modes of transport. The marketing campaigns to introduce Pedelecs are part of an overall strategy to The project results were evaluated by interviewing motivate the citizens of Weiz to use non-motorised the car dealers and their customers. According to vehicles and to walk instead of using cars. these interviews it can be said that the car dealers and their employees take the project very seriously Since 2009 various marketing measures aimed at and promote it actively (80 % of those intervewed spreading the use of Pedelecs have been carried took part in the action). Each week, three to four out in the Municipality of Weiz. The percentage of Pedelecs are rented. Expanding on these figures, bike use in Weiz is approximately 6 % of all trips. By it can be assumed that in a year approximately 150 launching different campaigns promoting the use of Pedelec-rentals take place. Pedelecs this percentage should be increased. One of these campaigns was to install a rental-system The customers are satisfied with this new mode of for Pedelecs at local car dealers in Weiz. Car drivers transport and about 30 % of them would consider who have their cars serviced – a car service usually buying a Pedelec for their daily trips in Weiz. Apart takes up to two hours – are given the opportunity to from some smaller problems with the bike chains rent a Pedelec and take a test drive in the city while the car dealers were happy with the project and are their car is being serviced. happy to continue with it. Active Mobility Day • Children‘s performance (together with teachers they carried out a game to entertain the au- 46 (Ljutomer, Slovenia) dience) The aim of organising an Active Mobility Day • Promotion of the Ljutomer walking-map and cyc- was to raise awareness about environmentally ling-map (the purpose of both maps is to identify friendly modes of transport and to present the trips that can be done in 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and Local Action Plan so that citizens are informed 15 minutes on foot or by bike) about and prepared for what will be implemented • Ceremonial handover of balance bikes and scoo- in the next few years. ters to kindergarten and primary schools • Joining of hikers of the “5th Day of movements Background & Objectives and gatherings of generations” • Announcement of the youngest and oldest The common goal participants of the hike and the family with most of this event was participants. presentation of all Participants were actively involved. They tested new the environmen- modern electric bicycles; they could get their bike re- tally-friendly means paired for free; they received promotional brochures of transportation, with the Ljutomer walking and cycling maps; on the especially wal- prepared polygon they tested their coordination and king and cycling, balance on bikes; children from primary school and which represent an nurseries received free balance bikes and scooters alternative mode from the Municipality of Ljutomer. of transportation to short car trips. Conclusions With this event and all promotio- The “Active Mobility Day in Ljutomer” has achieved nal activities and many of the objectives that were planned in the campaigns, which project. Ljutomer residents are now more aware that are defined in the a car is not always a solution over short distances. Local Action Plan Ljutomer is a city of short distances and the whole of Ljutomer, the organisers are trying to reduce the city area is accessible in a very short time by bike or number of car trips for short distances and to increa- on foot. se the share of walking and cycling. The goal of this event was to stop planning and con- A huge number of people participated in “Active mo- struction of new parking places in Ljutomer. bility day in Ljutomer”: The idea of having the event at the main square in • 400 pedestrians (school children, parents, Ljutomer came from the local support group mem- teachers, people on wheelchairs, elderly, medi- bers. cal staff) who joined with the main mobility event The main actors were the Municipality of Ljutomer, at the Main Square in Ljutomer Centre for Health and Development Murska Sobota, • 100 additional participants (young families, citi- the primary school Ivana Cankarja Ljutomer and the zens, municipal representatives, representatives Ljutomer Police station. of the surrounding companies) • 2 policemen (educational workshop about proper Implementation use of bicycles.) • 6 bicycle providers (presentation of the new clas- In May 2012 the Ljutomer organised the first active sic bicycles and the modern electric bicycles) mobility day within the Active Travel Network. • 1 bicycle repairman Various activities promoting active and sustainable • 1 moderator who coordinated the whole event mobility were carried out: • Bike check activities (educational workshop In the past collaboration between municipality and about the proper use of bicycles. Bicycle experts other stakeholders (schools, gymnasium, compa- also made several professional inspections of nies, etc.) was not so good. Organisation of this bicycles of citizens that came to the event) one-day event has improved integration between • Bike riding competition (testing coordination and actors and the cooperation between them. Once balance) good cooperation between all involved actors was • Presentation of the conducted Traffic Snake established, the implementation of various activities Game campaign. School children and teachers and awareness raising campaigns for different target presented the achieved results. groups was much easier. Thematic Loop Routes for Pedestrians kilometres all together. By 2012 the first three of these loop routes for pedestrians and cyclists will and Cyclists (Norderstedt, Germany) 47 have already been completed. Each of them has a theme – like noise, nature experience and protec- Norderstedt‘s city administration will create at tion, playgrounds and so on –, depending on the least seven loop routes to encourage pedestri- special features of the landscape. ans and cyclists – three of them have already been realised. In addition to the offering of a new or enhanced infrastructure the users will find themes – each route has its own topic making it individual. The first one is a “Loop of Sounds” in context with noise reduction planning; it connects 13 sound-act-elements, more than anywhere else in Germany. The second and third ones offer knowledge about nature and nature conservation around a Natura 2000 area and a public park at nearly 40 instruction points.

With the help of many elements for active experi- ence every topic can be discovered by people using the route, by children as well as elderly people. In addition, there are pocket-maps for every route which show the course and explain the idea of this particular route. Every loop route connects infrastructure for active mobility with the transfer of knowledge, experience Background & Objectives and lovely destinations for local recreation.

Norderstedt faces a high density of cars in the city (just under 700 per 1,000 inhabitants) – and suffers Conclusions all problems connected to motorised traffic (land consumption, contribution to climate, air pollution, The loop routes are aslo a new option of leisure change noise etc.). time. With an interesting concept they are able to upgrade the neighbourhood and avoid long distance On the other hand, Norderstedt offers good condi- mobility in recreation time. tions for active and environmental friendly traffic, which should be utilised much more than it is today At the moment it is not clear, how much all of the to get a real change in modal split. loop routes will cost together. The Loop Route of Sounds was produced for EUR The challenge is to encourage people to switch from 160,000, which also includes the signposting for the car travel to alternative modes, especially walking next two routes. The budget was mainly provided and cycling. To be successful in Norderstedt it is by the authority of Norderstedt, EUR 13,750 were important to strive for that goal without too many car funded by the “Aktivregion Alsterland” with financial restrictive measures. resources of the EU (ELER). The next two loop routes raised costs of EUR 270,000. Beneath the budget of the authority of Nor- Implementation derstedt there was a private funding of EUR 155,000 (trust from an inhertiance) and again a co-funding by Norderstedt’s city administration created an attrac- the “Aktivregion Alsterland” with financial resources tive system of seven comfortable routes within the of the EU (ELER) of EUR 20,000. city of Norderstedt, especially and exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists. Each of them is designed Summarised, these loop routes are a new offer of as a loop, which leads away from the streets through active travel in connection with a lot of educatio- the existing green connections within the city. They nal elements, consolidated in thematic groups in a are part of an initiative to improve the infrastructure unique concept, situated within a green landscape for walking and biking. A special system of signpos- away from streets and show local attractions and ting makes it easy to find the way(s). Eventually, bring people to them. the seven loop routes will span a total length of 80 Raising Eco Awareness at an Early The new Regulations of the Ministry of Education encourage teachers to teach citizenship skills. It see- 48 Age (Novara, Italy) med important to the teachers of some classes to or- The approach of the city of Novara regarding ganize teaching/learning paths emphasizing aware- active travel modes and sustainable transport pl- ness and to have external experts to share expertise anning has been transferred to students to raise and good practice through seminars at school. the awareness among this young citizens. Therefore an URBACT expert was called to deliver a presentation about Local and European examples of sustainability, active mobility and town planning innovation. Even the European Community encou- rages citizenship and eco awareness, which is why one of the local upper secondary schools “Liceo Sci- entifico Antonelli“ organized an exchange based on environmental friendship, active mobility and smart cities with a Basque school.

Students were taught about local environmental and sustainable actions and were therefore taught about URBACT II project of active mobility and innovative town planning.

The seminars were focused on the following issues: • Implementation of limited traffic zone; • Implementation of slow traffic areas (30 km/h Background & Objectives zone); • Implementation of road safety; The main issue addressed was raising eco aware- • Bike share service; ness in teenagers who are often driven to school by • New cycle lanes; their parents and are not keen on cycling or walking • Protected home-to-school paths; to leisure centres or sport centres in their free time. • Implementation of dedicated lanes for public The importance of active mobility and smart cities means of transport; was emphasised as a means through which to im- • Electrical bicycles for civil servant on duty; prove life quality, health and economy. • Night buses on call • Making the students aware that it is crucial to in- • Importance of active mobility for health troduce active mobility policies and modes when • Importance of eco friendly behaviour in young Novara is a perfect walkable/cyclable city. people at school and at home • Making the students proud of being “ambas- sadors of the new sustainable active mobility Actions were coordinated by teachers and experts mode” both directly and online. Feedback on ongoing ac- • Making the students take some active part in tions was provided and taken into account for further the process and developing of citizenship/eco steps to take and ongoing actions adjustment. All awareness skills participants were given the chance to express their • Completing curricular theoretical lessons with opinions and suggestions and equally contributed to concrete examples of sustainability the events. They shared roles and responsibilities • Enabling students to compare European sustai- during the event or as part of the overall project. nability modes and actions • Increasing the European added value Conclusions

The new approach with seminars delivered by Implementation experts, with examples of local sustainability pro- jects and of European programs, enabled the young Two different seminars for different age groups have students to enjoy curricular lessons and seminars as been designed and carried out. The main content part of a wider scheme towards a better and greener of the seminar was the Active Travel Network Pro- future where they can perform as leading actors, ject “The Easy Way“. Furthermore it was an aim to behavioral models and at the same time friends. demonstrate the activities the city of Novara has The meetings were also a great opportunity for the carried out so far within its involvement in European development of positive attitudes towards Europe projects and programs. and transnational activities Hotel Bike System (Riccione, Italy) is one of the many initiatives that aims to promote cycling to tourists. Others include events like “Glam 49 Bike” (a fashion show on bikes), shops offering Hotels in Riccione are facing heavy competiti- special discounts to buyers arriving by bike, and the on from other hotels along the Northern Adria- creation of a cycling/walking map. tic Coast. In an attempt to attract more guests and to expand the tourist season to spring and autumn, many hotels now offer bicycles to their Conclusions guests. Results from a survey conducted in 2011 as part of the Active Travel Network project, involving Riccione hoteliers, revealed that many hotels (294 out of 391 hotels) were already offering bicycles without extra charge to their guests.

Specifically: • 54 % of 1 star hotels, • 68 % of 2 star hotels, • 91 % 3 star hotels and • 100 % of 4 star hotels.

As the percentage of hotels offering this service rises with the number of stars, this suggests that hoteliers consider the offer of bicycles as a key component of the quality of their hotels. Background & Objectives The additional awareness raising activities among The City of Riccione is a major tourist destination, hotel owners during the Active Travel Network pro- with 415 hotels, many tourist flats, lots of bars and ject led to an approximate 10 % increase of hotels restaurants, discos, theme parks, attracting appro- offering bicycles to their guests. ximately 690,000 arrivals with 3,350,000 “tourist nights“ spent here annually, peaking during the Read more at www.riccionebikehotels.it summer season.

Approximately 70 % of tourists arrive by car, which is in contrast to the local modal split for residents, resulting in an unsustainable mobility pattern for all.

The local government wants to implement an orga- nic project aimed at creating a hierarchy of the urban mobility in favour of “active mobility“ (cycling and walking), whilst discouraging car use. More precise- ly, the goal of the local government is to increase the share of active mobility from the current 8 - 9 % to 20 % within five years, through clear and verifiable steps. By offering bicycles to tourists, the hotels of Riccione are contributing to creating a more ecologi- cally friendly urban environment, in synergy with the mid-long term strategy of local government.

Implementation

Riccione is a compact city, situated on a strip of the Adriatic coast, where the main services and attrac- tions can be reached within a radius of five km. The Bike Hotels (a consortium grouping 14 hotels specialising in offering specific services to cyclists Social Walking Bus (Sebeş, Romania) The idea was introduced by representatives of schools in the municipality at the Sustainable Urban 50 An ingeniously promoted Walking Bus exercise Mobility Local Support Group meeting. in Sebeş has become a real social event with broader implications and offers the opportunity Safe routes to school were identified and marked by to correct the artificial development of Sebeş as the organisers, with the help of teachers and pa- a car-orientated town rents. Participating children and guides were trained concerning traffic rules. There were six Walking Bus sessions organised in three consecutive weeks starting from two different points in the city with 60 pupils. Older pupils, not initially planned, joined both groups.

The action was promoted through posters displayed in schools and the city centre, meeting point signs, press releases and power point presentations were adapted for various audiences.

Following the success of the initiative and the exten- sion requests from pupils, the local authority decided for a larger scale repeat exercise with the possibility of ongoing action.

Conclusions . Background & Objectives The Walking Bus turned out to be a real success in Sebeş, exceeding initial expectations especially Although Sebeş is a small sized city with easily regarding the unforeseen variety of social benefits. walkable distances, it is suffering from a high level of motorized transport. Very popular some decades Together with its associated sustainable mobility im- ago, walking and cycling were slowly abandoned plications, the event produced an important change mainly because of fear induced by freight transport of attitude concerning everyday travel choices. The transiting the city. The adoption of motorized modes triumph of the campaign owed a great deal to the of travel, even for short distances, led to extensive active participation of teachers and also to police road congestion while discouraging active travel officers assisting with organisation. even more. Thus, despite its attractive natural and manmade environment and tradition for walking and cycling, Sebeş has artificially developed as a car- orientated town.

Until the municipality’s involvement as a partner in the Active Travel Network, there had been no ac- tion supporting clean means of transport in terms of facilities for cycling and walking. Most local pupils are brought to school by car, even for secondary school or the first years of high school. The Walking Bus, implemented in 2011, aimed to change atti- tudes towards active travel, generating a shift from car to walking. It was primarily aimed at pupils and, through them, also parents.

Implementation

Sebeş municipality, together with the Association for Urban Transition ATU and with the full support of teachers and local police, conceived the Walking Bus (WB) exercise. Awareness Raising Campaign as the employees use the bicycles “By Bike to Work“ (Serres, Greece) 51 allocated to them An awareness raising pilot campaign was im- for other travel plemented in Serres, promoting cycling to work purposes such as over car-use in commuting. The municipality leisure purposes acted as a shining example. and encouraging other people to join Background & Objectives them.

Daily travel to work is about unavoidable routine The initiative was trips and commuting is detrimentally affecting both successful as a the environment and society as a whole. Serres is result of the efforts a city with flat terrain, ideal for walking and cycling made by the muni- but promoting sustainable travel to work is difficult cipal staff involved, because of commuters‘ existing preferences and car the commitment of dependency. Municipal employees are no exception the participants and as they make up a large number of the daily commu- the political support ters. received.

Implementation The feedback from the broader public In an effort to tackle the increase of private car use was twofold: the even for short distances, the Municipality of Serres message for sustai- took action, beginning with its own resources. Within nable travel to work the Active Travel Network project a target group of is being received and the exploitation of municipal its employees was selected to raise awareness of resources (human or not) for a good cause is fully the benefits of alternative modes of travel such as appreciated. bicycles. The target group was selected from a pool of mu- The campaign group only included 10 % of the nicipal employees who volunteered to take part in municipal staff due to practical constraints, bicycle the campaign. The eligibility criterion for the bicycle availability etc. However, the response in terms of allocation was that the distance of home to work had task completion was satisfying. The desire to repeat to be more than 500 meters. the initiative was encouraging. The recorded use of A municipal bicycle fleet was distributed to the bicycles to work was promising. Significantly, accor- target group following their commitment to use it for ding to statistics extracted from travel diaries, travel travelling to and from their work place. A training time was similar for different modes used whereas seminar was provided to the campaign participants their respective benefits and costs differed consi- for the proper and safe use of bicycles and seconda- derably. ry equipment like helmets etc was also distributed. The unique aspect of this campaign in Greece is the The target group had to complete a two-week travel use of own resources as well as the relevant work diary. This process took place in two phases: first in trip recording by a local authority that proves its March 2012 and second in June 2012. potential within a social marketing perspective. It is about social service provision in sustainable mobility The provision of alternatives to car-travel facilita- promotion. ted the initiative and was an incentive for joining in. Work-trip recording was a novelty and good practice This initiative has been an important step in under- was to follow, in order to tackle congestion, parking standing the requirements of active travel modes management and environmental degradation of the within the whole transport system of a city (espe- city centre. In addition, it was a daily task that mo- cially for decision makers) and it will therefore flow bilised participants and their social environment to into the Local Action Plan. rethink their travel patterns.

Conclusions

The group of employees involved experienced this travel behaviour intervention with enthusiasm. The multiplier effect of this experience has been visible „The Extraordinary“ Campaign to goal of making pupils, parents and teachers more aware of the possibility of going to school either by 52 Encourage Cycling and Walking to bike or on foot (active travel). Three of the biggest School (Skanderborg, Denmark) schools were involved. The campaign was launched by closing the roads around these three schools to The Danish Municipality of Skanderborg imple- all car traffic half an hour prior to school starting in mented an awareness-raising and new behavi- the morning for a week. our-testing campaign to encourage walking and cycling to school. After only one week car traffic This kind of campaign was provocative in nature and was reduced by 25 % in school areas. was intended to create a debate about the possible ways to travel to school without being driven in cars. The campaign was reinforced with media coverage by the press, radio and television. It had a great impact and the issue was discussed among citizens (e.g. parents and their children) and people working at the schools. A competition was part of the campaign: By uploa- ding a photo to the website of the journey to school pupils could participate in the competition. The first prize was a bicycle and 100 sets of magne- tic lamps. Participants in the campaign could vote for the best picture on a website. There was also a joint award for the most enthusiastic class in the competi- tion: 5.000 DKK to be spent on a trip to either Lego- land or Tivoli Friheden.

Background & Objectives The municipality co-operated with the organisation “Danish School Sports”. The support of this organi- Denmark has a long tradition of using bicycles for sation was given in the form of consultation, educa- everyday purposes. This tradition has been challen- tion of walking bus drivers, materials for the project ged by the use of cars. During the last 30 years the etc. proportion of children brought to and from school by car has risen by 200 percent. Conclusions Unsafe roads around the schools are mainly caused by parents driving cars. Many parents therefore This kind of awareness campaign is new, because it choose to drive their children to school and a vicious fosters the involvement of teachers, pupils, parents, circle is created. By using active travel this problem police and municipality staff. can be solved and children can learn good habits Encouraging pupils to walk or cycle to school will that can last a whole lifetime. give them a social experience that they can’t achieve by being driven to and from school by their parents. The objectives are: The provocative nature of the campaign initiated a • Physical activity for all citizens is one of the discussion in many families about their daily trans- goals. At least 30 minutes per day for adults and port habits. one hour for children • The municipality aims to make the journey to and The campaign’s start from school safer. caused an immediate

• Skanderborg wants to reduce CO2 emissions reduction in car traffic around the involved By increasing active travel to and from schools, all schools of 25 %. The these objectives can be achieved. traffic was monitored before the campaign started and again Implementation after the first week, when the barriers for The municipality´s Traffic Department and the De- car traffic had been partment for Education and Children introduced a removed campaign in March 2012 lasting until July with the 53 Statements

Hans-Jørgen Bitsch Oswin Donnerer (Skanderborg) (Town councillor, Weiz)

“Denmark is a ‘bicycle coun- try‘, but the share of bikers is “By working out the LAP we decreasing. do hope that we can tackle the Only the cities, which have problem of motorized traffic!” focused on this issue, have got an increase in the number of bikers.“

Johann Rauer Susanne Skårup (External expert, Weiz) (Skanderborg)

“I will miss the international “Using the bike for transpor- connections and the possibili- tation is a win-win situation ties of exchange of ideas and for the climate, the health, the experience. In the process of passability and economically ATN I felt Europe is a great good for both the cyclist and union!” the community.“

Mitja Kolbl (Ljutomer) Stefano Renzi (Riccione)

“The number of problems “I have had the great opportu- related to urban transport is nity to personally get to know increasing. Active Mobility cities where the use of bicycle is the only solution to these is as natural as waking up problems. It is good for health, every morning. The change good for the environment and regarding the way people has a positive impact on redu- make short trips should affect cing motor vehicles in cities. first of all our minds. A public So be active and enjoy it!” administrator has great poten- tial to support and favour it.“

Barbara Kulmer Simona Ekart (Lead partner, Weiz) (Sebeş)

“The walking and cycling promotion in Sebeş was the “We still have a lot to do to highlight for me. I‘ve learned change the minds of the popu- that working with the com- lation and to implement more munity and civic spirit are the cycling and walking!” most important. If you work in a team and you believe in it, you will be successful.” Zlatko Mesarić (External expert, Ljutomer) 54 “I can point out that it was a great pleasure for me to participate in this interesting EU-project, since I am the author of the LAP of Ljutomer. The Municipality of Ljutomer is the first municipali- ty in Slovenia with such a plan of which we are especially proud since it would be possible now when we have obtained all the necessary knowledge and experience to offer similar plans to other Slovenian municipalities. In Ljutomer we have started to encourage people to use alternative modes of transportation espe- cially walking and cycling, but the first results have shown that we will need at least ten more years that people will recognize the true benefits of the environmentally friendly modes of trans- portation. If you want to be successful in the promotion of active and sustainable mobility you have to combine it with already established events or activities for the general public.“

Lone Krogsgård Athina Kokkinidou (Serres) (Skanderborg) “After 11 years of being an emplo- “The cities should be a health- yee in the Municipality of Serres and promoting place and stimulate the having co-operated with local stake- citizens’ taste for physical activity holders in various matters, it is the including children. More and more first time that the co-operation was children are being driven to school developed in equal terms through – we want them to get out of the car the function of LSG. and up on their bicycles, therefore Still it is very difficult to change we have focused on this issue.“ mentalities and habits, even though the proposed measures come from the co-operation of the most adequate local stakeholders. It is very crucial for the public authorities to keep the function of the LSG going.“

Foteini Mikiki (Serres) Irina Rotaru (External expert, Sebeş) “Getting together different people within a local support group was a “Apparently insignificant mobility really educative experience. The choices that one makes everyday Local Action Plan, born through may radically change his/her own life brainstorming and fruitful exchange, quality and also reflect at the level will give active travel in Serres a real of community. Not only big infra- boost. Active citizens and active tra- structure or political measures can vellers can make the difference and be effective, people can and have to turn their city more sustainable and do small steps by themselves thus their lives more fulfulling! Achieving sustainable mobility showing their interest or support. Practice can explain and requires common efforts, activation and willingness to promote a theory much better than words. Being a role change personal lifestyle, so let‘s act-up together to the model plays an essential role in motivating people and right direction, it‘s worth doing it!“ getting their support.“

Wolfgang Fischer (University of Graz)

“As a researcher and at the same time as a lecturer at a higher educational institution it is a main aim for me to transfer EU-project results into education to provide either state-of-the-art know- ledge for my students and also to be as practically orientated as possible. A highlight for me was our study visit to Seville to meet other actors from universities. Hence, my ideas of the series of project workshops on mobility have been established. In the field of transport/mobility everyone believes that he/she is an expert but it makes sense to take real experts on board. Don’t re-invent the wheel! There are plenty of good examples already existing.“ Robert Pressl (Lead expert) 55 “It is essential to show the personal benefit to people when you want to change their behaviour. Benefits for the environment or social benefits aren’t often enough nowadays. It is strategically more clever to focus on the chances which will be a result of new behaviour than only point out abandonment, when leaving the car in the garage. To realise and use the current trends could be a good strategy: e.g. the crises – instead of moa- ning, we should see it as natural ally. Cities that now invest into cycling and walking are better prepared for times of crisis and for the increasing fuel prices.“

Karl Reiter (Thematic expert)

“Infrastructural investments in cycling and walking are less investments in the transport system but more an investment in health prevention. We are losing six times more lives because of lack of physical activities than by traffic accidents. A city that gives priority and road space to pedestrians and cyclists is a liveable city. If everybody walked or cycled at least 30 minutes a day (30 minutes of physical activity is recom- mended by the WHO) we would have a much better living quality in our cities.“

Herbert Brünning & Karlheinz Deventer Olga Karba (Mayor of Ljutomer) (Norderstedt) “Participating in the ATN has “Keep active! strenghtened our resolve and em- The secret to be successful is to go on with new ideas, powered us to take the next step new partners, new and more ambitious aims. towards an environmentally friendly And don‘t forget to have fun on your long way. way of managing mobility within our That‘s the power of success.“ municipality. The exchange of ideas and experience with partner cities was of great mutual benifit and has yielded solutions, which enable and promote a more acti- ve daily lifestyle within our local community.“ Eirini Vasilopoulou (Serres)

“Setting up a Local Support Group in the framework of the URBACT project ‘Active Travel Net- work‘ was a very good opportunity to develop people skills whilst also gaining and offering sup- port.transport in our city. It’s time to make the difference, change our mentality and improve our citizens’ traffic behaviour! ATN was a whole new working experience, not only for local authority and municipal stuff, but also for social stakeholders involved. Cooperation and communication are the “key words” for the best of results. The Local Action Plan is a very good start for making sustainable mobility visible in our city!“

Nikos Papadikis (Head of the Traffic Planning Department, Serres)

“An outstanding part of ATN project was involving Local Support Group members in actual decision-making of mobility issues. Local stakeholders are in need of such opportunities to express their thoughts on local mobility management and to share the municipality‘s vision. It was a win-win situation that should be the ATN heritage. Active Travel stands a really good chance in our city, given the local support recorded. Our Local Action Plan, conceived through dialogue, interaction and collaboration, is a perfect starting point towards sustainable mobility in Serres!“

Petros Aggelidis (Mayor of Serres)

“The Local Support Group of Serres was a real innovation through the ATN project and will be a fundamental instru- ment in our strategy to promote alternative transport means. The ATN project gave us the opportunity to obtain experi- ence and knowledge of effective methods and practices to promote non-motorized transport in our city. It’s time to make the difference, change our mentality and improve our citizens’ traffic behaviour!“ 56

Kick-off-meeting, Weiz (January 2010)

Partners meeting, Novara (November 2010)

Partners meeting, Seville (March 2011)

Partners meeting, Skanderborg (September 2011) 57 Policy Recommendations

The potential of non motorised modes like walking Strategies and accompanying measu- and cycling as appropriate measures to reduce the res overwhelming car use in our cities and the problems that this behaviour causes are enormous but still not known or underestimated. In many cities about 25% Push & pull strategies are crucial to influence of all car trips are not longer than three kilometer – travel behaviour. a distance that easily could be tackled by bicycle. To implement measures to reduce car and energy Hence, it makes sense to tap the full potential by use and bring about a shift to more energy effici- encouraging people to cycle more or to walk instead ent modes in cities is a main objective of modern of using the car. transport policy. It does this by combining the highly effective push measure (such as parking manage- Especially during morning peak hours when the ment or access restrictions) with tried and tested car occupancy rate is very low (1,1) and our cities techniques for mobility management for cycling and are congested there are plenty of alternative mea- walking activities and brings in further innovation by sures that could easily be implemented – e.g. for using the revenue raised from the former to help to the home-to-work trip. The following policy recom- finance the latter. mendations are listed in bullet points with brief Obviously by focusing on measures that will reduce explanations which have evolved as a direct result emissions from personal transport such as walking and lessons learnt from the work of the cities in the and cycling instead of car use, non motorised modes Active Travel Network project. All recommendations are in line with EU targets for emission reductions, are valid for every city/municipality in Europe. both 20 % by 2020 and 60 % by 2050.

A reduction of speed limit plus enforcement and Awareness raising an introduction plus enforcement of a limited paid parking system would increase cycling and walking for short trips and reduce car use. It would make cycling/walking more attractive and safer and is no trouble for car drivers. It can also be seen as a possibility to raise money which should be used to finance cycling and walking measures. The flow of financial resources from parking revenues to mobility management is a key means of ensuring that susta- inable modes become an “integral part of mobility” in cities, as paragraph 31 and Action 27 of the White Paper also highlights.

In its concern for revenue generation from parking, Source: www.eltis.org other policies such as health, environment, youth/ family, tourism, public relation or economy should Increase the political and planners acceptability: be combined and should co-operate with mo- Authorities must recognise that cycling and walking bility policy. The encouragement of cycling and are just as important a mode of transport as the car walking is not only a benefit for the transport system or bus. as such but e.g. also a direct contribution to public health. Inform stakeholders and foster their commitment by spreading the knowledge of benefits and impacts of the combined approach of non-motorised trans- In case of strategic planning conflicts decisions port and mobility management. should be taken regularly in favour of active mobility. Authorities should establish a permanent local sup- into consideration what the users really need. regarding active travel policy with repre- Therefore plans and measures are often only a 58 port group sentatives from various authorities but also externals result of an ad-hoc or isolated approach instead of and stakeholders. an integrated policy. It is suggested to use the Active Travel Audit Scheme which has been developed within the project and is based upon BYPAD. A co-operation with external experts and users (cyclists, pedestrians) is suggested.

Clear objectives and responsibilities are needed. It is essential to set clear and measurable objectives. When planning a project measuring the expected results, the time schedule but also who should do what, when and with which resources and responsi- bilities has to be defined in advance. Very often the clear responsibilities are missing. Acting persons ag- ree that the tasks have to be done but don’t allocate them directly to a certain person.

Inter-departmental and inter-disciplinary work as key to success. In accordance to an integrated approach it is sugge- sted that not only the transport department and not only engineers work on these kinds of projects. The diversity of knowledge, working methods, external and internal contacts and mutual support of different affected departments in a project that requires great commitment has turned out to be invaluable.

Source: www.eltis.org A pedestrian and cycle network in city/town is most appreciated, but not necessarily separate cycle Funding of active travel policies, strategies and tracks. measures must be guaranteed and shouldn’t just It is often mentioned that the promotion of cycling be a nice appendix to transport planning. Fixed bud- can only start once a network of separate cycle gets must be set for short term, mid term and long tracks has been built. term projects. Therefore the identification of new This claim is very expensive and often there is not financing sources and the raise of additional money enough space available not to talk about the time (e.g. from parking for implementing mobility manage- for implementation. Many cities will never have the ment measures) is suggested and it is necessary to necessary financial means for that. institutionalize this:

Active travel budget should not consist only in Pedestrians and cyclists should have highest money for infrastructure. The City of Munich, e.g. priority – higher priority than car traffic with regard spends 1 out of 4 Euros for its cycle policy for soft to road maintenance, special equipment for mainte- measures like marketing, information or testing new nance and cleaning. The municipality should de- behaviour campaigns. monstrate that by making it possible to cycle all year round and standarding management of complaints.

Managing projects High quality, safe, rain-protected bicycle parking next to the living areas and to the target areas of Carry out an Active Travel Audit: schools, companies, shops, leisure time facilities Very often politicians or planners take their decisions and train stations. Attractive bicycle parking areas based upon their own point of view but don’t take should be mandatory in new construction projects. 59

Source: www.eltis.org

People will not cycle only because a cycle path Co-operation with media. is available or has been built. It needs a specific Transport is one of the most often mentioned urban communication strategy for cycling/walking. Tailor- problems. However, the real facts are seldomly made information material (brochures, flyers,…) discussed in an objective way but more so emotio- and interactive elements to motivate pedestrians nally and often in a negative way. To avoid a mainly and cyclists to get in contact with the city should be negative coverage of the topic in the local media the provided. topic area must be communicated in a positive way highlighting the benefits for the citizens and the in- crease of the quality of life it would lead to. The role The city should regularly organise/co-ordinate of social media should be taken into consideration – broadly reaching actions for different target groups especially for encouraging young people. (biker’s breakfast, accompanied cycling to school, best employer regarding active travel-awards, joint walking actions, campaigns in cooperation with me- Decision makers and stakeholders must be role dical doctors, city-wide cycle to work campaign etc.) models and shining examples. with attractive incentives for participants (awards, Authenticity and credibility are important criteria, prizes,…) and to socialise towards active travel for especially regarding transport behaviour, where the all age groups. switch to cycling/walking instead of car use is still seen first as a kind of restrictive measure and per- ceived as a sign of poverty. The advantage is sel- Cycling and walking need data. Automatic per- dom seen directly. manent counting points with feedback-display, When you want to change the behaviour of your ci- household surveys with special analysis, periodic tizens you should act as a shining example yourself. evaluation for success control and adoption of action As a decision maker you can’t preach water while plans should be carried out as usual for car traffic. drinking wine yourself. 60

Bilateral meeting, Ljutomer (January 2012)

Partners meeting, Serres (April 2012)

Partners meeting, Riccione (July 2012)

Partners meeting, Norderstedt (September 2012) SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY PLANS or LOCAL 61 ACTION PLANS – What is the difference? How do they fit together?

ROBERT PRESSL KARL REITER WOLFGANG FISCHER

There is a significant move at the EU level to pro- It specifically encourages cities above a certain size mote the use of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans to develop Urban Mobility Plans bringing all these (SUMPs) resulting from the European Council deci- elements together. sion in 2010, decisions in the European Parliament and the European Transport White Paper of 2011*. The definition of a SUMP is therefore the following: Together with EU and in some cases national tar- gets for CO2 reduction, these factors are increasing A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan is a “Strategic cities’ awareness of the need to reduce car use in plan designed to satisfy the mobility needs of order to meet wider goals for congestion and pollu- people and businesses in cities and their sur- tion reduction and improvement in the quality of life roundings for a better quality of life. It builds on in cities. In times of financial crises the impacts on a existing planning practices and takes due consi- more cost-efficient planning, implementation and city deration of integration, participation and evalua- management is a striking argument for using SUMPs tion principles.” too. (www.mobilityplans.eu/index.php)

This definition is to a large extent general as it is intended for use all across Europe and hence in the diverse contexts of its many countries. It is however broadly applicable and should also have a practical appeal in all European countries.

The SUMP is therefore a document which deals di- rectly with transport and mobility and which includes all transport related strategies and activities in an in- tegrative way. SUMPs are designed to be for bigger cities where different strategic documents already exist or are developed and different actors who don’t Source: www.eltis.org know each others very well are doing their jobs. The system-oriented approach of a SUMP has as a main As summarised in the revised State-of-the-Art docu- objective to get an overview of the whole system and ment of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans which was then to optimise the system – especially regarding developed within the ELTISplus project (Sept. 2012) big investments. this Transport White Paper calls for cities to follow a mixed strategy involving land-use planning, pricing schemes, efficient public transport services and inf- The definition of Local Action Plans as written in rastructure for non-motorised modes and charging/ “The URBACT II Local Support Group Toolkit“ is the refuelling of clean vehicles to reduce congestion and following: emissions. Local Action Plans (LAPs) should provide for each partner a concrete roadmap and a range of * Transport White Paper 2011: towards a comprehensive solutions to tackle the core issues identified at and resource efficient transport system – Road Map to a the start of the URBACT project. Single European Transport Area For the URBACT programme an action plan con- It has to be mentioned that LAPs are not limited to transport and mobility problems but can be applied 62 sists of the actions required to realise a strategy. This may include: to all areas of sustainable urban development. LAPs • actions about an existing local plan; should give an integrated approach tackling the co- • actions for different levels of government to habitation of urban and mobility planning. work together; • a set of funded projects focused on a particu- lar goal. Another ongoing project should be mentioned here which directly fits to SUMP and LAP. The ADVANCE project (Auditing and Certification Scheme to increase the quality of sustainable urban mobility plans in cities) which is co-funded by the EC within the STEER program and takes a proven approach for an auditing procedure and further de- velopment of it. Similar to the Active Travel Network project which has taken the BYPAD approach and further developed it by integrating walking into this formerly only cycling-based methodology to design a fully ACTIVE TRAVEL AUDIT ADVANCE is do- ing a very similar job. But instead of taking up only walking it analyses the whole transport system in its approach.

What all these audit schemes have in common is that they don’t only focus on the measures for the The Local Action Plan is therefore rather a product different modes of transport but also analyse the which is following a Project Cycle Management ap- policies, the communication structures as well as proach. Hence, Local Action Plans are results of pro- media coverage or accompanying measures – the cedures that support authorities to tackle a certain process itself becomes more important. Hence, topic/problem in accordance with the defined sta- these audits could be seen as a link between SUMP keholders. LAPs have a concrete practical, mostly and LAP. problem-based, orientation. In the case of the Active Travel Network project which deals with encouraging cities to promote cycling and walking as means of transport with a mobility management approach, the Example for such an approach in the baseline could be a diagnosis that people feel it is LAP unsafe to cycle in their city. Another starting point could be the problem of transport noise for citizens

or even a lack of physical activity could be the initial The objective could be: CO2 reduction and the point for setting up a LAP. saving of energy through a modal shift from lightly- occupied car to walking and cycling, thus supporting Very often the lack of financial accessibility to other policy implementation and preparing the ground for transport modes (mainly in certain Central-Eastern further investment in sustainable transport, included EU countries and cities) is identified as a problem, or in the context of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. a lack of mutual acceptance of the participants in the mobility grid. (e.g. Car drivers vs. cyclists, or pedest- A crucial aspect of this objective is the link between rians vs. cyclists, etc…) revenues from parking and the exceeding of speed limits, and sustainable consistent and reliable finan- Compared to the development of a SUMP where cing for measures for cycling and walking or gene- the orientation is not known before a first overview rally mobility management. has been taken, Urban Local Support Groups can already start with the development of a LAP when The flow of financial resources from parking reve- the problem has been identified. It is therefore not nues to cycling/walking and mobility management is absolutely necessary to have a SUMP first. On the therefore a key means of ensuring that sustainable other hand the SUMP could define the topic areas modes become an “integral part of mobility” in cities, where detailed planning is necessary and for which as paragraph 31 and Action 27 of the White Paper LAPs should be developed. also highlight. It needs a transparent and well-orga- nised city management where you can cross-finance one mobility system from the revenues of an other. 63 Summarising the common characteristics of SUMP and LAP as general conditions we can point out that

• both need a ripe culture of stakeholder participa- tion • both need a continuous and stable administrative and planning system where long term thinking on the city’s future is calculable. • both must be relevant to the level and status of the given city and society and put into the right everyday context. Transfer of good practices and lessons learned must be appropriate for the problems concerned in the given city. • practitioners, planners and decision makers must understand what the advantages and benefits of the LAPs and SUMPs on their local context are (regarding consciousness, awareness, financial reasons, etc…)

Active Travel Network getting highest political recognition

On Wednesday October 3rd 2012 Dr. Danilo Türk, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, visited the Municipality of Ljutomer. In the Town Hall he had a meeting with Mrs. Olga Karba, the mayor of Ljutomer, vice mayor Janez Vencelj, Tomislav Zrinski, the director of the municipal administration and some members of the Municipal Council of Ljutomer.

One of topics was the active role in the project Active Travel Network. President Türk was impressed by the fact that the Municipality of Ljutomer is the only Slovenian municipality participating in this project and about the integration and collaboration of our partner cities within the project. With this visit the URBACT project Active Travel Network got an ally at the highest national level in Slovenia. Imprint

Publication Manager: Reinhard Gütl

Editorial Advisory Group: Barbara Kulmer Oswin Donnerer Robert Pressl Catriona Hampton

URBACT is a European exchange and learning programme promoting sustainable urban development. It enables cities to work together to develop solutions to major urban challenges, reaffirming the key role they play in facing increasingly complex societal challenges. It helps them to develop pragmatic solutions that are new and sustainable, and that integrate economic, social and envi- ronmental dimensions. It enables cities to share good practi- ces and lessons learned with all professionals involved in urban policy throughout Europe. URBACT is made of 181 cities, 29 countries, and 5,000 active participants. URBACT is co-financed by the ERDF Funds and the Member States.

www.urbact.eu/en/projects/low-carbon-urban-environments/active-travel-network/homepage