Urban Mobility Reinforcing Multi- Level Cooperation and Governance
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picture created by freepik.com 20 20 Sept URBAN AGENDA FOR THE EU PARTNERSHIP FOR URBAN MOBILITY REINFORCING MULTI- LEVEL COOPERATION AND GOVERNANCE 1 Foreword Every city faces the challenges of urban mobility: how can we make sure that citizens can get around quickly and safely every day, while also not harming the environment? That’s why, on the occasion of World Car Free Day and the conclusion of the European Mobility Week, we are publishing a new report on how cities can co-create mobility projects in partnership with other levels of government. Transport in particular is an area in which a city’s policies may affect and be affected by other territories and by other levels of government. Multi-level governance and cooperation mean governments successfully consult one another and work together. This is both horizontal – neighbouring municipalities working on a common bus network for example – and vertical – such as a regional government consulting with its municipalities and the national government on a new railway line. Such cooperation naturally leads to more coherent policies that benefit citizens in all territories. The report examines 10 case studies of successful projects from European cities and makes recommendations for cities looking to undertake their own mobility projects and consult other governments. 1 2 Contents 1 Foreword ................................................................................................................................................................ 1 2 Contents ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 3 The Partnership for Urban Mobility ..................................................................................................... 3 4 State of the art .................................................................................................................................................. 4 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 4 4.2 What is multi-level governance? ................................................................................................... 5 5 Methodology ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 6 Analysis .................................................................................................................................................................. 8 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 8 6.2 Legal ................................................................................................................................................................. 8 6.3 Planning ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 6.3.1 Financial .............................................................................................................................................. 11 7 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................................... 13 8 Annex ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14 8.1 Best practices ............................................................................................................................................ 14 8.1.1 Greater Manchester (United Kingdom) ........................................................................ 14 8.1.2 Budapest (Hungary) ................................................................................................................... 16 8.1.3 Sofia (Bulgaria) .............................................................................................................................. 20 8.1.4 Thessaloniki (Greece)................................................................................................................ 23 8.1.5 Torino (Italy) .................................................................................................................................... 28 8.1.6 Malmö (Sweden) .......................................................................................................................... 31 8.1.7 Palanga (Lithuania) ................................................................................................................... 35 8.1.8 Bremen (Germany) .................................................................................................................... 37 8.1.9 Parkstad Limburg (The Netherlands)............................................................................. 41 8.1.10 Tallinn (Estonia) ............................................................................................................................ 45 8.2 Identified best practices ...................................................................................................................46 2 3 The Partnership for Urban Mobility More and more people are living and working in cities. With the current European trend towards urbanisation, the importance of cities and urban areas is set to continue to grow. At the same time, cities are facing even greater social challenges in respect of the environment, transport and social cohesion. The Urban Agenda aims to address those challenges. Cities are the place where European sectoral legislation comes together (in sometimes conflicting ways) and is being implemented. To fully exploit the potential of urban areas the urban dimension should be stronger embedded within EU policies. This explicitly does not mean new or more competences for the EU, but a better working method, focused on cooperation between the EU, Member States and cities. The Urban Agenda for the EU was officially established by the Pact of Amsterdam, agreed by the EU Ministers responsible for urban matters in May 2016. The Urban Agenda aims to promote cooperation between Member States, cities, the European Commission, European organisations and other stakeholders in order to achieve a sustainable, socially inclusive, innovative and economically powerful Europe. The Urban Agenda sets out a new way of working together to stimulate growth, liveability and innovation in the cities, gain maximum benefits from their growth potential and successfully tackle current and future challenges. This new approach includes the creation of a range of European partnerships aimed at: ▪ promoting the involvement of cities in EU policy making, and the development, implementation and evaluation of more ‘urban friendly’ European legislation (‘Better Regulation’); ▪ ensuring better access to and use of European funds (‘Better Funding’); ▪ improving the European urban knowledge base and stimulating the sharing of best practice and cooperation between cities (‘Better Knowledge Exchange') The partnerships focus on 14 agreed priority themes of the Urban Agenda for the EU. One of these is the Partnership for Urban Mobility. 3 4 State of the art 4.1 Introduction The development and implementation of urban mobility policies that cover both the functional urban areas and hinterland connections in urban areas requires close cooperation between different levels of government and across administrative boundaries. Key stakeholders in the different policy areas, sectors and modes of transport need to be brought together. This includes public authorities with explicit responsibilities in mobility and transport, but also other relevant stakeholders such as schools and universities, major employers and representatives of civil society among others. In addition, an effective cooperation with national and EU institutions is necessary to ensure that local and regional mobility policies mutually reinforce the development of national and EU transport networks. The alignment of policy priorities among governance levels is key to establish regulatory and financial frameworks that respond to the needs and circumstances of the local and urban players. There is a broad agreement today that tackling urban mobility requires multi- level governance and partnership approaches to ensure a high degree of horizontal and vertical integration. The question that remains is how to implement such integrated, multi-partner approaches in practice. The multiple competences and responsibilities of all involved players need to be considered and satisfying results must be delivered in a timely and efficient manner. This report investigates the structures that have been established to facilitate the legal, planning and funding processes for local and regional authorities. The main goal is to build capacity among relevant stakeholders, encourage the exchange of experience at the local, national and European level and support improvements in governance structures across the EU. 4 4.2 What is multi-level governance? Multi-level governance is a term used to describe the spread of power between levels of government and across multiple quasi-government and non- governmental organizations. Within the European Union, nearly 95 000 local and regional authorities have powers in