Create
Over a period of many decades cities go through a transport investment and policy development cycle, which we can broadly simplify into three stages:
- Rapid growth in car ownership and use, from a low base, with extensive road building and widening and provision of off and on-street parking; often investment in public transport is neglected at this time.
- Switch in emphasis from providing for vehicle movement to offering efficient person movement systems (especially rail/tram based)
- Positive focus on reducing car use, by reducing road capacity (in some cases demolishing urban motorways or removing traffic gyratories) or charging for road use, and encouraging walking and cycling and improving the quality of the street environment – a city based on sustainable mobility.
While recognising that there may well be differences in the stage of development within city regions (e.g. between central, inner, outer and peri-urban areas).
The CREATE project has three primary objectives:
- Working with a group of Stage 3 cities (e.g. London, Vienna…), to establish how they have succeeded in reducing car use over time, and identifying what lessons can be learnt (both in terms of best mix of policy measures and what factors aid or retard the move to Stage 3).
- Using this information to develop guidance and teaching materials for European cities currently at Stage 1, to help them to speed up their transition to Stage 3 cities based on sustainable mobility, and avoid ‘wasted’ road investment; and
- Looking forward to a possible Stage 4, taking into account new technologies and the scope for reducing the overall demand for travel; this is particularly important for growing cities where there is expected to be increasing road congestion and overcrowding on public transport.
The project will consider both passenger and freight/servicing movements, and the use of urban streetspace more generally. It will identify the main impacts of different policy measures (economic, social and environmental) and their distributional consequences, particularly for vulnerable groups.
We are looking for several ‘Stage 1’ cities, where we can document current transport polices and economic/social pressures, and – learning from the experiences of the Stage 3 cities - work with them to see how they can speed up their transition to a city based on sustainable urban mobility.
The project would be eligible for 100% European funding, and we are planning for a 24 month project.