Abstract Summary
The imperative for responsible mobility innovations in European cities, grappling with congestion and air pollution, is motivation for this workshop aiming to discern successful strategies for reducing inner-city car use. Focusing on the effectiveness of push and pull measures, the workshop seeks lessons applicable to the framework conditions of various countries. The overarching goal is to facilitate a sustainable transformation of urban mobility, necessitating renegotiation of public space allocation and system redesign. Recognizing the importance of adjusting transport systems, pricing, and regulatory frameworks, the workshop emphasizes the need to consider planning horizons and implementation timelines, viewing them as crucial factors alongside costs and acceptability in decision-making for urban mobility transformation. The idea for this workshop stems from our research project “Car-Traffic Reduced City Centres in Europe – A Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Approaches Based on Case Studies”, which aims to derive practicable strategies for reducing car ownership and car use in German cities from the experiences of other European cities. After a thorough analysis of the current German legal framework and a qualitative analysis of the regulatory approaches in various European cities (Delft, Villach, Vienna, Paris, Zürich, Umea, and Pontevedra), the question arises, as to how proven approaches from one country are compatible with another governance system and its respective legal framework. In a thoroughly prepared workshop for planners from different countries, with various levels of experience (a fresh view is also an asset), we want to cover the following steps. 1. Impulse presentation from our research project to provide a baseline for the workshop 2. Attendees pitch ideas for encouraging people to reduce car ownership and avoid cars use, shift to alternative modes of transport, and improve the efficiency of existing transport options 3. Groups add context information to the previously pitched approaches based on legal, governance and baseline conditions 4. Presentation of group work results 5. Group discussion on how to create an effective package of push and pull measures to reduce inner city traffic - considering the framework conditions of particular European cities Overall, this workshop aims to provide attendees with a learning experience on how different cities can learn from each other on approaches for sustainable urban mobility planning – and as the theme of the first conference day says, separated the good, the bad, the ugly.
