Designing inclusive, safe, affordable and sustainable urban mobility

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• ​Contribute to the objectives of the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission by accelerating the transition towards climate neutrality in cities through the promotion of zero-emission, shared, active and human-centred mobility;
• Increase the extent and speed of the take-up and upscaling of innovative, best practice and replicable safe, affordable and sustainable urban mobility solutions in the living labs involved in the proposals^[1] (at least four cities/project and four follower cities, considering geographic diversity including in terms of regions’ level of development) while facilitating the common lesson drawing and learning at European level, in order to contribute to the priority of the Zero Pollution Action Plan's objectives, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and the EU road safety policy framework 2021-2030 for a 50% reduction target for deaths and also for serious injuries by 2030;
• Solutions for at least ten unsafe areas/living labs in urban/peri-urban areas using innovative planning, design and implementation approaches, including but not limited to co-creation and/or citizen engagement, modelling and AI, digital and smart enforcement tools, dynamic space reallocation, with a view to reduce road safety risks, reducing exposure to air and noise pollution and the perceived feeling of unsafety for pedestrians and cyclists;
• Re-assess road and public space quality responding to needs of diverse groups (examples include but are not limited to: women, children, people with disabilities and older people); actions may include but are not limited to improving data collection for foot, bike and e-scooter traffic as well as the mechanisms for reporting pedestrian and cyclists, e-scooter injuries and deaths;
• Address proactively potential risk raised by expected increases in cycling and e-scooters;
• Rebalancing the attribution of public space to different modes of transport so that it better reflects the actual or desired local modal split as well as support reaching Vision Zero^[2] and zero-emission objectives, thus increasing road safety and quality of life in cities;
• Public space redesign actions targeted by the awarded projects should consider the circular economy principles, adaptation to climate change (in particular heatwaves), cross-sectoral synergies and not come at the cost of removing or deterioration of parks, trees or green recreational areas.

The European Union is facing a multitude of interconnected demographic, public health and environmental challenges: the climate is changing, road deaths are stagnating, urbanization is increasing, air quality standards are still breached in over 100 cities, obesity is rising and the population is ageing.

But there is an increasing recognition at local, national and EU level that boosting the levels of active mobility, particularly walking and cycling, can play an important role in overcoming many of these challenges. Such a policy will also have economic benefits. Based on conservative estimates, even current levels of cycling in the EU produce benefits valued at around 150 billion euros per year^[3].

During the Covid-19 pandemic, larger cities in Europe announced infrastructure changes to promote cycling and walking. For instance, they temporarily widened or created new cycle lanes to allow safe overtaking with physical distancing limits in mind while also implementing more 30km/h limits or 20km/h zones. The scope of this action is to support local authorities in accelerating mobility changes and address a significant concern, namely that people returning to work after the lockdown will seek out alternatives so that allocating public space, bicycles, pedestrians and public transport and reducing the space available for cars will encourage people to cycle, walk or use public transport rather than take the car.

Taking into account where possible the Sustainable Urban Mobility Indicators^[4], projects should collect data on differences between patterns, behaviours and habits in relation to the mobility of various categories of vulnerable road users. Such data should where possible, be integrated with cross-domain data, to ensure interdependencies and co-benefits are identified. Projects should identify specific mobility needs and public space re-design needs, taking into account actual and perceived safety and security of women, children and accessibility for people with disabilities e.g. blind people in shared spaces, people in prams, wheelchairs and other supporting vehicles. Measures should be taken to implement necessary changes within the timeline of the project.

In addition, projects should also provide clear guidance to cities and Member States and Associated Countries on how to systematically incorporate the vulnerable road users dimension into infrastructure planning, including aspects of safety and security, accessibility, digital and smart tools for enforcing speed limits and vehicle access, design and operation or services and public spaces, including mobility hubs, public transport and shared mobility.

The projects associated to this call topic should envisage cooperation with the SUMP coordination platform, ELTIS^[5] and produce thematic a comprehensive topic guides stemming from the projects and accompanying the SUMP guidelines.

Projects should also take stock of lessons learnt during the period of imposition and lifting of Covid-related restrictions and propose suitable solutions for the future when it comes to resilience, safety and accessibility of public infrastructure.

A thorough evaluation, with a clear baseline in each city, should provide qualitative and quantitative information on the results of the local solutions implemented. The effectiveness of the proposed measures in achieving local policy objectives on safety, security and accessibility as well as on climate and pollution should be evaluated and the possible barriers to their broad take up and deployment identified, together with recommendations on how to overcome them. This should be accompanied by mechanisms for common lesson drawing and learning, within the project, between the projects funded under this topic and through the CIVITAS Initiative.

Proposals must plan for an active collaboration amongst the projects selected under this topic - for dissemination, evaluation and coordination - facilitated by and within the CIVITAS initiative through the signature of collaboration agreement. Proposals should ensure that appropriate provisions for activities and resources aimed at enforcing this collaboration are included in the work-plan of the proposal. Detailed description of the specific activities and common actions that will be undertaken is not required at proposal stage and can be further defined during the grant agreement phase. Collaboration with the Mission Platform (HORIZON-MISS-2021-CIT-02-03) is essential and should take place through the CIVITAS initiative. The latter should establish, through a Memorandum of Understanding, clear links with the Mission portfolio for synergies and complementarities.

Proposals may include preparatory, take up and replication actions, research activities, as well as tools to support local planning and policy making. At the same time, projects would be expected to share their results and good practice with the upcoming European Urban Initiative of Cohesion Policy, the Urban Agenda for the EU and relevant smart specialisation partnerships e.g. the Safe and Sustainable Mobility Partnership or EIT Urban Mobility with its objectives to deploying user‐centric, integrated eco‐efficient and safe mobility solutions in urban areas.

Digital Agenda
Artificial Intelligence

[1]At least four cities/project and at least four follower cities. An appropriate budget should be reserved to the twinning cities to deliver on their objectives within the project. The city partnership in the consortium should be cohesive. There should be special attention for cities coming from countries where the road deaths and serious injuries are high.

[2]The Vision Zero or Safe System approach requires a combination of safe infrastructure, safe speeds, safe road users and good quality emergency response.

[3]European Cyclist Federation, The benefits of cycling, http://bit.ly/36L0zV0

[4]https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/clean-transport-urban-transport/sumi_en

[5] https://www.eltis.org/