PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Sustainable urban mobility can be defined as the implementation of a system in which private vehicles, public transport, roads and parking spaces form an integrated whole. The EU strategy on the urban environment proposes to "change radically the balance among different transport systems, favouring public over private transport and reducing the impact of car traffic in our cities." This requires effective tools to encourage greater use of public transport, vehicle-sharing, intermodal transport, cycling and walking.
University campuses are a significant pole of attraction within cities, acting as the start-, end- and transit point for a huge number of journeys. The implementation of sustainable urban mobility practices in the many thousands of campuses across the EU can play a significant role in mitigating climate change.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the U-MOB project was to facilitate the exchange and transfer of best practices in sustainable mobility on university campuses across the EU.
Specific project objectives were as follows:
- To inform, communicate and increase awareness of the potential positive impact of sustainable mobility management on university campuses in terms of CO2 emissions reduction;
- To help university campuses create sustainable mobility action plans and to achieve CO2 reduction targets defined in those plans;
- To consolidate, communicate and disseminate among EU universities good practices in sustainable mobility on campus;
- To encourage universities to appoint sustainable mobility managers;
- To develop and launch a training course and support materials on University Sustainable Mobility Management;
- To mainstream sustainable mobility policies among local authorities and local transport companies; and
- To create and consolidate a “European University Network for Sustainable Mobility” capable of multiplying, replicating and transferring best practices long after the conclusion of this LIFE project.
RESULTS
The LIFE U-MOB project created a European Network for Sustainable Mobility at Universities, with 85 members from 11 countries. All the members exchanged mobility best practices, and the project team compiled the 50 most relevant measures and published them in a Best Practices Catalogue.
Participating universities joined with different commitment levels during the project, with 10 of them joining with the maximum commitment. The consortium supported these 10 universities in drafting their Mobility Action Plans and implementing more than 200 actions during the project lifetime. The project team supported 4 more universities developing actions, but without drafting a plan. They assessed the impact of these actions through mobility surveys at the beginning and at the end of the project.
The project team held three successful International Conferences on Sustainable Mobility at Universities, with the participation of universities, municipalities and other relevant stakeholders.
The project team also promoted the professional role of mobility manager. For this the project team defined the corresponding Qualification Standard and, based on it, developed a high-quality online training activity. More than 300 people followed this training during the project period, and all 10 highly-committed universities either appointed a new mobility manager or strengthen their role when an equivalent already existed. The partners also developed specific material, campaigns and activities to promote sustainable mobility habits: posters, brochures, videos, and a tournament among universities. They also produced tools to support the work of the mobility managers: a specific tool to estimate CO2 emissions related with mobility, a guide and best practices on green procurement, and guidelines for cooperation with local stakeholders.
