Net-Zero transport project - Deploying mobility and place-based solutions to reach Net-Zero carbon objectives
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CREATE project - Reducing congestion and car use
- Client Name
- EU
- Location
- Various European cities
Challenge
The CREATE project was a leading international R&D initiative, funded by the European Union. It analysed the municipal policies, institutions and governance which has led to the decrease of car use and congestion in Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Paris and Vienna over the last 50 years. The research delivered irrefutable evidence that the level of car use is a function of available street space, and that modal shift can be successfully achieved when reprioritising the allocation of road capacity towards active and shared modes. This approach also best enables population growth whilst mitigating surface transport emissions and hence supports wider Net Zero Carbon objectives.
Solution
As vice-coordinator of the project, SLR developed the innovative CREATE Guidelines. These offer city planners and decision makers the evidence and indicators they need to justify investing in measures which help to reduce congestion and accommodate demographic changes sustainably. This involves combining carrot and stick measures such as: reallocating road space from car to active modes and public transport; providing shared mobility services; integrating transport and land-use planning; limiting speed limits and introducing controlled parking and access zones.
Impact
This provided cities with pathways and insights on how to deliver future transport systems and engage stakeholders to reduce congestion and be more ambitious in their mobility strategies. Through workshops and training seminars SLR helped to transfer the guidelines to decision makers in the cities of Bucharest, Adana, Amman, Skopje and Tallinn, hence building capacity amongst the city authorities. The team also developed guidance on the available funding and financing systems which cities can apply to unlock investment to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport.
SLR apply the evidence-based findings from the CREATE project in their masterplanning work, to justify the priority provision of street space to the most space-efficient modes.
