Functional road categorization: new concepts and challenges related to traffic safety, traffic managment and urban design: reflections based on practices in Belgium confronted with some Eastern European cases

The last decade functional road categorization has drawn new attention in several countries in Europe. In this paper some reflections are made on practice in the Flanders Region in Belgium, confronted with some cases in Latvia and Romania. New challenges for the road system related to spatial planning, traffic safety, transport and traffic management and urban design are inducing research for new concepts for road categorization. These new concepts can be considered as new frames for road planning (and prioritization of investments) as well as for road design

Decision making process on the Antwerp Oosterweel link: lessons learnt

The Oosterweel link (completion of the Antwerp ring road, including a river Scheldt crossing) was planned to be the largest infrastructure project ever built in Belgium. It started as a noiseless process for more than fifteen years, the decision seemed to be taken in 2008: the reference design was approved and a DBFM consortium selected. Then the project became controversial. Action groups dominated the debate and could enforce a public referendum. The project was rejected by the Antwerp citizens. Can the rejection of the project be explained by opening the black box of the planning process? A research of the Antwerp University College Artesis reveals that the decision process of the Oosterweel link can be described within the three streams model (problems–policy alternatives–politics), developed by W. Kingdon. In each stream actors intervene with their own logic (e.g. experts use traffic models, politicians make political deals, and administrations refer to administrative rules...). The process streams were bundled by a policy maker (the governor of the province), creating for a certain period a 'window of opportunity'. But the research confirms that a project idea has its expiry date. From Kingdon's three project survival criteria the weak point of the Oosterweel project is its small problem definition (traffic congestion on the main road system). Major projects should refer to the mobility issue and not only to a traffic problem. Infrastructure planning should not be limited to the physical object to be built, but be embedded in the urban and regional environment (avoiding e.g. white backgrounds in project evaluations and design). Planning processes that only focus on control (of financial and technical issues) and omit interaction (with stakeholders and the general public) have a great risk to fail. This has huge consequences for project management

Smart mobility: opportunity or threat to innovate places and cities

The concept of the “smart mobility” has become something of a buzz phrase in the planning and transport fields in the last decade. After a fervent first phase in which information technology and digital data were considered the answer for making mobility more efficient, more attractive and for increasing the quality of travel, some disappointing has grown around this concept: the distance between the visionarypotentialthatsmartness is providingis too far from the reality of urban mobility in cities. We argue in particular that two main aspects of smart mobility should be eluded: the first refers to the merely application to technology on mobility system, what we called the techo-centric aspect; the second feature is the consumer-centric aspect of smart mobility, that consider transport users only as potential consumers of a service. Starting from this, the study critics the smart mobility approach and applications and argues on a“smarter mobility” approach, in which technologies are only oneaspects of a more complex system. With a view on the urgency of looking beyond technology and beyond consumer-oriented solutions, the study arguments the need for a cross-disciplinary and a more collaborative approach that could supports transition towards a“smarter mobility” for enhancing the quality of life and the development ofvibrant cities. The article does not intend to produce a radical critique of the smart mobility concept,denying a priori its utility. Our perspectiveisthat the smart mobility is sometimes used as an evocativeslogan lacking some fundamental connection with other central aspect of mobility planning and governance. Main research questions are: what is missing in the technology-oriented or in the consumers-oriented smart mobility approach? What are the main risks behind these approaches? To answer this questions the paper provides in Section 2 the rationale behind the paper;Section 3 provides a literature review that explores the evolution on smart mobility paradigm in the last decades analysing in details the “techno-centric”and the “consumer-centric” aspects. Section 4proposes an integrated innovative approach for smart mobility, providing examples and some innovative best practices in Belgium. Some conclusions are finally drawnin Section 5, based on the role of smart mobility to create not only virtual platforms but high quality urban places

Naar een nieuwe stedelijke mobiliteitscultuur: parkeerbeleid als hefboom

Sustainable urban development urges a new mobility paradigm, new concepts for mobility design and a new mobility culture. Several cases in Europe show that cities possess an important key: namely parking policy. According to D. Banister four crucial elements exist to obtain a sustainable mobility policy: making the best use of technology, reflecting the external cost in the actual cost of travel and integrating land use planning and mobility planning. The fourth crucial element is clearly targeted personal information. Ghent University has participated in the Interreg IIIC project ‘City Parking in Europe’ and identified good practices fitting in the policy for a new urban mobility culture

How to monitor sustainable mobility in cities? Literature review in the frame of creating a set of sustainable mobility indicators

The role of sustainable mobility and its impact on society and the environment is evident and recognized worldwide. Nevertheless, although there is a growing number of measures and projects that deal with sustainable mobility issues, it is not so easy to compare their results and, so far, there is no globally applicable set of tools and indicators that ensure holistic evaluation and facilitate replicability of the best practices. In this paper, based on the extensive literature review, we give a systematic overview of relevant and scientifically sound indicators that cover different aspects of sustainable mobility that are applicable in different social and economic contexts around the world. Overall, 22 sustainable mobility indicators have been selected and an overview of the applied measures described across the literature review has been presented

Urban mobility planning as a frame for urban design of squares and streets, the Peja case in Kosovo

Urban streets and squares have a dual function: as links in transport networks and as places for accommodating urban life. In this paper an integrated approach of urban design of the public domain is developed, highlighting the layers multimodal mobility planning can provide for the design. The approach is shown on the basis of some cases for the city of Peja (Kosovo). The designs of two strategic elements in the urban network, the railway station boulevard and the Haxhi Zeka Square as well as a district collector street within the Zatra living area are described. These design projects were elaborated by a mixed international and local team, working together in design studios within the frame of the ‘MOBKOS’ cooperation project (www.mobkos.eu). This project was co financed by the Flemish and the Kosovar Governments in the period 2009-2011. A well the structured road categorisation system and urban parking strategy are determining elements of the design. But even so a ‘soft spine’ accommodating walking and biking routes and a new system of urban bus routes are important layers of the design. The paper doesn’t call for a traffic engineering dominated design. It is gradually understood that the prevailing ‘city for cars’ practices in Kosovo (that had already shown its limits in Pristine) would lead Peja into a dead end street. That is why concepts such as urban boulevards, ‘shared spaces’, green trails… are used in the designs. The same international team is preparing design studios in the city of Shkodra in Albania

Het pijnlijke vervellen van autostad naar fietsstad: stuurfouten in Gent en Antwerpen

In Gent voelt de automobilist zich de dupe van het stadsbestuur in zijn pogingen om het centrum leefbaarder te maken, in Antwerpen is het vooral de ietser die zich roert. Dirk Lauwers beveelt beide steden aan om beter te communiceren met de doelgroepen die zich geviseerd voelen. En vooral: leer van good practices