We Right-click officially started its second project today. 29 partners met in Madrid to kick off their 5-year journey to accelerate the transition towards green urban mobility in European cities. The new project MOBILITIES for EU aims to demonstrate that innovative passenger mobility and freight transport concepts designed and implemented following participative and user-centred principles are cost-effective and feasible solutions to contribute significantly to the cities’ transformation towards climate neutrality.
The European Green Deal aims to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050. Cities account for a major share of emissions and therefore have great leverage in achieving the ambitious European goal. Their journey towards climate neutrality can secure co-benefits such as reduced air and noise pollution, improved health and well-being, and reduced urban environmental footprints. Within the framework of the European Commission’s Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, 112 European cities have committed themselves to achieve climate neutrality much earlier: by 2030. Transportation is a key aspect in this journey, being the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and accounting for over 30% of total energy use.
MOBILITIES for EU demonstrates innovative urban mobility solutions that can accelerate the transformation of the urban transportation sector, embracing electrification, automation, and connectivity as central themes to reach this goal. Seven European cities, the majority of them having committed themselves to reach climate neutrality by 2030 as part of the 112 Mission Cities, represent the core of the project.
They are divided into Lead Cities and Replication Cities:
Two Lead Cities, Madrid (Spain) and Dresden (Germany), demonstrate the effectiveness of 27 innovative mobility solutions in eleven pilot actions. The 27 solutions tackle innovation both in vehicles and in overarching infrastructure. Examples are autonomous mid-size e-buses for the transport of around 20 persons or the development of a Sovereign Mobility Decentralised Data Ecosystem for automated driving. Demonstration includes a design phase, the deployment of the solutions and their evaluation to assess their impact and relevance for future up-scaling and replication.
Five Replication Cities – Ioannina (Greece), Trenčin (Slovakia), Espoo (Finland), Gdansk (Poland), and Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina) – intend to replicate the Lead Cities’ processes, designing their own adaptations for the tested solutions.
The implementation of new urban mobility solutions can only be effective if they meet the needs of urban residents and other local stakeholders. Therefore, Urban Transport Labs (UT-Labs) that involve these stakeholders are established in all seven project cities and play a vital role in the project.
This is where We Right-click kicks in and will be in charge of setting them up and coordinating the co-design of pilot activities and planning of up-scaling and replication activities beyond the project period.
