Whereas traditional transport plans tend to focus on solving traffic problems by developing infrastructure, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) emphasise quality of life and public space and encourage walking, cycling, and travel via public transport.
With SUMPs and Mobility Management both seeking to achieve the same overall goal - namely the increased use of sustainable modes of transport - measures associated with Mobility Management form an essential part of any SUMP.
The SUMP approach encourages a balanced development of all transport modes through actions that include technical, promotional and marketing-based measures, alongside infrastructure improvements. When selecting measures for their SUMPs, authorities should consider the role that Mobility Management initiatives can play within their wider strategy.
To encourage cities to engage in and support them in their implementation of sustainable urban mobility planning, CIVITAS PROSPERITY is developing and implementing a tailor-made national SUMP promotion programme in 11 countries. These take into account a country's specific aims, its cultural capacity levels in areas such as finance, and the local cultural context. Over the past six months, the National Focal Points in these countries have made good progress in implementing the promotional programmes and creating national SUMP networks.
In order to engage more extensively with and gain support from higher level governmental figures, 11 National Task Forces were launched. Aside from this, their main priority is to build up and improve the national SUMP framework programmes and stimulate SUMP take-up in cities. They also work on other elements, including the SUMPs' legal character; the level of cooperation required between actors; overall SUMP quality control; and expert certification programmes.
In the future, the Task Forces will hopefully develop to a point where they can act as the main drivers behind the SUMP promotion process. Two countries have already shown great initiative:
- Slovenia has two Task Forces already and the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Republic of Slovenia has committed to learning from Flanders’s SUMP framework programme.
- In its Task Force, Germany has gathered together governmental, academic and private expertise. Its members are discussing how to reform their own transport development plan into a SUMP.
CIVITAS PROSPERITY is a member of the European Platform on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. To find out more on the project, visit the CIVITAS PROSPERITY page or contact 
Fred Dotter - fred [dot] dotter [at] mobiel21 [dot] be
