ICTA-UAB researchers to participate in the European Week of Regions and Cities

 

 

Video on this topic by MAGIC NEXUS team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ICTA-UAB researchers from the MAGIC project have organized a participatory workshop at the European Week of Regions and Cities on the topic 'Future Urban Mobility: mobilising different knowledges in the debate'.

 

 

 

 

The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance. Developing from the initial concept, the event has become a European networking platform for experts in regional and local development.



ICTA-UAB researchers Maddalena Ripa and Louisa Jane Di Felice will present their work in the workshop, which is coorganised together with JRC (part of MAGIC consortium) in collaboration with the International Association of Public Transport (UITP).  Registration for the workshop is currently open (see link below). The workshop outcomes will feed MAGIC's innovation case study 'Electric Vehicles and Batteries'.



Workshop description

The quality of life in European cities is largely affected by air and noise pollution and other pressures arising from climate change, which are linked to negative health impacts, notably the rise of cardio-vascular and respiratory diseases. The EEA estimates that 400,000 premature deaths per year are attributable to air pollution in Europe. International, national and local commitments are forcing European cities to prioritise planning for climate and pollution mitigation, but swift strategies are needed to meet the complexity of socio-environmental challenges. The transport sector is often heralded as a key source of pollutant emissions. COM(2018) 283 proposes mobility futures based on electric, connected and shareable vehicles. In particular, electric vehicles are a central measure in the EU’s low-carbon transport strategy, championed as a way to simultaneously reduce air pollution in cities, cut greenhouse gas emissions, increase security, safety and boost the industrial sector. Zooming out from the technical debate, this session takes a broader view of the narratives underpinning the proposed mobility exploring the imaginaries of sustainable transport futures and the governance of such systems. Cities need to rethink mobility in order to provide safe, affordable, accessible, reliable and sustainable transport to all citizens. Multimodal and integrated approaches seem to have disappeared from the techno-futures; we would like instead to put back on the table urban mobilities that envisage public transport as a backbone of urban transportation.



In this session, we wish to target civil society organisations and cities' municipalities, policy makers and other stakeholders, as well as regional authorities. The world café format facilitates the discussions we would like to have. The session is divided into two parts. The first part features two ‘primers’: short presentations in relation to the implementation of international and European climate and air quality goals through sustainable urban mobility strategies and the concerns emerged in the Horizon 2020 project MAGIC regarding the large-scale implementation of electric vehicles in Europe. The second part consists in small group conversations on issues raised by the primers. Participants will be encouraged to formulate 'snapshots' of city mobility in 2030, taking stock of the discussions held. This will be done through a brainstorming of possible visions, guided by co-design methodologies. The desired outcome is in the form of insights about desirability and plausibility of mobility options and their regional dependencies.



Moderators



Meredith Baker, Officer, UITP, Belgium.

Ângela Guimarães Pereira, Scientific Officer, European Commission, Italy.



Speakers



Nicolas Blain, Head of International Relations and European Affairs Unit / Chair of UITP's European Division, RATP Group, France.

Ângela Guimarães Pereira, Scientific Officer, European Commission, Italy.

Roger Kesteloot, CEO / Vice-chair of UITP's Sustainable Development Committee, De Lijn, Belgium.

Maddalena Ripa, MAGIC Researcher, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.





Format: Participatory Lab - world café, ideas labs

Theme: A more socially integrated Europe

Partners: European Commission - DG JRC, International Association of Public Transport (UITP)

Venue: Building SQUARE - Brussels Convention Centre, Room 410 (circle 4).

Address: Mont des Arts, 1000 Brussels