Why SUMP
Integrated planning of undertaken actions is one of the principal tools enabling proper management of urban mobility, whose complex character is manifested in its strong ties to spatial planning and land-use management. This results in the need to consider a long-term time horizon and to create supra-municipal organisational and governance structures. Providing the right conditions for sustainable mobility forms part of the development vision currently pursued by leading European cities. Because sustainable mobility is a complex issue, an interdisciplinary approach is essential. Consequently, the planning of transport-system measures draws on knowledge from economics, geography, urban planning and architecture, ecology, and traffic engineering.
The latest sustainable-mobility concepts point to the necessity of taking health, climate, and urban-greenery planning issues into account, which in turn highlights the role of active travel within urban areas. The complexity of urban mobility and its significant impact on all residents’ quality of life also dictate that actions be planned at multiple levels—metropolitan, municipal, and, in certain cases, even district level. Such an approach makes it possible to work “from the particular to the general” and to integrate initiatives of different territorial scopes that together generate a synergistic effect.
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans are strategic documents whose main objective is to enable residents, businesses, and visitors within their coverage area to meet their transport needs in a sustainable manner that ensures a high quality of life. Through the implementation of SUMPs, the aim is to create a transport system that will:
- provide all citizens with transport options that ensure access to key destinations and services;
- improve safety;
- help reduce air and noise pollution, cut greenhouse-gas emissions, and decrease energy consumption;
- enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of moving people and goods;
- positively influence the attractiveness and quality of the urban environment—for the benefit of residents, the economy, and society as a whole.
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans therefore address the most important challenges arising where transport and the city meet, including:
- travel behaviours of city residents that are sub-optimal from a sustainable-development perspective;
- the dominant role of the private car in satisfying mobility needs;
- ongoing urban sprawl, which further increases residents’ dependence on private cars as trip distances grow;
- the negative impact of vehicle use on climate change;
- urban air pollution;
- an unsatisfactory level of road-traffic safety;
- the adverse effects of noise generated by heavy road-traffic volumes;
- the strong dependence of all urban transport modes—especially private cars—on fossil fuels.
