The City Club has organised their first Webinar Series to share city experience within the community and present the early outcomes of the ongoing EIT Urban Mobility’s innovation projects. This activity aimed to foster city-to-city learning and collaboration on common objectives and areas of interest on disruptive innovations in urban mobility. It provided City Club members with the opportunity to share knowledge, as well as insights about the challenges and implementation barriers faced some major European cities and regions.
During three consecutive Wednesdays (21 July, 28 July, and 4 August), City Club members engaged in a dynamic discussion on Liveable Spaces and Active Mobility, Future Mobility and User-centric Solutions and Integrated Mobility.
The City Club members are Amsterdam, Barcelona, AMB – Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Copenhagen, Eindhoven, Hamburg, Helmond, Helsinki, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Milan, Munich, Stockholm, Toulouse Metropolis, City and Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, Lublin, Stuttgart, and Public Transport Authority of Warsaw.
Webinar 1: Liveable Spaces and Active Mobility
The first webinar introduced four EIT Urban Mobility projects aimed at enhancing city liveability by improving the quality of urban space and promoting healthier mobility habits through active mobility.
Paolo Campus (AMAT Milan) presented the CLEAR (City LivEAbility by Redesign) project aims to improve the quality of public space by (1) developing transferrable and well-functioning approaches to designing public space that enhance social interactions; (2) reducing the number of private car on-street parking; and (3) improving the quality of the urban landscape by redesigning city areas and ensuring that most part of the city is a Zero Emission Zone. The city partners in CLEAR are Milan, Amsterdam, and Munich.
Rene Spaan (Helmond) illustrated the CELESTE project approach for dynamic speed limits compliance for optimised traffic management. Delivering systems that can complement existing Traffic Management Centres, such as extended data models, connected signals, vehicle technologies, is critical to successfully change behaviours. To this end, CELESTE focuses on the analysis of the current synergies between dynamic speed limits and ISA, and defines solutions covering the entire traffic management value chain and implementing them in two functional prototypes with cities co-creating solutions to address speed limit problems. The city partners in CELESTE are Hamburg, Barcelona, and Helmond.
Mariona Conill (AMB) introduced HALLO (Hubs for Last Mile Delivery Solutions). This project –related to the field of Sustainable City Logistics– aims to alleviate environmental and traffic challenges in urban areas through the creation of shared urban consolidation and distribution centres. Under this project, some pilots have taken place in different municipalities of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (Spain). The city partners involved in HALLO are Metropolitan Area Barcelona (AMB), and Stockholm.
Finally, Melanie Grötsch (Munich) exposed WalCycData, which promotes the uptake of green transport options, such as cycling and walking, to positively impact on public health and the urban environment. In particular, the project provides a pilot framework based on the use of smart measuring sensors, data processing through artificial intelligence, and the creation of predictive behavioural models of, with final goal to increase the protection of vulnerable road users (cyclists and pedestrians). The city partner involved in WalCycData is Munich.
Webinar 2: Future Mobility
The second webinar introduced four EIT Urban Mobility projects developing new services and disruptive technologies with the potential to reshape the ways in which we live, work, and move within the city.
Dorine Duives (TU Delft) opened the session with CityFlows, whose main objective is to improve the liveability of crowded pedestrian spaces in European cities through the provision of real-time decision-support systems for the management of pedestrian flows in the context of tourism, transfer hubs, and mass events. The city partners involved in CityFLows are Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Milan.
Then, Robin Wolf (Hamburg) presented AntiTrash: Smart Trash Detection and Damage Prevention for Shared Mobility Vehicles. This project arises from the need to assess and improve cleanliness in shared vehicles, trams, and buses; as well as to increase the comfort of their users. It proposes four different demonstrations: (1) machine-vision based trash detection system, (2) odour detection system, (3) materials suitable for shared vehicle application, and (4) assessment of customer satisfaction and business opportunities. The city partner involved in AntiTrash is Hamburg. It also counts with the participation of the City of Zalaegerszeg in Hungary.
Marta Trzaskowska (Warsaw – ZTM) introduced UMOS, aiming at building a pan-European Urban Mobility Operating System. Today, players in mobility form scattered modes and the mobility domain is getting more fragmented. UMOS proposes to develop a universal (one-stop) platform that integrates various mobility and related services in order to provide travellers with optimized and customized experiences. With the support of policy makers, this project contributes to increase the liveability of cities by offering more sustainable alternatives to private cars. The city partners involved in UMOS are Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Eindhoven, Lublin, Milan, Dublin, Warsaw – ZTM, and Strasbourg metropolitan area.
Finally, Ewelina Frelas (Lublin) presented the AI-TraWell project: AI-powered, proactive TRAvel assistant to self-monitor user’s experience and craft personalised travel solutions for promoting WELLbeing. AI-TraWell is an AI-powered and proactive chatbot for smartphone devices to recommend personalised travel alternatives that fit travellers’ needs and preferences and promote long-term health and wellbeing for all citizens living or moving within cities. The solution improves the physical and mental health of travellers. It also reduces exposure to highly polluted areas, and decreases congestion and overcrowding in existing mobility services, thereby contributing to urban growth management and more inclusive societies. The city partners in AI-TraWell are Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Munich, Copenhagen, and Lublin.
Webinar 3: User-centric Solutions and Integrated Mobility
The third webinar introduced four EIT Urban Mobility projects aimed at deploying integrated, and user-centric mobility solutions.
Mariona Conill (AMB) presented MultiDEPART: a multi-operator tool for managing Demand rEsPonsive trAnspoRT. This project is mainly based on the relevance that Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) services are gaining in Europe, especially in medium and small-sized cities, and low-density suburbs surrounding large metropolitan areas. MultiDEPART proposes to develop a technological tool to plan, manage, and monitor DRT solutions, which will be applied to Lisbon, Barcelona metropolitan area, and Thessaloniki, targeting Public Transport Authorities, and facilitating the harmonization and scalability of DRT services across European cities. The city partner involved in MultiDEPART is Metropolitan Area Barcelona.
Mariona continued and introduced eULTIMATE: Improve pUblic transport eLecTrIfication to fight against cliMATE change. This project aims to build a technology-agnostic Decision Support Tool for assisting cities and bus agencies in the deployment of the most suitable electric bus fleet technology. The tool will be tested in 6 pilots from 5 different countries: Milan, Decin (Czech Republic), Zalaegerszeg (Hungary), Lisbon (Portugal) Badalona and Barcelona (Spain). The city partners involved in eULTIMATE are Barcelona, Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, and Milan.
Barry Ubbels (Amsterdam) presented the SmartHubs project, which proposes to develop and validate effective and economically viable mobility hub solutions by setting up pilots in 7 cities (Amsterdam, Helmond, Eindhoven, Warsaw, Lisbon, Sant Cugat, and Barcelona), and providing answers to three important questions: (1) where, how and what size should be allocated to each hub; (2) what business models are the best to make the hubs scale; and (3) what procurement methods are the most suitab;e. The final outcome will be a decision support tool to help policy makers find the best location for a mobility hub. The city partners involved in SmartHubs are Amsterdam, Helmond, Eindhoven, and Metropolitan Area of Barcelona.
Finally, Barry presented FDMM: Future Digital Mobility Management. The objective of this project is to determine how drivers can be directed to choose more sustainable routes while simultaneously improve the flow of traffic. FDMM will help drivers to avoid selected areas that may be congested or have poor air quality or areas in which maintaining traffic safety is particularly important (e.g., areas around schools and day-care centres at certain times of the day). The city partners involved in FDMM are Amsterdam, and Helsinki.
