The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need to face a structural change in our productive, environmental and social model.
Government institutions have rightly proposed the economic recovery from the post-pandemic crisis not only with the aim of reactivating the economy, but also with a transformative vision that modifies the structures of a model that led us to collapse.
The recovery orientation should have three pillars: social cohesion, environmental sustainability and change in the production model (based on the tools of the latest technological revolution).
The Next Generation EU stimulus package and the European Green Deal go in that direction.
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As we have seen these months, one of the essential elements for this transformation is to redefine the mobility model.
Emergencies related to emissions, the impact of new technologies on the mode of production and consumption and the public will to recover public space represent essential challenges for administrations and companies.
In this sense, some cities have begun to rethink their urban organization and think about designing a new mobility model that contributes to making cities more comfortable, livable, and environmentally healthier and more sustainable. The 15-minute city model, which aspires to polycentricity in which a resident can reach everything they need in a quarter of an hour on foot or by bicycle, exemplifies this change.
This change is essential for meeting the European Union's climate neutrality target for 2050, which requires a 90% reduction in transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. Cities, which account for 40% of total road transport in the EU, play a key role in achieving the ambitious target. Not only are they important emitters, but municipal governments and other city actors are also promoting the transition towards sustainable mobility.
During the pandemic, the need to create safe and socially distanced transport provided a key boost in many European cities.
Tactical urban planning measures such as the introduction of new bike lanes, pedestrian areas and reduced traffic areas were implemented in record time.
However, the challenge now is to integrate these measures into longer-term urban mobility planning to meet the EU intermediate climate target of reducing emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
There are two main fronts on which European cities are working to create long-term sustainable mobility systems: urban innovation and the relationship between public and private
There are two main fronts on which European cities are working to create longer-term sustainable mobility systems: urban experimentation and innovation and establishing a new public-private relationship framework.
In relation to the first, a change is required in the physical fabric of the city and how people and vehicles move through it to reduce air pollution and congestion.
The main measures here are, on the one hand, low-traffic areas, such as
Barcelona's
Superilles
that prioritize pedestrians and other forms of active transport, and that are proving successful in many cities, making them more livable and healthy.
On the other hand, there are policies to restrict the circulation of private cars. In recent years, low emission zones (ZBEs) have multiplied in many European cities, such as Madrid in 2018 and Barcelona in 2020. In addition, some cities such as London, Stockholm and Milan have taken a step further and introduced congestion tolls that apply to all vehicles entering and leaving the city. Recent data shows that while both policies are effective in combating pollution, only tolls reduce congestion.
But the transition goes far beyond interventions in the urban fabric.
The technological revolution will be essential to establish new forms of production and consumption and structuring of mobility.
Indeed, the decrease in the need for physical presence in productive and consumption tasks can represent a significant empirical contribution of the months of the pandemic in reducing mobility and emissions and leave valuable lessons and guidelines learned.
The technological revolution will be essential to establish new forms of production and consumption and structuring of mobility
Likewise, the platform economy must allow the design of a transport model based on effective demand. Thus, work is under way to create the mobility architecture of the future. The classic elements of that relationship seem obsolete for the new times. New needs oriented towards collective transport over private and new operators such as mobility cooperatives or platform companies with new technologies represent a paradigm shift in which the Administration cannot be left behind.
The new reality will also be configured based on the characteristics of the operators.
Sustainability and social inclusion cannot be a source of transformation if companies do not adopt it in their production function.
Labor and business justice implications should also be part of the equation.
A good leadership of the Administration must be a basic pillar to achieve effective and satisfactory standards in social and territorial cohesion.
Mobility is one of the essential pieces of the great gear of change that our current society requires;
it is necessary to proactive, open and innovative administrations, which look to the operator for an effective ally for said transformation.
Flexibility, energy transition and social impact will be the elements where the requirements will go
Spain is responsible for almost 70,000 million euros of European recovery funds.
More than 30% of these would go to the mobility industry, construction and Public Administration.
It is a good opportunity to get closer to the new world that we intend to build.
Hannah Abdullah
, Senior Researcher in the Global Cities Program of CIDOB (Barcelona Center for International Affairs) and
Eloi Serrano
, Director of the Tecnocampus Social Economy Chair - Pompeu Fabra University and associate researcher at CIDOB.
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