QUEST project gathers together cities interested in sustainable urban mobility planning

 

 Many European cities are facing challenges when it comes to set up and implement truly sustainable mobility policies and measures.  QUEST project has developed a Quality Management tool to help small and medium sized cities to set-up and further develop their sustainable mobility policies with the assistance of an external expert - the QUEST auditor. The aim of QUEST is to support cities in making real progress towards a more sustainable urban transport system and help them to find solutions to achieve excellence in sustainable urban mobility planning!

During the QUEST project nearly 50 cities, with different levels of experience and contexts, from 14 European countries have gone through the QUEST process, demonstrating that there is a high level of demand for advice on sustainable urban mobility planning.

QUEST cities meet in 5 international workshops

QUEST does not aim only to help cities to improve their policies but wants to facilitate active exchange of experiences with other cities. During the spring 2013 QUEST organises 5 workshops, where cities involved with QUEST have a chance to discuss the most pressing challenges in relation to urban mobility with their European peers, but also share their good practices. During the workshops the cities also have an opportunity to compare their experiences about the QUEST tool.

The workshop participants admire the public bicycle hire scheme in Bath was  introduced  as part of the Civitas Renaissance project. 

 

6 QUEST cities met in Bath, England

5 QUEST cities Halmstad and Lidköping, Sweden; Opava, Czech Republic; Ptuj, Slovenia and Satu Mare, Romania  were invited to Bath, a World Heritage site, to familiarize themselves with the mobility solutions Bath has implemented and to discuss the results and outcomes of QUEST. UBC Commission on Environment  assisted the organisation of the workshop.

The workshop results showed that QUEST had helped cities to reflect upon their mobility policies in a critical way and  it really helped them to take a next step towards sustainable urban mobility policies. The external QUEST auditor facilitated the process and helped to view the work from different point of view and to find blank and weak spot in own planning and policy practices, but in a collaborative manner acting as a critical friend. One of the biggest benefits of QUEST is that it helps cities to identify which measures are effective in achieving energy savings in transport, and which are possible to achieve. In other words QUEST helps cities to make the right choices.

During the workshop the participants discussed the measures the cities had implement in different fields of urban mobility.

QUEST also facilitated the establishment of a dialogue among different groups like the city departments, service providers, end users, private companies etc. and the creation of a common problem understanding among local stakeholders.The participants agreed that transport and mobility planning is a cross-sectoral issue that concerns many different fields such as education, urban planning and health sector.

If your city is interested to join the QUEST family, please contact the project team and it will find the right auditor for you! QUEST is also looking for new auditors to join the QUEST team of experts.

More information about the QUEST tool can be found at: www.quest-project.eu.
Download the QUEST Brochure!

For more information, please contact:
Maija Rusanen
Project Coordinator
Union of the Baltic Cities Commission on Environment
e-mail: firstname.lastname@ubc.net