From 22-24 April, the MoLo Hubs project partners met in Mechelen, Belgium for their 4th project partner meeting.
The City of Mechelen is one of the five pilot areas in MoLo Hubs and hosted the 4th project partner meeting. The big interest of the project partners to get first-hand insights from Mechelen’s path towards to a walkable, cycle-friendly and livable “15-minutes city” is no coincidence, but comes from bold and forward-thinking changes in the cities’ traffic infrastructure and policies.
What are often only vague ambitions elsewhere have been consistently implemented in Mechelen in recent years: an almost car-free city centre thanks to low-traffic zones, the transformation of car parks into squares for people and green urban oases, good pedestrian and cycle path infrastructure. This is a result of the STOP-principle that Mechelen uses to promote the use of sustainable modes of transport. This means that the city is primarily designed for active users, such as pedestrians and cyclists (Stappers and Trappers), then public transport (Openbaar Vervoer) and finally private transport (Personenwagens).
The project team received a welcome from Mechelen’s Alderman for mobility, Alexander Vandersmissen, who explained the policy efforts that have already started decades ago and now lead to a very much changed appearance of the city. One outstanding example in terms of policy instruments is the cities' Convenant for sustainable and efficient city logistics, which has already brought together more than 30 stakeholders actively supporting it since its publication in 2020, and the number is growing.
Alexander Vandersmissen
Study visit part I
During our half-day study visit, we learned that this is only possible in conjunction with good and user-centered services. This not only applies to people's mobility, but is also crucial for commercial transport and city logistics in particular.
Of course, we undertook our study visit on foot and with shared bikes, to experience sustainable urban mobility at first hand. Our first stop was a demonstration of the parcel lockers of "bpost", which are delivered and emptied with cargo bikes in the city centre.
Study visit part II
Afterwards, the partners cycled to three of the so-called “Hoppinpunten” currently being developed in Mechelen as part of a Flemish mobility hub system. As multimodal mobility hubs, they combine car, bike and public transport functionalities, depending on their specific location.
"Hoppinpunten" also offer additional services to cyclists, such as e-bike charging lockers and repair stations – “Fietshubs”, that have been developed with the support of the "Active Cities project".
Within the MoLo Hubs project, Mechelen is now planning the next step by integrating parcel lockers in a holistic approach to the "Hoppinpunten". This should further increase their range of services and also create synergies between mobility and city logistics.
At the third stop, "Dageraadstraat", a neighbourhood level "Hoppinpunt", we also had the chance to learn how "Foodsprint", a sustainable city logistics service provider has managed to create a successful B2B-service of cold chain deliveries by cargo-bike.
Finally, the group received insights from one of the larger car-free city development projects, called “Komet” and its waste management system, which is another focus topic in the MoLo Hubs project.
Workshops sessions
Of course, the partner meeting also offered a broad range of interactive work sessions, focussing on workshops about data collection approaches, stakeholder engagement, multi-stakeholder business cases as well as spatial planning and city design, contributing to the value of urban spaces.
On the last day, the consortium group got creative, to brainstorm on a joint approach for the next big project highlight: the participation of MoLo Hubs in the 10th European Conference of Sustainable Cities & Towns in the first week of October 2024, back to back with our next physical partner meeting in Aalborg, Denmark.
Source: LIHH