Ghent, Belgium, April 22nd, 2024 – Three partners from the SN² consortium took the opportunity to share their insights on the integration of Shared Mobility in Real-Estate Development in an inspirational session at the “Inspiratiedag duurzame mobiliteit 2024” hosted by the Netwerk Duurzame Mobiliteit Belgium.
After a brief introduction from Cornelia Cordes, lead project manager (City of Bremen), about SN² and Shared Mobility, Rebecca Karbaumer (City of Bremen) showcased how a city can change the rules when it comes to planning the future of new real-estate developments by creating and implementing innovative parking bylaws. The “MobilitätsBauOrtsGesetz” is a unique parking bylaw that turns everything upside down. It is more or less a “Mobility Bylaw”, as it sets the focus on changing the mobility behavior of new residents and users of new real-estate developments and not on the building of car-parking.
The main insights were:
- Car parking spaces are no longer required, but a Mobility Management Plan has become mandatory instead of optional
- Communication is key: include a Communication Concept with the Mobility Management Plan to show how you will communicate about your plan with the users.
- Don’t forget who you are talking to: keep the measures of the plan target group appropriate.
- Reduce the demand for car parking by integrating other concepts such as: a car sharing station, public transport memberships, high quality bike parking and many more.
- Make it sustainable: the measures you chose must have a duration of at least 5 years.
- Keep learning: Bremen started with a 4-session training program with the Chamber of Architects to talk about how to create good mobility management, integrate car-sharing into housing developments, build adequate bike parking and how to communicate all of this well!
Clara Mafé from Housing Europe, which represents the public, cooperative, and social housing sector, emphasized the sector's leading role in the green transition of European buildings and neighborhoods. The organization highlighted the importance of taking space back from cars and facilitating active and sustainable mobility to decarbonize the housing stock.
The main lessons:
- While Shared Mobility is not a primary action, it’s part of a bigger set of solutions.
- Social housing providers are in a special position in regard to their closeness with their tenants: they are in the best position to increase their knowledge of user needs.
A few case studies:
- In Sweden, the authorities pushed for too many parking lots.
- The solutions: a mobility norm instead of a parking norm.
- In Brussels, Belgium, it became clear that the obstacles such as digital gaps, the lack of knowledge of tenants' needs and the unaffordable tariffs negatively influenced the views on shared mobility.
- The solutions: The use of discounted tariffs, more assessment of the mobility
needs ex-ante and expanding the use for shared mobility.
- The solutions: The use of discounted tariffs, more assessment of the mobility
Maarten Markus from our partner AM subsequently dove into the practical site of things. AM is not a conventional district developer. Their focus lies on the development of sustainable neighborhoods, and new forms of mobility play a vital role in this.
Lessons learned:
- We can go with fewer cars than often expected: keep ambitions high!
- Don’t forget the residents: ask the residents about the possibilities and conditions.
- Planning: make a good mobility (communication) plan.
- Teamwork makes the dream work. Work together with all parties.
- Keep it personal: follow a project-specific mobility hub strategy. Don’t limit yourself to one universal strategy.
- Don’t forget the basics: include public transport and bike facilities.
In summary, important key aspects of three different perspectives have been highlighted. First, the City of Bremen showed us the importance of good legislation. Secondly, Housing Europe represented the perspective of the social housing sector and finally, AM explained how housing developers can implement concrete shared mobility plans in practice. Coming from different perspectives, all three partners combined successfully conveyed our common goal: paving the way for a greener and more equitable urban future.
Download the PowerPoints here.
Written by: Cornelia Cordes and Steffie De Moor