COVID-19 Recovery: A Game-changer for Sustainable Urban Mobility

Opportunities for non-motorized transport infrastructure

How can we ensure that the COVID-19 recovery phase is a game-changer for planning, implementing, and financing more sustainable urban transport systems instead of losing the momentum and returning to old habits of using individual, fossil fuel-based transport solutions that pollute, contest, and burden our urban spaces?

 

This dichotomy of opportunities and challenges requires customized strategies for realizing sustainable urban mobility systems through:

(a) Sustaining and capitalizing on the new mobility patterns of people and the emergence of dynamic policy-making to expand non-motorized transport infrastructure.

(b) Reinforcing and adjusting investments in public transport and sustainable mobility infrastructure that already commenced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Financing solutions and supportive policy frameworks are needed for both strategies, not least because they will promote a sustainable recovery of our economies.

 

Opportunities and how we can leverage them?

To reduce the use of public transport given the infection risks, many city authorities announced and implemented ad hoc measures for repurposing road space and ensuring the safety of people walking and cycling in cities. Examples of this were observed in BrusselsMilanBerlinParisBogotá, Auckland, and many other cities around the world. It is important to build on this momentum of behavioural change and political agility to support the active mobility of people beyond the lockdown phase.

Read more >>> HERE

Indonesia Approves a New Non-Motorized Transport Strategy

The Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Indonesia has partnered with the Institute for Transport and Development Policy (ITDP) Indonesia and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Share the Road initiative to develop a “National Vision for Non-Motorized Transport” document as a practical guide for city governments in planning and prioritizing the needs  of pedestrians and cyclists. The strategy aims to ‘create a safe, comfortable, inclusive, and comprehensive walking and cycling space which supports public transport usage.’

The strategy was developed following extensive consultations including stakeholder meetings with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, business owners and citizens through capacity building workshops.

Read more >>> HERE