The steps in the planning process are essential for a successful sustainable urban transport planning process. The first step ‘responsibility and organisation’ explains how the process can only be successful if there is political commitment and support together with clear allocation of responsibilities and definition of working methods.

The next four steps are ‘policy coordination through actor cooperation’, ‘stakeholder cooperation and citizen participation’, ‘equality and gender equity’ and ‘capacity building’ describes how as planning principles they are essential pre-requisites for all aspects of SUT planning and SUTP implementation.

The final four steps ‘scope and definition’, ‘baseline review’, ‘vision’ and ‘identifying finances’ are the other fundamental elements of the actual planning process. These elements lay the ground for the successful SUTP process, and without these the process and implementation of SUTP will fail.

Why
Transforming the transport system of a city into a sustainable transport system is a challenging and time-demanding process that is worth being systematically planned and continuously managed. It requires collaboration and coordination between those departments in the city administration that either affect or are affected by transport developments - not only the obvious transport planning and urban planning departments but also the environmental protection, economics and social integration departments must be involved. A clear organisational structure and the assignment of responsibilities are prerequisites for the successful and sustainable transformation of urban transport.

How
Start the SUTP work by appointing a ‘coordinator’. S/he must have sufficient time, authority and control over resources to direct and manage the inter-sectoral working group through the SUTP process. The inter-sectoral SUTP working group should involve representatives from the key departments/authorities of the municipal administration: transport planning, spatial planning, real estate, social affairs, education, economical affairs, environmental protection, sustainability departments/units etc. Key external stakeholders such as regional authorities and neighbouring municipality representatives may be invited to special meetings with the working group. It is also advisable to assign a senior lead officer to be accountable to the political leadership for the administrative, financial and technical aspects of the SUTP work.

It is essential that the SUTP-work has political support. The ideal situation is that the SUTP process is initiated by the political leadership. To appoint one political representative who has the responsibility and is accountable for the SUTP-work is advisable. This politician‘s role is to participate in the management of the SUTP, monitor the achievement of targets, ensure that milestones are achieved and closely follow the work of the inter-sectoral SUTP working group.

A work plan is the key document for the whole SUTP process. It should include as a minimum, the SUTP process budget, a stakeholder involvement plan, communication plan, how research and information will be collected in relation to the baseline review, key milestone dates, a schedule for the meetings, and an outline of roles and responsibilities specific to the SUTP planning process.

Improving the collaboration and cooperation between departments is a pre-requisite both for the suc-cessful planning of the SUTP and the implementation of its actions. The inter-sectoral SUTP working group is not only the starting point for this improvement but also one of the mechanisms necessary for ensuring that it continues.

Checklist
The basic elements to start the process and inter-sectoral working group:

• There is a political mandate and support for SUTP-work
• There is a political representative for the SUTP work who is actively involved in the process
• There is a coordinator with responsibility and the resources for organising the SUTP work
• Representatives from key stakeholder departments regularly participate in the working group meetings and activities and have the authority to take decisions
• The inter-sectoral group work plan includes details of budgets, actions, goals and responsibilities

Why
Sustainable urban transport is more than the management of urban transport carried out according to sustainability principles – it requires coordinated actions across a diversity of policy themes so that land use and spatial planning support and facilitate an efficient urban transport system; there is effective control over the environmental, economical and social impacts of transport; shared knowledge exists regarding the health and safety impacts of various transport modes; integration takes place with sustainable development strategies; and education and awareness-raising occurs with a transparent exchange of information facilitated through the use of real-time information technology support. A lack of coordination between the various policies, city departments and external organisations has been a considerable shortcoming in the urban transport planning of many cities. A major challenge for the SUTP process is to address this deficit.

How
Policy coordination ensures that the various policy documents and strategies on the city, regional and national levels are coordinated and coherent. This demands a system of cooperation between different departments within the municipality and with other relevant actors. Ideally, the city’s policies from one field to another are fully compatible and accordant with the goals for sustainable urban transport. Policies that contradict or hinder the achievement of SUTP goals need to be identified, discussed and even changed.

The SUTP should link all transport modes and policy sectors that influence or are influenced by traffic within the geographical coverage of the planning area. This includes national and regional plans, other relevant citywide plans, transport companies and provider’s plans/strategies and, last but not least, neighbouring municipalities. The SUTP should ensure that transport and mobility goals are integrated with corporate comprehensive planning and those of other sectors—in particular, land use and spatial plans but also environmental protection, social inclusion, economic development, safety, health, education and information technologies.

Within a municipally controlled organisation, departments sometimes have policies and procedures that are in conflict with goals in other departments or with the goals of sustainable urban transport. A first step in policy coordination is to identify the existing municipal, regional and national policies, goals, procedures and regulations in various departments that affect or are affected by urban transport. The mapping and analysis of existing transport-related plans (policies, etc.) represent a good starting point towards better policy integration. It is important to point out the conflicts in the plans and policies to the responsible departments and authorities. Similarly, city-based policies require coordination with regional and national goals and policies. A system is needed which checks ‘how’ and ‘whether’ forward-planning and other policy decisions will conflict with each other.

All the plans that have been produced by NGOs, schools, local community groups and businesses should be included in the mapping process. Detailed discussion and research are needed with relevant regional or national stakeholders to include their policies, plans and procedures in the mapping process.

The next step is to go through and check the objectives and goals (e.g., travel demand reduction, support of non-motorised modes of transport, support for energy-efficient transport, low emissions, a fair transport system with good accessibility for all citizen groups, clean and efficient freight transport) in the identified documents against the goals for sustainable urban transport. Check whether they are supporting or conflicting with the local SUTP goals. Then decide which actions need to be taken to change or influence each of the conflicting goals: bring this list of actions together in an action plan that also describes how the SUTP is related to the other policy documents. Invite all relevant actors and stakeholders to discuss the conflicts identified in the action plan. Try to agree on the changes that will be made to the plans and policies, who will make the changes and when.

These changes will move the existing polices and plans from being in conflict to supporting the goals of sustainable urban transport. The changes may take time to take effect, but should be endorsed by the political leadership.

Checklist

• Policies and rules that affect transport are identified and listed
• Policies and rules are checked for contradictions and support for sustainable urban transport
• Policies and rules that conflict with the goals of sustainable urban transport are listed
• A clear hierarchy of policies has been defined
• Conflicting goals are pointed out to responsible decision-makers
• Conflicting rules and policies are changed
• Regional and national goals that are affected by the cities transport are identified
• Regional and national rules that affect the cities transport issues are identified
• Regional and national rules that conflict with goals of sustainable urban transport are listed
• There is transparency in the area of what other policies and plans are part of or linked to the SUTP

In Kouvola Region, the SUTP was connected also to the regional, state level and EU policies. “We need to look at policies all the way from top to down, making the whole process more coherent and influence policies and processes made by regional and national actors”, says Hannu Koverola, Planning Manager for the Kouvola Region Federation of Municipalities.

“Sustainable urban transport is one of our priorities. Authorities and organizations which decide on funding also play a key role also in implementing policies. The federation of municipalities is present in regional projects in a way or another, either being experts, financer or coordinators.”

In Kouvola an inter-sectoral working group was created as a result of the regional transport plan. The working group has representatives from Regional Council, Finnish Road Administration, Finnish Rail Administration, State provincial Office and all seven municipalities.

After the SUTP process started, the working group was extended to include regional public health services and regional public environment center, as well as citizens and other relevant stakeholders. “The group bases its work on an agreement, a letter of intent signed by all relevant parties to implement traffic policy in harmony with the Kouvola region transport system plan”, Koverola says.

The challenge is to get all parties to stick to this agreement. Until now, policy coordination has been useful in planning land use. The target is to promote sustainable modes of transport by making it real all the way from cooperating on policies to implementing joint actions with sufficient resources.

Why
Stakeholder cooperation is the involvement of and cooperation with citizens and other stakeholders like NGOs, businesses and other actors in a planning process. The UN/Habitat defines stakeholders as those

• whose interests are affected by the issue or those whose activities strongly affect the issue
• who possess information, resources and expertise needed for strategy formulation and implementation, and
• who control relevant implementation or instruments

Stakeholder participation has a series of advantages:

• Participatory policy making is more transparent and democratic
• A decision made together with many stakeholders is based on more knowledge
• Broad consensus is essential to improve the quality, acceptance, effectiveness and legitimacy of any plan
• Stakeholder involvement improves the broader support of measures
• Broad consensus and sense of participation in planning ensures the long-term acceptance and viability of strategies and measures.

Stakeholder involvement is the starting point for stimulating the behavioural changes that are needed to complement the technical actions necessary for the implementation of a sustainable urban transport system. By involving sustainable transport opponents - like passionate car users - in stakeholder decision-making processes they are often converted into sustainable movers!

How
Stakeholders and citizens should be involved and be able to participate early in the SUTP process. Stakeholders should be offered opportunities to influence the key stages of the planning process: building the vision, defining objectives and targets, measuring development, setting priorities and undertaking evaluation. The views of stakeholders and citizens are needed before plans are developed.

There are various degrees of involvement. ‘Informing’ is at one extreme whilst ‘delegating power’ or ‘empowering’ is at the other. To make a successful SUTP, it is highly recommended and entirely necessary to involve, collaborate with and form partnerships with stakeholders in the process. Depending on the degree of involvement and the nature of the stakeholder, various methods can be used that will encourage participation in the SUTP process.

Inform – One-way dissemination of information. Informing is needed as a part of the process of passing information to stakeholders about the progress of the SUTP work. Informing does not allow stake-holders to participate in the planning process for SUTP.

Consult – Two-way communication involvement; the receiving of information and input, through listening and reading, and then the exchange of views regarding draft, early or outline ideas and suggestions for the SUTP.

Involve – Interactive discussion and dialogue that serves as a supplement to an existing city decision-making process.

Collaborate – Stakeholder representatives at the same table with the planners acting as active team members in formulating and recommending alternatives. The final decision is made by the city representatives.

Partnership – Form of joint decision-making by a shared agreement. Partnership is cooperation where both sides hold veto power over decisions. It is mainly used when cooperating with equal partners like NGOs and private enterprises.

Empower - Decisions are made by a group or organization with specific delegation of power from the authorities: for example, youth parliaments and local boards.

If a city has a little experience of working with stakeholder participation, it is wise to start at a smaller scale. To build capacity, the stakeholder cooperation should start on a limited scale and be based on the learning experiences from stakeholder cooperation. With this learning, pilot projects can become mainstream procedures. Another way of attaining experience is to start on a lower level of participation with for example ‘involvement’ and grow more ambitious using ‘partnerships’ as the organisation gains more capacity. It is beneficial to involve a facilitator with mediation skills. The facilitator will interpret, arbitrate and mediate between the politicians/officers/planners and the stakeholders.

Stakeholder cooperation can be seen by politicians and professionals as a challenge to their credibility and reputation in the organisation. It is extremely important to be receptive and be aware that planning and decision-making need to be shared with people from a diverse range of backgrounds – both political and professional. Communication is crucial for a successful stakeholder process. Communicate successes, set backs, delays and reasons why a certain decision has been made.

Another way of looking at local stakeholders is to see them as experts in local circumstances and in their specific area of expertise. For example, the local residents of a street know exactly where street crossing is dangerous. Moreover, an organisation serving handicapped people will have a profound practical knowledge of the difficulties with shopping in a wheelchair and what needs to be improved.

It is advisable to start a citizen and stakeholder cooperation scheme in a city using careful planning. First, decide on the goals of the stakeholder cooperation. Below is one example of the step-by-step process for a stakeholder cooperation plan for the whole SUT process, enabling strategic stakeholder cooperation.

1. Define an objective for your stakeholder cooperation; it is to enable more transparent decision-making, to gain more knowledge or something else with a specific goal.
2. Perform a stakeholder analysis to identify the stakeholder groups. Carry out a brainstorm within the inter-sectoral working group to identify who are the relevant stakeholders. Define stake-holders within the public, as well as private and community sector. Place them in a matrix:
3. Create a table describing how various stakeholders groups will be involved at separate stages of the SUTP process and to what degree. Select the means of communication between the working group and the stakeholders and the methods that should be used.
4. Implement stakeholder participation using these steps in the various stages of the SUT process. It is better to start with a less ambitious, but well planned and well-implemented stakeholder process than with a very ambitious involvement process that may bring about disappointment.

Checklist

• Relevant citizen/private stakeholder groups are identified
• There is a strategy for the involvement of the stakeholders
• It is defined how stakeholders affect or are affected by municipal transport issues
• Are relevant stakeholders involved in the SUTP-work

The city of Tartu has carried out stakeholder cooperation seminars and working groups in preparing their SUTP. The city already had two existing transport related working groups. “We had an easy start, something to base our work on. In SUTP, our job was to expand these groups and generate a new cooperation model”, Marek Muiste, International Project Coordinator, tells.

Stakeholders include NGOs and private enterprises, and the seminars were open to the general public. The participation of stakeholders has given the process real added value. The baseline review and SWOT analysis for the SUTP were also carried out with the help of stakeholder groups, as it was the case with the peer review report. “In SUTP, the stakeholders have in fact had very much power”, Muiste says.

Addressing the stakeholder groups needs careful planning. The more challenging part is changing the overall behaviour of the citizens: their participation is also a crucial element. Unawareness and ignorance can create an increasing number of cars. “And the bigger the car the better! These are the kind of attitudes we need to battle against.”

It is important to be clear on why the city should involve stakeholders. In Tartu, it has not been only about getting more support on the issue, but also building visions and setting targets. “Participation creates pressure on politicians. Issues related to the quality of life or health don’t always seem to be important for decision-makers.”

During the SUTP process, the city of Tartu has also been discussing overall sustainability and knowledge campaigns. It is worthwhile being optimistic, since raising the overall awareness is about expanding the knowledge from core stakeholder groups to the general public.

“During SUTP, our stakeholders have had good access to relevant information. The SUTP team and the stakeholders have become more aware of sustainable transport.”

Why
Gender equality means giving both genders equal access to services and equal opportunity to influence the transport system. Use of transport differs between men and women. Although the gap has been closing during the last couple of years, men in general still exhibit more non-sustainable travel behaviour than women. Although many studies have explored the reasons, no comprehensive explanation has been found as to why women use sustainable modes to a greater extent than men.

How
In the SUTP planning process ensure that there is a gender balance in the inter-sectoral working group and all other groups involved. In stakeholder consultations ensure that all relevant groups of interest are equally represented.

One easy method to use is the 3R-method, where the organisation’s gender status is evaluated. This method helps to respond to the question “who gets what, and under which circumstances”: in other words, how men and women are represented in the SUTP work and implementation and how the resources are distributed between the genders. In the inter-sectoral working group, consider gender participation in each of the stages of the planning process:

• Decision-making
• Involvement procedures
• Employment in the agencies involved
• Design of policies and measures
• Implementation
• Collection and use of gender-disaggregated data in the monitoring and evaluation of plans and strategies

Furthermore, analyse the following questions:
Representation – How many men, how many women? The response to this question gives a view of the representation in political bodies, working groups, stakeholder groups and so on.
Resources – How are resources divided between men and women? Who gets the resources: money, time, information and space?
Reality – Under this heading the facts gathered in representation as well as the resources should be analysed to decide on the values and norms that guide the planning process and the municipal organisation to be visualised. The questions that will be answered are: Why is the representation as it is? Who sets the norms in the organisation and who gets the resources?

On the basis of the 3R analyses, it can be concluded if the SUT planning process promotes equality and whether the organisation is carrying out the SUTP in a way that promotes equality. It also offers a view on what can be changed in the planning process and how the organisation can better promote equality. The results have links to the whole value base of the entire organisation. (3R method is developed by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, http://www.skl.se/)

Checklist

• Gender equality is taken into account in the SUT planning process and within the SUT plan itself
• There is a balanced gender representation in the SUTP-working group
• There is equal accessibility for all groups considered in planning and decision-making (equity, e.g., for the handicapped, elderly or parents)

How to make sure there are equal opportunities for all members of the society to have influence over public transport? The balance between professional groups, different age groups, gender and accessibility has been kept in mind in the SUTP process in Vilnius.

Aurelija Babiliute, Chief Specialist in Vilnius Healthy Cities Bureau, thinks it is important to count every possible opinion. Balance - regardless of whether this is about the balance between men and women, children and adults or the healthy and the disabled - means seeing transport issues from each and every angle.

Gender is one of the most complicated questions. “On a professional level, gender shouldn’t be an issue”, Babiliute says. “There are certain professional fields that are male-dominated. But if the person is open-minded, it shouldn’t make a difference.” And why not test bus stops, sidewalks, parking areas and safety with mothers – or fathers - taking young children to day-care or the grocery store!

In Lithuania, there is a special difference between the older and younger generations. Many users of public transport had a habit of using such services during the Soviet period. “It is sometimes difficult for them to see why younger generations are so enthusiastic about high technology, or buying cars. It seems to be a goal for the younger generations.”

Children form the majority of bicycle users in Lithuania. So far, cycling has not been a major mode of transport in the cities. “There are problems related to safety, and not enough parking lots for bicycles near the school yards. We need to take that into account in planning, and encourage children by already starting the education in kindergartens and schools.”

In Vilnius, the disabled have also been heard in public meetings. Their special needs are always kept in mind when planning new things. “It is sometimes difficult in older parts of the city because of lack of space. For example, we can’t really change much at the Unesco World Heritage site.”

Why
A SUTP requires a new way of thinking. Instead of expressions like ‘road capacity’, ‘road standards’ and ‘bottle necks’, the vocabulary should change to more sustainable terms that are less orientated towards mechanical and engineering terms such as ‘intermodality’, ‘modal shift’ and ‘mobility man-agement’. SUTP is also so much more than only transport planning. It involves stakeholder cooperation, inter-sectoral working methods, gender equality issues and accessibility issues – ‘unpaved ground’ for many ‘transport planners’. The process of stakeholder cooperation will provide opportunities for officers and politicians to learn new skills, become aware of new concepts and deepen their appreciation of SUTP. Open-minded approaches will foster individual and organisational learning and build capacity for the SUTP.

Although the SUTP process itself is a capacity building process, it is advisable to map the capacity that already exists within the organisations working with SUTP. This can be done as part of the baseline review. The weaknesses within the capacity of the organisation can be addressed in a periodically up-dated action plan for capacity building.

How
Assess the capacity of the staff and the organisation when conducting the baseline review. Sufficient allocation of resources will be dealt with in the chapter dealing with assignment of responsibilities. A city administration that does have an existing system for mapping capacity should use it. Otherwise the following steps are helpful:

1. Assess the capacity under the different headlines of the SUTP process
2. Analyse the weaknesses of the organisation, the leadership and the staff
3. Prepare a simple action plan on how to overcome the weaknesses

Study visits and pilot actions are two useful models for attaining capacity in the field of implementing good and effective measures in the SUTP:

Targeted practise transfer through study visits

1. Benchmarking - compare the city’s challenges with those of other cities. Base some questions on your own targets asking the following: How can we reach our targets? What other cities have struggled with the same challenges or had the same targets? How have they acted? What results have they achieved? And most importantly – what can we learn from them? How can we make use of their experiences in our city?
2. Study visit - visit the city that has succeeded in meeting the challenge. Try to learn from the city’s experience and consider how to use its experiences in the implementation practice in your own city, in a targeted manner.
3. Transfer the practice – carry out a feasibility study. What are the differences in the cities, what are the similarities, how can their practice be transferred to your city’s setting?
4. Implement - adjust the practice to your local situation and start with a pilot action in your city to see if it will have a desired effect in the city. ‘Upscale’ the pilot action to the whole or part of the city.

Learning through pilot actions

1. Decide on the actions to be taken, and ensure they are ‘fit for purpose’ – they will achieve the targets in the SUTP. Does the city need ‘mobility management’, ‘Local Environmental Zone’ or ‘traffic calming plan’ or something similar to fulfil the targets?
2. Small is beautiful - start in a smaller area of the city or in one theme of action. Carry out a baseline review (if the SUTP baseline review is not sufficiently detailed), collect relevant data about the area or theme that needs to be changed and then prepare a plan to manage the imlementation of the pilot action.
3. Implement the pilot action - monitor the progress carefully: did it have a desired effect accord-ing to the baseline review? Take notes of the side effects, synergies and unexpected outcomes.
4. Evaluating the pilot action – What are the underlying reasons for the outcomes?
5. Based on this learning experience, make a decision on whether and how to upscale it to the whole city.

Checklist

• Sufficient human resources to work with SUTP issues exists
• Sufficient know-how to work with SUTP issues exists
• Opportunities to learn and to exchange experiences are offered to staff
• Politicians are involved in capacity building on SUTP issues
• There is a systematic approach to increase knowledge and experience on sustainable transport issues within the organisation exists (e.g., by pilot projects that can be scaled up)

The common view on sustainable transport was not so strong in Örebro when the SUTP process started. To change the situation, the city has used different measures. A capacity-building assessment was carried out in a working group as part of the self-assessment, identifying the knowledge gaps among the employees. The finding was that the municipality has a good knowledge of transport-related issues in detail but on various narrow fields.

“For many professionals a more holistic way of thinking can be a bit of a revolution”, says Per Elvingson, who started as a process manager for sustainable transport soon after the assessment.

To facilitate the implementation of Sustainable Urban Transport, a special unit - also responsible for raising the awareness among employees and politicians - has been set up. The unit has, among other things, planned seminars focusing on the reduced need for cars through spatial planning.

In general, a new way of thinking is the key. “It must be established, especially among key persons, to make the process more powerful. An important part of capacity-building has been getting all key staff to agree on a common analysis of the current situation. In this respect, the SUTP template has been a very good tool.”

Meanwhile, it is important to look around at what others are doing beyond the municipal borders. “It is very important to provide our decision-makers with very practical, good examples that have already been tested.”

International cooperation has become more important in this process. During the past few years, Öre-bro has focused on exchanging experiences. Study visits are an important part of that work. “On a national level, we are trying to build up an informal network for sustainable transport among cities of our own size in the region,” Elvingson says.

Why
The scope and definition of the SUTP will vary depending on the local spatial, demographic, economic, transport, mobility and social characteristics. It will also vary with the guidance given by each national government, the competencies given to the municipalities and the legal role of national transport agencies etc. The scope and definition of the SUTP is a function of the local decisions that are taken on future visions, objectives and targets.

The scope of the SUTP is central to the process that has to be put in place to deliver the plan. Since the urban transport system does not end at the municipality borders it is crucial to keep the whole functional urban area in mind when identifying both the scope and definition of the SUTP. Clearly defined geographical, organisational and technical boundaries to the SUTP are required if it is to be effective.

How
The scope of the SUTP must be carefully considered against existing plans, policies and strategies to ensure that any duplication or overlap is avoided. It may be appropriate to carry out a gap analysis between existing plans etc so that the SUTP processes and principles can be adopted and integrated during the revision of existing plans and strategies. This gap analysis will advise the changes that are required (new polices, new actions etc) and ensure a smooth transparent transformation from the existing strategies to the SUTP. The relationships between the SUTP and other corporate strategies and plans should be explicitly recorded and agreed by the political leadership.

The SUTP is a strategic document with a long term perspective. It is also a working document, where the continuing relevance of the policies and the successes of actions is monitored and evaluated -through annual or biannual reports. The work with SUTP is a dynamic process gradually developing a sustainable transport system over time; it is not a static master plan.

The scope of the SUTP must include consideration of the transport movements going into and out of the administrative boundary of the municipality. The geographical boundary of the SUTP should in-clude the ‘functional urban area’ so that commuting and other transport flows travelling into and out of the urban area are included in the SUTP. Consequently a SUTP can only be prepared with the active participation of the neighbouring municipalities, regional bodies and national bodies. These are key stakeholders with whom agreement will be necessary to achieve many of the sustainability objectives in the SUTP.

Municipalities should consider the environmental and other impacts of the transport that arise from their procurement policies: deliveries; travel to work by pupils, patients, staff and politicians; fleets, contract and subcontractors’ vehicles, etc. As a major employer and the political leadership for the municipality, the municipality as an organisation has an obligation to have a comprehensive understanding of the impact of its policies and practice on the transport of the city.

There is also an obligation to manage the significant aspects. Environmental Management Systems (EMS), e.g., ISO14001 or Eco Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), provide a tool for organisations to understand and manage the significant direct and indirect environmental aspects of their activities and polices. The benefits of using an EMS should be explored as part of their SUTP management system.

Those cities that have overall sustainable development strategy with a long-term perspective can embed the SUTP within this strategy. In such cases, SUTP can be integrated into a city’s overall management system such as the Integrated Management System IMS (as developed in Managing Urban Europe-25 project, www.mue25.net) or Environmental Management System EMS (such as EMAS, ISO14001, ecoBUDGET© or similar).

Checklist

• The area that the SUTP covers is clearly defined
• The scope of the SUTP is clearly defined
• Topics and development areas for the SUTP are clearly defined
• Other policies and plans that are part of or are linked with the SUTP are transparent

The small resort city of Pärnu initiated their SUTP process from scratch in 2006. “Pärnu’s challenge has been to define and scope the concept of SUTP to meet the needs of a small town that has some of the same challenges as bigger cities but on a different scale”, says Grete Kukk, Senior Specialist for Urban Development in Pärnu.

Transnational cooperation on SUTP development has made the city realize the need for a cross-sectoral approach in transport planning, especially the need to integrate land-use and transport planning. On the local level, a number of specialists and stakeholders from various fields have been involved in the cooperation to make the definition and scope for the Pärnu SUTP.

As a result of the process, not only the scope and definition of Pärnu SUTP has been set but also a common vision for the whole functional city region has been derived. “Making the quality of urban environment and living better is the key for Pärnu in the future”, Kukk says.

The SUTP scope and definition are set to the same targets. Therefore, the scope is to diminish the use of cars by developing a fair, accessible and attractive public transport system, by developing concrete bicycle policy for the city and by handling the seasonal transport problems accompanied by tourists.

Pärnu has taken the most important first steps to get started with the development of a sustainable urban transport. It has been possible by agreeing on the SUTP scope and definition in cooperation with the cross-sectoral stakeholders and together with a transnational experience exchange. Although there is still a long way to go, the most important thing is to get started.

Why
To be able to reach your goals, you first need to know your starting position. A starting point for successful SUTP work is a baseline review, an honest description of the city’s current transport situation. A baseline review will give the city a clear picture of the current transport situation and how sustainable it is. It will provide a review of effectiveness of existing processes to manage the transport; it will identify the drivers that influence traffic development and the impacts of traffic. A baseline review is the starting point for the SUT process from which it is possible to move to the target-setting, action plan and monitoring, etc.

How
The baseline review needs to be based on existing data, and as all cities already have some data sets this activity can be carried out quickly and early. It is important to understand the different functions and characteristics of data sets, how particular data sets are used to measure pressures/drivers; the state of the mobility/transport: how some data sets are used to deduce trends and are used for modelling and forecasting. Completing a baseline review requires the necessary resources to be in place that allow the data sets to be collated, reviewed and decisions to be taken on how they are used to inform policy selection/refinement and adoption. The selection of data sets needs to be based on criteria that are agreed on with stakeholders, who are then actively involved in contributing data.

The basic self-assessment for making the baseline review has four elements;

1. Municipality profile
2. Drivers
3. Impacts
4. SUTP benchmark (plans, policies and actions)

The baseline review identifies successes and the potential for improvement in the SUTP planning process and transport system. It also helps the city to identify the ‘drivers’ and ‘impacts’ of the mobility and transport system and its development. The baseline review identifies those geographical areas and transport modes where targets for sustainable urban transport should be agreed. It also sets the baseline for continuous monitoring of the city’s urban transport with clear indicators and targets. The baseline review can be carried out internally within the city by self-assessment process, but combining the self-assessment with external peer review can add additional value to the process. The baseline review allows actions to be prioritised and to then monitor the effects on relevant indicators.

The most demanding element is to compare the present situation with the one described in the bench-mark. The purpose is to describe the existing collected plans, strategies, actions, and targets of the city and the gap between them and the SUTP benchmark. The description in the benchmark is called a ‘gap analyses’. It explains the differences between the current practise in the city and the SUTP benchmark. The benchmark describes the characteristics that should be evident within a SUTP. It is an ideal that the cities are moving towards and can compare their performance with. It is important to recognise the benchmark as aspirational, representing an entirely new way of thinking and working to address sustainable urban transport. There are few municipalities in Europe that can evidence all the characteristics within the benchmark.

The first part of the benchmark invites the city to describe the processes that have been used in preparing their plans, strategies, actions, and targets. This description is made against the ‘ideal’ characteristics of the benchmark for preparing SUT planning.

The second part of this benchmark invites the city to describe the cumulative content of their plans, strategies, actions, and targets. This description is contrast against the ‘ideal’ characteristics of the SUTP benchmark.

Through the internal self-assessment process, a city will complete an initial analysis of the gap between its existing plans and policies and the SUTP benchmark. To continue the self-assessment process with an external peer review will enable the city to have more revealing and valuable gap analysis of their performance and the benchmark

Self-assessment process

1. Select the review team – preferably the inter-sectoral working group
2. Assign tasks to team members – divide the municipality profile, drivers, impacts and the SUTP benchmark in the self-assessment template among the team members
3. Establish review schedule
4. Collect the baseline data through the help of the self-assessment template
5. Analyse the data and the gaps in the team
6. Write the self-assessment report – be honest and truthful, as an unfair report does not serve any purpose.

The self-assessment report is the starting point of the city’s continued work with the SUTP and the monitoring of its success. If the self-assessment process is continued and combined with a peer re-view, the report serves also as the first step of the peer review process.

Peer review
There are many different definitions and models for a peer review. Here, peer review is understood as a method where ‘critical friends provide independent assessment of city’s progress towards bench-mark(s)’. Thus peer review is a ‘performance assessment’. It is the ‘considered judgement’ (assess-ment) of experts on the ‘progress being made’ (performance) by cities towards a benchmark (or ‘ideal’). Peer review offers an honest third-party review of achievements and future prospects of the reviewed city. It is cost effective method and often a more politically acceptable alternative to consult-ants.

The work of the peer review in baseline review process is to carry out an external gap analysis – to assess the difference or gap that exists between the actual performance of the city partner and the benchmark. The actual performance of the city will be determined by the peers from their consideration of the self-assessment report, together with the answers given to their questions during the peer review visit. The peer review team will carry out their performance assessment and draw conclusions about the progress that the municipality is making towards sustainable urban transport.

Peer reviews can be conducted in various fields, but a particular peer review model for sustainable urban transport has been developed for this guidance in BUSTRIP –project. The peer review conducted by this model can provide constructive criticism on a city’s current progress towards sustainable urban transport systems, and identify the key issues as well as make recommendations for actions in order to help the city to accelerate their progress towards sustainable urban transport systems.

The peer review system provides an independent review of the progress being made in the cities to-wards sustainable urban transport. Peer reviews on sustainable urban transport should be carried out by external experts who work in other cities or organisations in similar fields of expertise. The peer review can only be done against a benchmark (in this case SUTP benchmark). A self-assessment process and report is a prerequisite that provides the peers the information they need to conduct the re-view.

Checklist

• Drivers for transport development in the city are identified
• What and who influences the drivers is identified
• Development trends for each driver are listed
• Positive drivers are listed, analysis of possible supporting actions performed
• Negative drivers are listed, analysis of possible actions to influence drivers performed
• A set of measurable indicators that can be used to describe the traffic situation and traffic impacts in the city has been developed
• Reliable measurement values available for all indicators

“Self-assessment took more time and effort than we expected, but it certainly was one of the most fruitful parts of the SUTP process”, says Mikko Laaksonen who edited the report in Turku. He works as a promoter of walking and cycling in the city planning office. The team collected, combined and made conclusions about basic data under each SUTP benchmark from sources that were already available: the city’s own files, that from the Regional Council of Southwest Finland, research by the Turku School of Economics and the University of Turku.

Laaksonen says the results in the self-assessment report weren’t unexpected. “We found a lot of gaps, as we had expected. But it was surprising that the situation was moving in a more non-sustainable direction than we thought. Almost all the drivers were showing that the city, in sailing terms, may soon hit the rocks if we stay on this track.”

The self-assessment report of 108 pages was condensed in a summary of 17 pages for the use of internal communication and dissemination of the results to stakeholders and media.

The larger report was sent to the peer review team, which carried on building the picture of the state of sustainable transport. The peer review finally crystallized the challenges: planning that favours hypermarkets, urban sprawl and the lack of regional cooperation, due to the competing neighbouring municipalities.

A positive finding was the fact that Turku has a relatively compact structure and every possibility to further develop sustainable urban transport. At the time of the report, about 50 percent of the trips are made by sustainable modes. “The city needs to realize these strengths. If Turku followed its strategies, it would be a model city of sustainable transport. Implementation should be as ambitious as the strategies”, he says.

The self-assessment and the peer review both helped to understand the state of the art in the city and the challenges lying ahead.

Why
The vision for sustainable urban transport in the future is the guiding star of the city’s SUTP work. It points out the direction in which the city wants to head. A comparison between the vision and the city’s current situation is the basis for identifying what action and development is needed to reach the desired. The SUTP-work is a systematic approach to gradually get closer to the vision. The vision has to be interrelated to and reached through SMART targets and objectives. Otherwise the vision is never achieved.

The vision serves as the uniting component that all stakeholders can refer to; meaning everyone from leading politicians to citizens and interest groups. The vision can also be used for marketing the city to the rest of the world. People want to be part of something great and new – inspire your community!

How
The vision should be the guiding star of the whole process; it should be realistic but still provide something new, add real value and break some old boundaries that do not have real justification anymore. The vision should describe the desired future of the city and if possible, visualise it. The vision can even be used as a marketing tool to clearly communicate the city’s aspiration. A vision needs to be ambitious but possible to achieve for the city. A city needs to consider its starting position when defining a vision. When the city has created a vision that is focused, specific and easy to understand then it will be easier to define the SMART targets and objectives for the SUTP process. The monitoring of the process will also follow more easily when the vision is specific.

The city may choose to involve stakeholders in the process to get more new and bold ideas and also to use the stakeholder process as the starting point of behavioural change in the city. To break the boundaries of peoples’ minds a future scenario vision from different perspectives is a useful and educational working method. Create scenarios like “the car-free city”, “the industrial city” and “the healthy city”. Describe how the city would look like in each and every scenario. Gather a group of people for a brainstorm session involving all relevant stakeholders.

Checklist

• The city has a defined vision of how transport/traffic in the city should develop
• The vision is compatible with other outspoken development visions and objectives in the city
• The vision is such that concrete objectives and targets can be described on its basis

City of Göteborg has a long-term vision for sustainable urban transport. In brief the vision is ‘Efficient, safe and sustainable transport for everyone’. Since Göteborg has for long had several documents closely connected to Sustainable Urban Transport Plan, the local SUTP process has its starting point in the need of a connecting approach, an easy overview and content management on existing programmes, plans and policies. “Although the vision is clear, the challenge was to see what really has been decided, if some of the objectives and targets to reach the vision were no longer valid, if new ones should have been added, and find out if there was overlapping objectives and targets”, says Gunilla Fransson, a Project Manager in Mobility Management.

The vision for sustainable urban transport and the SUTP process need to be connected to the overall views on how to develop the city. However, in Göteborg, like in many other cities, the yearly budget prioritises the objectives in short term. The plans and policies have to be well prepared to give the politicians the possibility to make good decisions. Active communication with and involvement of internal and external stakeholders is also important. In Göteborg, since some years, it was clearly stated in the city council budget that the work of the administrations should work towards sustainable development in all three perspective, social, economic and ecologic.

In Göteborg, city administration the Traffic and Public Transport Authority is the responsible body for the integrative SUTP process. In practice, the process has been all about combining, updating and clarifying the work that had already been done. “To be successful we have to work on several fields and with several plans, but towards the same goal, the vision, in all sectors of the city administration”, says Fransson. Göteborg is carrying out SUTP related image campaigns such as New travel habits and Safe and beautiful city which are examples of successful cooperation between different administrations. “Collaboration between the different administrations and other stakeholders and actors of urban transport is extremely important for reaching the vision”, Fransson concludes.

Why
The successful implementation of an SUTP requires that sufficient resources are always available for the planning process and implementation. The municipality should allocate the necessary resources in the annual budget and make the commitment in the forward (3-5 year) planning budget. As municipality resources are scarce, there will always be competition for available human and financial resources. Therefore, efforts should be continuously made to find alternative sources of human and financial resources. The SUTP is a corporate priority: ‘searching for’ and ‘allocating’ the necessary resources for planning and implementation must be one of the political priorities in the municipality.

SUTP offers a new, functional approach to traffic and transport challenges. This provides the opportunity to re-allocate finances and resources previously used only to invest in and maintain the transport infrastructure. Successful SUTP actions will reduce the long-term direct and indirect costs associated with transport. In considering the costs of an SUTP, municipalities need to place value on SUTP actions – the benefits to health, quality of life and attractiveness of the city.

How
Ensuring that sufficient resources are available for SUTP planning and implementation is an ongoing process that must be carried out in partnership with the key transport and mobility stakeholders. An open dialogue is needed that is informed by the assessment of costs and benefits of the SUTP actions.

The ways in which the human and financial resources available from the municipality and stakeholders are being used for the SUTP need to be checked in order to confirm that the resources are being efficiently and effectively used. Do we have the right people with the right skills doing the right tasks at the right time, and do they have the right support? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, the human resources of the municipality and stakeholder will have to be managed in a different way – perhaps through new job descriptions, decision-making structures, companies and people.

‘Least cost planning’ provides a cost/benefit analysis for a variety of potential solutions to a given transport problem. An example is a commuter road heavily congested during peak hours. Traditionally, road capacity would be extended to solve the problem. In least-cost– planning, however, this option would be compared with other measures to reduce congestion, e.g., pricing, mobility management measures, improved public transport, etc. The most cost-efficient measure to solve the problem is then chosen and - depending on who benefits - the costs of the measures can be shared between stake-holders.

Part of the least-cost approach involves identifying new sources of capital and revenue funding for investment and maintenance. New investments in housing, shopping, and industry require parallel investments in new transport infrastructure, etc. Innovative planning agreements and conditions on the granting of building permits can require the investors and developers to share the capital and revenue costs associated with making the transport and mobility of these areas sustainable – a new cycling lane, extending a rapid transit route, etc. Where the municipality is selling land for development, these can be clauses in the contracts.

The principles of ‘polluter pays’ and of charging an ‘economic rent’ should be used in deciding the charges that are made for parking and causing congestion. These charges will be of particular interest to businesses, as they affect their direct and indirect costs.

The liberalisation of the public transport market provides the opportunity for municipalities to review the responsibilities for providing the capital investment for the fleets, signalling, infrastructure, and soft measures, etc. It also provides the opportunity to decide how subsidies are provided and how profits are shared. Public private partnerships (PPP) are opportunities for sharing the costs and the risks associated with implementing almost any of the SUTP actions. PPP can even sell or market the attractiveness of development sites to inward investors.

Securing grant aid and loans towards planned investments as well as participating in pilot projects can provide the necessary resources to overcome funding gaps. National, European and International sources of grant aid and loans, not just from the obvious transport sector sources like CIVITAS, Intelligent Energy, Marco Polo, but also from the relevant regional, social, health, educational and environmental funding sources (LIFE+, INTERREG, Framework programmes) can be utilised. It is important to be disciplined in searching for such financial assistance – do not be distracted from the planned SUTP actions, timetable and objectives. Do not be tempted to participate in what seems an interesting project but is, in fact, a distraction and diversion of resources – carefully consider how participating in a project and the conditions attached to any loan or grant may help achieve the objectives of the SUTP.

Use city networks, contact twinned cities and/or use other international channels to find partners that are already planning to implement suitable projects. If no suitable projects exist and you have the capacity, develop your own project idea and seek partners. A variety of project databases are available where project consortia are looking for partners.

Checklist

• Innovative approaches are used to generate the capital and revenue finance necessary for the SUTP
• The least-cost approach is used
• There is an understanding of who bears the costs and who benefits from the SUTP actions
• The opportunities for grant aid, loans and pilot projects are thoroughly explored
• PPP are used to share the costs and to generate additional financial resources