A greener road from A to B

We can all agree that it has to be easy, efficient and comfortable to move around in the city. At the same time, it has to be attractive to choose a mode of transport that promotes health and sustainability.

In order to achieve these goals, Artelia cooperates with several municipalities to develop green mobility plans where options and solutions are examined to meet the mobility challenges of the future.

The green footprint
The mobility plans are based on a holistic approach, where it is important to achieve an optimal interaction between the different modes of transport in order to cover all relevant needs. The green element weighs heavily and is expressed by promoting climate-friendly modes of transport that encourage physical activity such as walking and cycling as well as public transport rather than car traffic :

The green mobility plans that Jakob and his colleagues contribute to are typically prepared in collaboration with other firms from the architecture or engineering industries that specialise in urban planning. This applies to Brøndby Municipality where Artelia, together with Urban Creators, is going to prepare a green mobility plan that plays into the municipality’s climate policy.

We will start by uncovering the current conditions – the basic situation. Which junctions are important for the area, what are the travel times for cars and public transportation, and are there places with poor accessibility?

We will then identify the challenges that arise in relation to achieving the goals and which tools are available in order to find possible solutions. It will all be gathered in a plan with scenarios and projects that the municipality’s politicians can use in the further work, Jakob explains.

At Artelia, we are experts in data-driven analyses, while the work related to e.g. campaigns and graphic communication or the process with the municipality, involvement of focus groups, etc., will be handled by our business partners.

Data show the way
To a great extent, mobility planning is about common sense and about creating options. Data helps us understand needs and options.

One of the primary data sources is the Danish National Travel Survey made by the Technical University of Denmark, which is based on ongoing interviews about Danes’ traffic behaviours.

We also use accessibility analyses in the model TPRejsetid, which can calculate and visualise travel times with public transport and car traffic between selected destinations.

The different national, regional, municipal or urban traffic models are also important tools to predict the effect of the measures that are used in the mobility plans.

New does not necessarily mean better
One of the fundamental ideas is to focus on mobility needs rather than transport needs. This means that the primary focus is on how to move people from A to B instead of on the modes of transport themselves, which paves the way for coordinating across modes of transport.

When we prioritise the tools available to achieve mobility goals, we work with a 4-stage model :

It is, for example, preferable to get commuters to park their cars in the outskirts of the city and take public transport to the centre instead of expanding the road network. It makes sense both in an economic and sustainability context, explains Jakob.

International demands
Outside the borders of Denmark, there is also a demand for greener solutions to mobility challenges. Artelia contributes with our qualifications within mobility planning, e.g. in Norway as part of the development of the new climate-neutral district Nyhavna in Trondheim as well as in Riga, where we have prepared a mobility strategy in collaboration with the architects from Gehl.