NETWORKING?

A key recommendation of TRANSPLUS was to advocate the building of networks of politicians, civil servants, representatives of private stakeholders, NGOs and citizens groups, expert research and universities with competence in the transport and land use sectors.

Why are these networks needed ?

Because nobody will achieve effective results working in isolation. This is especially true when one has to deal with problems that are complex and concern several jurisdictions, as most of the mobility problems increasingly are. Networking may facilitate to find and implement solutions at the local level. But trans-national networks are also important to disseminate best practices and exchange experiences that may help to find easier and faster effective solutions to local problems.

Transferability of innovation is desirable because the risks and costs involved in developing the first example of a solution can be avoided by adopting a proven approach. However, transferability is also difficult because each country and each city has its specific features.

In this context, trans-national networks may: i) increase the accessibility of those concerned with mobility and land use planning to shared knowledge; ii) facilitate the implementation of regional cooperation programmes where cities with similar problems and goals are associated together to realise similar goals; iii) facilitate the transplanting of institutional forms that were proven to be effective (e.g. regional authorities, public-private partnerships schemes, forms of inter-municipal association etc.)

The trans-national networks shall be carefully planned and cover issues for a targeted group of participants who can see the need for improvement of specific land use and transport policies (e.g. improving public transport accessibility, walking and cycling strategies, renovation of railways stations and surrounding areas, parking policies, city logistic, mixed-use development etc. ), processes (e.g. participation, co-ordination of spatial planning strategies etc.) or tools’ application (e.g. land use and transport integrated models, monitoring indicators). .