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Riga engages future mobility discussions

During three days in mid-September, 2020, the City of Riga hosted the first Baltic Sea Region Mobility Summit, organized in partnership by the three EU Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme projects: cities.multimodal, BSR electric, and SUMBA.

The initial aim of the conference – to disseminate the project results and to stipulate further application of the experience and lessons learned from the implementation of these projects – was extended to an international dialogue setting directions and priorities in the field of green, sustainable and inclusive urban mobility in the Baltic Sea Region.

Being the first cross-project initiative of that kind, held online in particular times of well-known travel and meeting restrictions, it has set an example of commitment and created pattern to be continued and followed. 

As concluded by Nika Kotoviča, Project Coordinator at the Riga Energy Agency and one of the initiators and driving forces of the Mobility Summit:

BSR Mobility Summit 2020 provided a wide perspective of how different cities develop sustainable mobility solutions to change transport user habits and make urban areas sustainable and liveable. The importance of the multiple benefits of sustainable mobility, being resource and space efficiency, a decrease of the transport-related emissions and impact on climate change, as well as social inclusion, accessibility and the quality of life, were presented and stressed throughout the summit. Correspondingly, sustainable mobility initiatives should stress and communicate these benefits and let users experience them early in the process”.

During three days of the conference, full of enthusiastic discussions and challenging presentations, the projects shared their experience, concerns, and recommendations for implementing multimodal mobility, promoting citizens involvement in mobility management, transforming transport infrastructure and electrifying transport to mitigate disastrous climate change and make cities more liveable. Examples of successful projects and measures from various municipalities outside the three projects were shared as well. Variety of presented practices proved that every small step counts and, indeed, step-by-step people’s mentality and mindset can be changed towards more sustainable modes of mobility and lifestyle.

An engaging session has been offered during the summit, inviting participants to explore the host city virtually, presenting the City of Riga’s ambitious development plans and involvement in sustainable mobility projects. The Riga Energy Agency presented, the recently launched, first Mobility Point in Riga – a concept and solution to be adapted for the HUPMOBILE project, as well.

At the concluding part of the conference, the European Green Deal and future actions of the European Commission in the field of sustainable mobility were presented and discussed addressing the challenges in bridging the gap between the strategies and mobility needs.  

The challenge of organizing an event of such a scale online, while keeping it interactive and meaningful, was successfully tackled and, by applying new online conference tool (hopin.to), the professional team of organizers managed to set the virtual environment as close as possible to a real-life session. Despite the virtual format, participants had an opportunity to participate in working groups, interact in participant polls, explore networking opportunities during the breaks. The summit has even featured the “first-ever online mobility party” with a DJ, dancing and sharing fun.

Cooperation projects are all about meeting and sharing. The idea of the Mobility Summit to create deeper interaction and synergies between the projects and foster wider mobility community was successfully put into action and proved that true mobility spirit goes beyond physical barriers. However, we share the wish of many (if not all) participants to meet at the Baltic Sea Mobility Summit again but as a face-to-face real-time event.

See you next time!

Text by: Inga Pelša, HUPMOBILE project coordinator, Riga Energy Agency

Aerial photo of the City of Riga

See more about the Mobility Summit 2020 at www.mobilitysummit2020.eu

and the projects: cities.multimodal, BSR electric, SUMBA