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An interview with Tampere, winner of the 10th Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning

20 July 2022

This spring, Tampere, Finland won the 10th Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning. EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK caught up with Deputy Mayor Aleksi Jäntti to discuss what the award means for the city and its future sustainability endeavours.

As a rapidly growing urban area, Tampere is working to create a liveable, inclusive city for all. Its multidisciplinary approach to sustainable urban mobility planning empowers its residents to make healthier mobility choices that are active, safe and environmentally friendly. The City's winning sustainable urban mobility plan includes an impact assessment of the effect that mobility campaigns have on the local population. The plan also spotlights low-carbon mobility, road safety, vulnerable groups, smart mobility solutions, physical and mental well-being, accessibility and low pollution levels to ensure a holistic approach to mobility.

What does winning the Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) Award mean for Tampere?

Winning the SUMP Award is a great pride and joy! Our City’s development and work to promote sustainable mobility has really been recognised. The Tampere City Strategy introduces Tampere as ‘the city of action.’ Last year, 2021, is more than excellent proof of this: Our SUMP was accepted, and both new and improved possibilities for sustainable mobility were introduced.

The award, for its part, shows that we are on the right track and encourage us to go on with the implementation of measures and sustainability.

How does sustainable mobility fit into Tampere’s vision for a sustainable, resilient city?

It fits very well! The goal of carbon neutrality sets the target for the future modal split in Tampere. But sustainability goes far beyond only reducing emissions. The shift from individual motorised transport towards public and active mobility modes takes Tampere’s goals forward from the perspective of climate and environment, as well as safety, well-being, equality, and economy. Sustainable transport, both for people and freight, is also space-efficient, which is an import aspect for a growing city like Tampere.

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK recently launched a new slogan: #MixandMove. How does Tampere encourage multimodal approaches to transport? Why is this important?

Integrating different forms of mobility is crucial when we want to decrease emissions, shorter individual motorised trips and offer people more flexible access to mobility. Additionally, multimodality can also improve the cost-effectiveness of public transport especially in sparsely populated areas.

In Tampere, multimodality can take the form of city bikes, robos or e-scooters used to reach tram stops easily; a demand-based taxi brings someone to take a local train or a network of Park&Rides by truck line routes.

In addition to infrastructure and new services, mobility management is needed to change the mindset for new possibilities. Also, digital technologies and smart traffic management can play a significant role. Therefore, improving multimodality needs cooperation between the public sector and private providers.

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Find out what Tampere has in store for this year’s campaign and learn more about what your town or city is doing, here.