Experts from the SUMBA+ consortium met live this week first time over a long time in Tartu for a partner meeting. Although the meeting was a hybrid event with some experts participating digitally, it was good to discuss project's activities in person. The three-day event included regular updates from work package leaders and updates from partner organisations regarding their results and studies in the framework of SUMBA+. As the project comes to an end in two months a lot of discussions were held regarding the planning of the final months and using the time we have in the most efficient way.
Two days were allocated for the so-called Twinning, where partners were able to learn from other partner cities' experiences and good practice on different mobility topics. A series of themes were selected that were of interest for the partner organisations. Experts presented their experiences and research to foster discussion and help find answers to partner organisations’ mobility questions.
Twinning focused on four themes:
Theme 1 Streets for people – moving space from cars to people. How to get residents and politicians on board.
This included presentations from Raimond Tamm, deputy mayor from Tartu, who provided experiences from his city; Carola Baier and Sebastian Schröder-Dickreuter from Planersocietät, who talked about traffic calming and “Quiet Areas” in Altona; and Dr. Julia Jarass, DLR Institute of Transport Research, whose presentation "From crossroad to town square" was about experiences from a real-world experiment in Berlin.
Theme 2 Sharing systems – How to establish them beneficially for the whole society and city.
This theme included presentations from Meeli Kuul from Anija municipality, who talked about cross-border bike sharing in rural areas and Jaagup Ainsalu who talked about MAAS in Tallinn.
Theme 3 Mobility hubs – “Come together”: good practices and perspectives
Benjamin Heldt from the DLR Institute of Transport Research introduced integrated mobility concepts in (new) residential areas.
Theme 4 Mobility trends in planning – new technologies and mobility options: A boost for better transport?
Kay Gade from DLR presented research results and current discussion on autonomous driving with a focus on public transport.
In addition to the many exciting discussions on interesting topics a bike tour in Tartu showed the cycling infrastructure in the city and services like the Tartu bicycle library and Tartu Smart Bike Share. Participants were able to ride the new electric bicycles from the Bike Share, which made the ride fun and enjoyable, despite the cold and rainy weather.
