On 12-13 November, MedCities and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona hosted a conference on Mobility challenges in Urban and Metropolitan Areas, welcoming experts in sustainable transport, efficient buildings and renewable energy from around Europe as part of the Interreg MED GO SUMP project and the Interreg MED Europe SMART MR project.

The conference addressed both the challenges and potential solutions with respect to sustainable urban mobility. It was held at a time when the majority of the modular projects are in their mid-term phase, making it an opportunity to present on-going results and share experiences both across projects and with other experts and institutions.

The keynote interventions were delivered by Georges Kremlis, Honorary Director of the Environment Directorate General of the EU Commission, and Juan Ortíz Taboada, Manager Director of the Zaragoza Area Transport Consortium on the subject of ‘Circular Mobility and Metropolitan Transport’. Aspects of the theme addressed by participants included transport in high-density areas, low carbon modes of public transport, the use of ICT in transport services, tourist areas and participatory processes in mobility policy-making.

Following the public conference, a second part of the day’s activities consisted of a series of community building and capitalization workshops, which brought together the actors involved in the various projects related to GO SUMP and SMART MR.

The second day of the conference included a session at the Smart City Expo World Congress, which explored various aspects of smart transport and sustainability in European and Mediterranean urban and metropolitan areas.  Among other topics, the session addressed electro-mobility, energy management and mobility in cruise destinations. Participants were also given a guided bicycle tour of the ‘Super Block’ urban project and visited the BIT Urban Innovation Centre of Barcelona City Council.

More information and the presentations of the event are available here.