Cities, climate and transport – two-day hybrid event in Zagreb
A two-day hybrid event on Cities, climate and transport was held on 17th and 18th March 2022 in Zagreb as a part of the projects CLIMASUM – Climate mitigation through sustainable urban mobility and CIVITAS Elevate. There were more than 120 participants, both in person and online. The organizers were ODRAZ as a Secretariat of the CIVINET Slovenia – Croatia – SEE Network and the City of Zagreb as the coordinator of the Network. Participants got an insight of new EU policies as well as new funding sources for sustainable and climate neutral mobility. There were some examples of good practice, too. Representatives of different towns – Poreč, Rijeka, Maribor and Zagreb talked about the projects that contribute to climate mitigation through sustainable mobility.
At the beginning, Luka Korlaet, Deputy Major of City of Zagreb, and Lidija Pavić-Rogošić, the director of ODRAZ welcomed the participants. During the annual assembly of CIVINET Slovenia – Croatia – SEE, Lidija Pavić-Rogošić presented Network’s activities and achievements in 2021 and Sanja Jerković from City of Zagreb presented Network’s planned activities for the current year. Luka Korlaet, President of the Political Committee of the Network, presented the political statement of the Network for 2022, which indicates the direction and topics of the work.
During the first day of the event ‘Cities, climate and transport’, the main emphasis was on new EU policies related to sustainable mobility, including Western Balkan, presented by Lidija Pavić-Rogošić. Mateusz Szymański from the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) joined us remotely and presented new EU urban mobility framework. Goran Momčilović from Apsolon talked about new funding sources for mobility projects. Petra Grgasović from REGEA talked about opportunities for cities and industry in 2022 and 2023 within European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), an independent body of the EU set up to spur innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe to overcome some of its greatest challenges.
The first day of the event ended with an interesting panel discussion “New EU policies and funding sources – opportunities for cities” moderated by Goran Lampelj from ODRAZ. The panelists were Dejan Crnek (Deputy Major of Ljubljana), Saša Amanović (Head of Department for Strategic Planning – Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure), Klara Danilović (Head Of Department for spatial planning and housing at Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities in Serbia), Petra Grgasović (Project manager at REGEA, EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub) and Ivan Ivanković (Head of Energy and Climate Sector at the City of Zagreb).
During the second day, the topic of the program was “Cities and climate – what can be done for climate mitigation in cities”. Program started with an insight into the issue of climate in the cities and urban heat islands given by Mladen Maradin from Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb. Iva Vrankić from Apsolon presented the findings of analysis of the preparedness of Croatian cities for green (energy) transition. Afterward Magdalena Makar presented CLIMASUM project which ODRAZ is implementing together with Center for environment from Banja Luka and Transport Research Centre from Brno, Secretariat of CIVINET Czech and Slovak Republics. The project puts a concept of SUMPs in the focus, thus further closing the gap in mobility planning trends in West and East Europe and supports more efficient and climate neutral mobility planning in countries where take-up of sustainable mobility measures is lower and the impacts of transport are more severe and less sustainable.
The programme continued with the examples of good practice from Poreč (Poreč Living Streets), Rijeka (SMART RI solutions for cleaner traffic), Maribor (electric buses in public transport system) and Zagreb (Urban E project).
At the end of the two-day event, participants had an opportunity to take a ride in the new Zagreb cable car and learn how it can contribute to sustainable mobility in Medvednica nature park. Representatives of ZET, public transport operator, explained technical and other features of the cable car.
The gallery is available HERE.
Link to the video of the first day is available HERE.
Link to the video of the second day is available HERE.
This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
