What have we learned in Koprivnica at Incubation and Regional City Exchange workshop?
On 26 and 27 January 2022 two hybrid workshops were held in Koprivnica within the CLIMASUM project. During these two days, participants had the opportunity to learn more about public-private partnerships in mobility as a service concept and about sustainable rural-urban mobility.
On the first day of workshop, many mobility stakeholders joined the Incubation Workshop organized by CIVITAS in cooperation with the EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Croatia and CIVINET Slo-Cro-SEE.
In the introduction, Nina Nesterova from Breda University highlighted that the objective of the workshops was to provide local mobility stakeholders with knowledge, tools and instruments they can use to develop successful mobility interventions that are acceptable, financially viable, legally possible and self-sustaining in the long run. The focus of the workshop was on the novelties in contracting and on public-private partnerships. In the name of the City of Koprivnica, Deputy Major Ksenija Ostriž welcomed all the participants. Then Lidija Pavić-Rogošić shortly presented the CIVINET Slo-Cro-SEE network and Eloy Gomez made an introduction to EIT urban mobility. Finally, Miljenko Sedlar talked about EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Croatia.
The presentation about public-private partnership and examples in urban mobility was given by Teije Gorris from DTV Consultants, which was followed with innovation funding opportunities presented by Ulyana Vynyarchuk from EIT Urban Mobility. Marko Čavar from EIT Urban Mobility RIS Hub Croatia gave the examples on public-private partnerships in Croatia, especially those related to mobility as a service concept. A discussion followed where a need for solutions that would accelerate the trends in public-private partnerships and need for the setting up the procedures for implementing solutions was emphasized.
On the second day of workshop the focus was on the rural-urban mobility and the question how to sustainably connect the city with its rural area. Regional city exchange workshop was organized by CIVITAS in cooperation with CIVINET Slo-Cro-SEE and the City of Koprivnica.
In the beginning of the workshop, Jolien Bamps from MOBIEL 21 made an introduction to the programme of the event. Elke Franchois from MOBIEL 21 presented the CIVITAS and CIVITAS ELEVATE. In the name of CIVINET Slo-Cro-SEE, Lidija Pavić-Rogošić talked about the main activities within the Network. Lastly, Nebojša Kalanj from the City of Koprivnica gave an insight in challenges about rural-urban mobility in Koprivnica.
Insights of four experts in the field of rural-urban mobility followed. Lucia Cristea talked about rural mobility as an engine for developing strong communities and the key findings in the SMARTA project, while Tobias Kuttler gave the participants an insight into the transport poverty in small towns and rural areas. Marko Guček presented GoOpti – an innovative transport business model that operates profitably also on routes not directly connected by public transportation while helping to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road. Finally, the presentation about the study of public transport for the City of Jastrebarsko area was given by Orsat Lale.
The discussion followed in which the speakers concluded that the participatory approach in the mobility planning as well as consistent communication between the involved stakeholders are crucial for the sustainable rural-urban mobility.
Afterwards, the impact of the CIVITAS DYN@MO project on mobiliy in Koprivnica was presented. A case study of Koprivnica followed. The aim of the case study was to answer the questions of expansion of the existing public bike system of the City of Koprivnica to the wider urban area, expansion and utilization of the bus system to the wider urban area and increasing public and stakeholder participation in rural areas of the City of Koprivnica.
All participants concluded that a very important part of citizen’s mobility in rural area is good communication and awareness of the transport poverty problems. To have good transport solutions one should provide quality information and collaboration between local government and rural community since the citizens living there know their needs and problems the best. A communication approach adopted to the age structure of the communities should be implemented. Local media should have an important role in these processes in order to include the wider audience.
* More about CIVINET Network read here.
* More about CLIMASUM project read 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).
