Transforming transport: A new initiative for sustainable urban mobility was launched in Quito
Today’s metropolises are growing rapidly. The more people arrive to live in cities, the more pressure builds up on urban transport infrastructure. For the most part, infrastructure development cannot keep up with the fast pace of population growth. Air pollution, traffic jams, and inaccessibility of transport services are just some of the problems arising from this development. They keep people from improving their living situation and prevent businesses from meeting professional standards for reliable time schedules and delivery. Increased traffic volumes also exacerbate climate change – if the international community, in close cooperation with cities, misses the turn to the urgently needed transformation of urban mobility, the aims of the Paris Climate Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will not be achieved.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) aims to tackle the dire need for sustainable urban mobility solutions with a new initiative that was presented in Quito today. With the “Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI)”, the Ministry and its partners are planning to support cities on their route to make accessible, sustainable transport available to their citizens. The initiative follows four main goals:
- Economic growth and wealth: supporting partner cities to reduce congestion by strengthening public transport and infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians.
- Social integration: supporting partner cities to make public transport accessible to all social groups in the city, which includes affordable prices, and to make pedestrian infrastructure safe.
- Healthy and clean cities: supporting partner cities to make sure that less people die in traffic accidents, and to reduce traffic-related air pollution.
- Climate-friendly and resilient development: supporting partner cities to reduce green house gas emissions generated by traffic, and to build resilient systems for mobility.
TUMI intends to achieve these goals in three different ways. For one, the initiative wants to enable 1,000 decision-makers, administration experts and planers to implement concepts for sustainable mobility by providing them with custom-made trainings, including for instance urban mobility laboratories, Webinars or Peer-to-peer-reviews.
Secondly, TUMI is going to mobilise investments to build up, modernise and extend public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure in developing countries and emerging economies. Concepts for financing are to be developed in close cooperation with the respective cities and national institutions. The investments will focus on replicable, innovative approaches, while not ignoring reliable, already tested technologies.
And thirdly, TUMI is going to pilot innovative solutions all over the world. Partners are to be encouraged to start developing their own initiatives and ambitious ideas for mobility projects – and take part in a global contest, where the winning ideas will be supported by TUMI both financially and technically.
BMZ and the following partners are part of the joined declaration that underlines their willingness to join forces on enhancing sustainable urban mobility globally:
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
- Deutsche Gesellschaft Für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
- Development Bank Of Latin America (CAF)
- Global KfW Development Bank
- ICLEI (Local Governments For Sustainability)
- Institute For Transport And Development Policy (ITDP)
- Sustainable Low Carbon Transport Partnership (Slocat)
- UN-Habitat
- The World Resource Institute (WRI)
TUMI is part of the Quito Implementation Plan (QIP) and the Quito Action Plan for Sustainable Urban Mobility (QUAPSUM).
Find further information in the press release of BMZ and on the TUMI website: