The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) is a diverse region also when it comes to planning the environment. Ecological and green thinking has been introduced in plans on both national and municipal level but Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) are still not widely used. The history of planning culture is different in all countries, ranging from countries where sustainability is becoming a major issue and where the potential for developing great SUMPs is high, to countries where transport and sustainability has been key issues for a longer time but where the way of thinking of planning has to change in order to obtain remarkable results with SUMPs. Also, municipalities in the Baltic Sea Region have different possibilities to influence mobility issues in their countries and administration of sustainability issues does not follow the same pattern all over the region. SUMPs are not legally required in any of the BSR countries, which makes development and implementation of a SUMP both challenging and full of possibilities. This section gives an introduction to the state of the art of SUMPs in the diverse countries in the Baltic Sea region. A separate section explores the situation in Poland in more detail at http://polska.bsr-sump.eu/.
SUMPs in our region
Denmark
Denmark is considered one of the forerunners in introducing green city planning and environmentally sound transport. The first national transport policies were implemented in the 1990s. The latest Denmark`s green transport policy aims at improving mobility while reducing pollution and emissions in cost-effective way. The Danish cycling culture is strong and bicycling infrastructure in Denmark includes plenty of segregated dedicated bicycle paths and lanes. A New national cycling strategy is to...
Estonia
In Estonia, during recent years, more attention has been paid to sustainability aspects in planning and transport development and the steps towards an approach to sustainable mobility planning have been taken. The rapid growth in private car use and urban sprawl has aroused the need to find new and more sustainable solutions. In recent years, important leaps have been taken in updating national transport and planning strategies towards sustainability. Local transport development plan is not...
Finland
Finnish transport policy aims at ensuring safe and functional everyday travel for citizens as well as maintaining the competitiveness of business with reducing emissions at the same time. To meet these challenges the development of the public transport together with intelligent transport services plays a pivotal role.Several strategies related to the planning of sustainable urban traffic exist. Government has prepared a report on transport policy (2012), which states Finland`s transport policy...
Germany
The Traffic and transport planning has a long tradition in Germany. In spite of existing cycling strategy and legislation on air quality there is a lack of comprehensive approach to sustainable mobility planning at federal level and no legal obligation for a comprehensive urban mobility plan exists. Nevertheless, there is a quite well-established transport planning framework.National, federal and local level authorities are sharing responsibility for traffic planning according to the spatial...
Latvia
Development of new plans for an improved traffic safety and a more sustainable mobility has started. Traffic and transport have experienced a radical increase in Latvia during the past 15 years, and previously, transport and mobility have not been consequently planned. This has resulted in e.g. a high level of road accidents, one of the highest in Europe, and an increased level of pollution. As welfare is rising, the amount of cars per person is expected to rise to the level of other European...
Lithuania
In Lithuania, comprehensive sustainable urban mobility planning is gradually coming to the fore. In 2005, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania has published the Long-term (until 2025) Development Strategy of the Lithuanian Transport System. Even though there are national strategies and plans related to transport development, they are mainly considering planning of new infrastructure and creating functional mobility networks. Nevertheless, sustainability issues have started to gain more...
Norway
Sustainable urban development including planning of sustainable urban mobility has gained a lot of attention in Norway. The aim is to go towards more sustainable urban transport by decreasing the private car use and improving the conditions for pedestrians, cyclists and users of public transport. Ambitious goal has been set in national climate policy that in metropolitan areas the increase of person transport should be managed through public transport, cycling and walking. Parliament accepted,...
Sweden
In Sweden, lots of attention has being paid to sustainable transport both on national and local level. The national goal is to develop a strong and sustainable transport system which serves both citizens and goods transportation. The number of people living in urban areas is high (approximately 85 % of the population) and, especially, in cities in the most populated areas, public transport is well-organised and the proportion of journeys made by public transport is high. Ambitious national goal...