SUMPs in 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 has been set to double the volume of travel with public transport by the year 2020. When it comes to increasing the usage of public transport, considerable challenges are faced in sparsely populated areas. Even though Sweden has an efficient railway network spanning all over the country, in the northern parts of the country, many destinations can be reached only by buses. However, the regional bus networks are functionally integrated with the regional train system and buses are operating as a link to smaller cities and villages.
The objective of traffic planning is to adopt a more holistic approach to planning instead of concentrating only on infrastructure investments. Transport Agency has developed guidelines to support municipalities in their endeavor to achieve more sustainable transport. The publication is called TRAST (Traffic for an Attractive City) and it consists of two handbooks, one of which gives information about developing traffic strategies, plans and programs, and the other considers how to make transport planning be part of the urban planning process. There is also established the four step principle developed by the national Road Administration to find more sustainable and more cost efficient solutions when addressing issues related to transport in planning. In addition to national strategies, also many municipalities have adopted strategies to develop and implement sustainable transport solutions. The cities of Örebro and Lund can be mentioned as forerunners of SUMP development in Sweden. The cities of Gothenburg and Luleå, for example, have integrated traffic planning into the general, long term visions for the cities` development.
Source: Endurance project