The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) has produced guidance to support the design and implementation of cycling projects in the Member States. This new guidance builds on the existing city and national-level information to provide a coherent and ‘universal’ set of guidelines that will be relevant to a range of different cities and environments. Eltis Observatory has produced a miniseries of case studies that look at three very different types of city and investigates the different actions taken by cities of varying scales, locations and cycling modal share. Águeda in Portugal represents a starter city within the guidance and two complementary Eltis case studies provide insights into a climber city (Burgas, Bulgaria) and a champion city (Malmö, Sweden).
The DG MOVE guidance recognises that a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective, as key contextual factors – such as the existing level of cycling, city size, location and current level of cycling within a city – can affect the success of cycling measures. To account for city-level variation, the guidance draws on 20 unique case studies of cities with different characteristics, ranging from starter cities, with minimal cycling infrastructure, to champion cities, where cycling is instilled in the everyday culture of the city.
The EU Cycling Guidance is expected to be released soon.
Discover Águeda case study at: Eltis – the Urban Mobility Observatory.