Citizen and Stakeholder Involvement: A Precondition for Sustainable Urban Mobility

Sustainable urban mobility planning, a strategic planning concept promoted by the European Commission, considers the engagement of citizens and stakeholders throughout the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) development process as one of the key elements. Involving communities in planning is a fundamental duty of local authorities to improve decision-making and is also a requirement stipulated by EU directives and international conventions. This paper looks at academic research on participation in sustainable urban mobility planning, citizen and stakeholder engagement practices in European cities, as well as the challenges of collaborative planning and how to overcome these. The authors make the case that although some participation questions remain unsolved to date, citizen and stakeholder engagement are a precondition for sustainable urban mobility planning.