Highlights: Cycle4Climate at Mobile Tartu and the Annual Forum in Pärnu
Understanding how to measure, model, and enhance the share of active mobility – including cycling and walking – in our urban travel is a growing area of academic research. These topics were prominently featured in several thematic and plenary sessions at the 10th Mobile Tartu jubilee conference, organised by the Mobility Lab, University of Tartu. The conference served as a great platform for exchanging the latest advances in active mobility research, planning, and policymaking.
In this line of research, the Cycle4Climate project was strongly represented. Project partners from the City of Espoo, the Municipality of Gävle, University of Gävle, and University of Tartu participated in the three-day event. Research from the project was presented through both oral presentations and posters.
Elise Jalonen shared her research on the stages of change among car users in our four case study cities (Gävle, Espoo, Pärnu and Riga) regarding cycling. Martina Nilsson presented the impact of the C4C bicycle lane intervention in Gävle. Veronika Mooses provided an overview of how people might choose travel modes in the event of disruptions that make private car use impossible, and how this relates to current travel behaviour. Stefana Rotariu presented a poster on traveller profiles based on travel surveys conducted in Cycle4Climate cities.
In addition, Cycle4Climate community members presented related research, and the keynote presentations and panel discussion drew further connections to topics relevant to the community. Karl Samuelsson discussed the choice between cycling and driving based on a 15-month-long dataset of GPS-traced trips, while Age Poom presented on the development of a multimodal mobility model for Estonia and related user expectations among municipalities and state authorities. Bringing together municipal, private, and academic speakers, the panel discussion focused on multi-sectoral collaboration in facilitating the transition towards sustainable urban travel.
The recordings of both the keynote speeches and the panel discussion are available via the Mobility Lab’s YouTube channel.
The official programme was complemented by three guided cycling tours of Tartu’s cycling infrastructure, courtesy of the City of Tartu, who provided bike share bikes for the tours.
After the conference, project partners headed to Pärnu for the Cycle4Climate Annual Forum, hosted by the City of Pärnu.
We kicked off the meeting with a joint bike tour through the city before the rain arrived. Along the route, we were introduced to Pärnu’s newest mobility solutions, cycling infrastructure and discussed both the current situation and the progress. Pärnu has become increasingly bike-friendly in recent years, while continuing to develop its cycling network and sustainable mobility solutions.
Later, we heard about Estonia’s cycling strategy from Merlin Rehema of the Ministry of Climate of Estonia, and had an inspiring workshop, where we brainstormed future solutions for Pärnu’s cycling infrastructure, led by Aljona Galazan.
Great experiences from both Tartu and Pärnu. The Cycle4Climate team thanks both the organisers of Mobile Tartu Conference and the City of Pärnu for hosting us and showing us around the cities!
