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The People’s mobility: Lessons from three Belgian cities on data, dialogue and persistence

Change is never easy, but with vision, persistence and empathy, cities of any size can redesign life on their streets.

Beyond the Ballot Box: Why the Best Mobility Plan is a Great Place

By Maciej Zacher, URBACT Ad-Hoc Expert

Democracy often feels like a series of checkboxes. We vote every few years, fill out the occasional survey, and attend the odd town hall meeting. But building a city - especially one focused on sustainable mobility - requires something deeper than counting votes. It requires understanding lives.

This was the core challenge the URBACT PUMA network tackled during our recent workshop in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. When we talk about Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP), the conversation often drifts toward technicalities: bus frequencies, bike lane widths, and modal split percentages. These are crucial, of course. But we gathered to strip mobility back to its most fundamental truth: the spatial aspect.

How the PUMA Network changed the way cities plan mobility

Cities, cooperation and the URBACT experience

The Plans for Urban Mobility Actions (PUMA) network brought together nine partners from eight European countries, reflecting a wide range of territorial, institutional and governance contexts.

The partners included cities, regions and knowledge institutions from Spain (Viladecans), Italy (Cento), Slovenia (Nova Gorica), Greece (Larissa), Poland (Gdańsk), Lithuania (Tauragė), Latvia (Liepāja and Dienvidkurzeme) and Croatia (University of Zagreb).

This geographical and institutional diversity meant that partners entered the network with very different planning traditions, capacities and challenges - making mutual learning not only valuable, but essential.

Vienna Calling: mobility lessons from a city built around people

Six URBACT networks took a deep dive into one of the most liveable cities to reimagine inclusive mobility. 

Getting a move on: small sustainable mobility actions, big impact

What makes a city truly walkable, cyclable, or low emissions? While the returns are ambitious, implementing inclusive active mobility projects can feel daunting. Often the perception in city organisations is that change can only be achieved with big, costly actions, as opposed to smaller interventions.

Highlights from PUMA second quarter in 2025 (April - June)