Sustainable

Mobility
Planning
A comparative case study: Oslo and
Lisbon
Introduction
• Nowadays the sustainability topic gains a important role on cities. Cities account for over 70% of global CO2 emissions (most come
from industrial and motorized transport) (Dasgupta, Lall and Wheeler, 2022).

• “Making existing cities and new urban development more ecological and livable is an urgent priority in the global push for
sustainability” (Oleskow et al., 2020).

• The EU initiative SUMP (Guidelines)

• How to create sustainable urban mobility plans.

• Ignores administrative boundaries, considering the functional area of ​the city.
• Long-term vision, but also a set of short-term goals that build up under the vision.
• The development of all relevant means of transport should work together (walking, cycling, public transport and goods transport)
• The plan should be followed up closely to ensure that the objectives are met, and to be able to correct direction so that certain
indicators are reached.
• SUMP has been designed and implemented in many urban cities in Europe. (27 countries according to ELTIS official web)
Significance

Sustainable mobility is a quite

relevant topic on the world stage,
as cities play a key role in ensuring
the implementation of climate
strategies recommended by
international organizations to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions
(e.g., carbon neutrality by 2050 in
the Paris Agreement).
Specific Topic:
Sustainable Mobility
Planning in Oslo and
Lisbon: a comparative
study
Objective
• Investigate what has been done in sustainable mobility planning in Oslo and Lisbon, two important European cities, and
do a comparative analysis to identify which measures they are focusing on most.
• Investigate the current status of sustainable mobility planning in these cities in relation to the SUMP (Are they directly
based on SUMP? Or Are they inspired by it?

• Why did I choose these cities?

• Because of their efforts to provide more sustainable urban mobility. As a result, Oslo and Lisbon won the title of
Green Capital in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
What did I do?
1. The qualitative analysis of relevant literature as well as
European documents, national and local policies that lead to
sustainable mobility in each location.

2. A general analysis to check whether theses policies were

made based on what is recommended by European official
documents (SUMP guidelines)

3. An analysis to identify which measures each city are

focusing on most.

4. Development of a survey instrument to assess whether

citizens have noticed changes in their cities as a result of the
plans.
Data: documents
Sustainable Mobility Plans: Oslo and
Lisbon
Documents: general analysis
Oslo
National documents Local documents
Sustainable Mobility Planning (2018) Staten Regional Plan for Land and Transport in Oslo and
Vegvesen Akershus towards 2030 (2015)
Smart Mobility: guidance and measures (2021)
Statens Vegvesen STOR (Smarter Transport in Oslo Region) –
relevant ongoing project
National Transport Plan 2022 - 2030

Lisbon
National documents (mobility package) Local documents
Sustainable Urban Mobility Action Plan in the
National Directive for Mobility
Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (PAMUS) (2016)
Guide for the Development of Mobility and Move Lisboa: strategic for mobility towards
Transport Plans (PMT) 2030 (2020)
Documents: measures analysis
Oslo
National documents Local documents
Sustainable Mobility Planning (2018) Staten Regional Plan for Land and Transport in Oslo and
Vegvesen Akershus towards 2030 (2015)
Smart Mobility: guidance and measures (2021)
Statens Vegvesen STOR (Smarter Transport in Oslo Region) –
relevant ongoing project
National Transport Plan 2022 - 2030

Lisbon
National documents (mobility package) Local documents
Sustainable Urban Mobility Action Plan in the
National Directive for Mobility
Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (PAMUS) (2016)
Guide for the Development of Mobility and Move Lisboa: strategic for mobility towards
Transport Plans (PMT) 2030 (2020)
Method: qualitative analysis
General analysis

• Check whether the Oslo and Lisbon policies were based on

the SUMP concept.

Measures analysis

• Compilation of the measures found in the Sustainable Urban Mobility plans from each city.
• Identification of themes
• Identification of which measures each city is most focusing on.
Measures analysis
and its findings
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans: Oslo
and Lisbon
Oslo is Smart Mobility
most focusing on: Guidance and measures
– 4 target areas:

• Reducing transport needs 1. Better innovation

through land-use and logistic and interaction
solutions. 2. Greater
sustainability
3. Better quality of
• Promoting sustainable life
alternatives 4. Higher user
satisfaction
• Implementing new technology

Data from the Sustainable Mobility Planning report (Statens

Vegvesen, 2018)
Lisbon is
most focusing on:

• Reducing transport needs

through land-use and
logistic solutions.

• Increasing infrastructure
and use of Public
Transport

• Promoting accessibility
through Soft modes,
intermodality and parking
management

Data from the Strategic Vision for

Mobility in Lisbon (Camara Municipal
de Lisboa, 2020)
Findings: general analysis
Lisbon / Portugal
Lisbon has Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans based on the
SUMP concept and requirements at the national (PMT)
and metropolitan (local) level (PAMUS - towards 2020)
However, the local plan needs to be updated.
SUMP (or PMT) is mandatory in Lisbon.
According to the document “Move Lisboa: strategic vision
for mobility 2030”, a new generation of SUMP will be
implemented in Lisbon.
Oslo / Norway
• Oslo does not have Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans
directly based on SUMP requirements.
• However, its Sustainable Mobility Planning is inspired by
SUMP principles, for example:
• Plans for “functional urban area”
• Cooperation at different levels of government and
stakeholders.
• Integration: sustainable mobility, land-use and transport
plans.
• Integration in the development of modes of transport
• “Smart Mobility: guidance and measures” suggests that
all Norwegian communities draw up their own plan for
mobility with increased sustainability.
Discussions
• The findings from the general analysis may contribute to a diagnosis of the current
state of sustainable mobility planning in Oslo and Lisbon in relation to the SUMP.
• The findings from the measures analysis revealed that in general the cities are
focusing on similar themes.
• However, Lisbon is putting more efforts on expanding the public transport network
to make it more attractive as an attempting to overcome traffic challenges (high
number of trips by private car (370.000) enter the city of Lisbon everyday) (Camara
Municipal de Lisboa, 2020)
• Whereas Oslo spends efforts on implementing new technologies to improve
mobility, overcome traffic challenges and achieve its higher goals. (e.g., zero
growth – reduce car traffic volumes)
• The findings from the measures analysis contribute yet to a greater understanding
that each location has different territorial contexts, which leads them to present
very peculiar mobility problems, resulting in the need for specific solutions.
Conclusions and next steps…

• Oslo and Lisbon, within their realities, are successful in this field, as they have
good planning for Sustainable Urban Mobility. This could be due to the fact that,
regardless of whether they were directly linked to SUMP or not, these cities have
based their plans on essential principles. (i.e., cooperation and integration)

• “A mobility plan can contribute to more coordination across professional

environments and interests and provide a better knowledge base to achieve more
sustainable mobility.” (Vianova, 2018, p.10)

Next steps…
• Investigate how the implementation of those plans is taking place and what they
are doing to guarantee the success of the measures established in the plans.
 Survey

Personal Information Neighbourhood Commuting

 Perception of
Changes

Modes of Transport