Planning for Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM)

Planning for Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM)

Here’s a question for planners, designers, agencies, government decision-makers, kaupapa māori organisations, policy writers, and people managers working in the urban development industry:

How serious are you about planning for low-income groups, people with limited mobility, and people with disabilities?

If you’re serious about improving access to transportation and people’s well-being, Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) might be the answer you are looking for.

SUM deals with the complexities of urban transportation while bringing people, and places together.

SUM would help Aotearoa meet its 2050 target and emissions budgets, and transform into a more resilient, healthier society for us and our children.

In this post, I will discuss sustainable urban mobility (SUM) planning, the IPCC report, the National Adaptation Plan, the RMA reform, and Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

Overview

The approach to transportation planning has shifted dramatically in recent years, both in academia and in practice.

According to the Synthesis report of ‘The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) sixth assessment, we need to plan urban systems and design in support of public transport and active mobility.

Urban systems are critical for achieving deep emissions reductions and advancing climate-resilient development (high confidence). Key adaptation and mitigation elements in cities include considering climate change impacts and risks (e.g. through climate services) in the design and planning of settlements and infrastructure; land use planning to achieve compact urban form, co-location of jobs and housing; supporting public transport and active mobility (e.g., walking and cycling) (AR6) Summary for Policymakers C.3.4 Cities, Settlements, and Infrastructure of the IPCC

On April 2022, Waka Kotahi, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), released the Sustainable Urban Mobility Benchmarking report.

This report does not provide a definition of SUM, but it is referred to as:

… transportation and transportation planning systems that are sustainable in terms of social, climate, and environmental outcomes. In Aotearoa New Zealand, this is largely (but not limited to) walking, cycling, and public transport. Page 7 of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Benchmarking report

Te Mana Tu Waka The Ministry of Transport’s ‘Te Anga Whakatakoto Hua mō ngā Waka Transport Outcomes Framework’ establishes a goal for our transportation system centred on well-being and the liveability of places. It outlines five focus areas: inclusive access, healthy and safe people, economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, and resilience and security.

We are set in the right direction with inclusive access at the forefront of transport and SUM planning.

What’s the difference between a sustainable Urban Mobility Strategy (UMS) and a sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (UMP)?

A UMS includes a strategic framework for developing a sustainable UMP for cities and towns. It is intended to improve accessibility and provide high-quality, long-term mobility.

A UMS is based on intergovernmental collaboration between territorial authorities (regional and local), citizens and other stakeholders. Its objective is to successfully tackle the urban mobility challenges of an entire metropolitan region in conjunction with spatial planning, environmental protection, and other existing region-wide strategies.

Responsibilities for mobility in metropolitan areas are shared and distributed among national, regional, and local governments.

Effective multi-level governance and partnership approaches are especially important in metropolitan areas, where regional and local mobility needs must be reconciled with the need for effective long-distance transportation.

A UMP is a plan to meet the mobility and accessibility needs of people and businesses and improve their well-being. It builds on existing planning practices while taking integration, participation, and evaluation principles into consideration.

In addition to everyday urban mobility, a UMP should consider gender, night, weekend, safe, and autonomous mobility.

International best practice

The European Union (EU) created Sustainable Urban Mobility guidelines in 2013. These were recently updated in 2019 and are widely regarded as the best practice standard for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning.

Non-European cities like London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, New York, Boston, and Toronto have already started their journeys toward sustainable urban mobility.

Check the Urban Mobility Portal website for information about what cities are already transitioning toward sustainable mobility.

Use the Barcelona Urban Mobility Plan for reference, and watch the below video for an introduction to Barcelona’s SUM.

SUM in New Zealand

There is a general sentiment that our public transportation system is stuck, with people stressed and spending more than 40% of their nett income on rent.

The burden of underinvestment in public transportation, housing, health, and education falls on today’s and future youth and low-income earners. They will be confronted with the unaccounted-for costs of climate change, high child poverty, and lost productivity gains as a consequence of poorer public health and the effects of unaffordable rental housing.

As I heard well-known NZ journalist Bernard Hickey say:

“It is a case of robbing young Paul in the future to make old Peter now much richer”. (The Kākā)

Inequality is increasing, and infrastructure underinvestment is currently being overlooked, despite the fact that we urgently require alternatives to private vehicles.

Investment in public infrastructure would result in more options for active and micro-mobility users (scooters, bikes, cargo bikes, skateboards, and rideshare, including thier electric versions) to commute to and from work, as well as alternative ways to move around the city.

To rephrase Bernard’s quote above,

“It is a case of making young Paul wealthier to make old Peter’s pension viable.”

As part of my research to write this article, I have considered relevant plans, reports, and/or strategies as well as newly introduced legislation.

National Adaptation Plan

New Zealand’s first ‘National Adaptation Plan‘ provides a long-term strategy to adapt to climate change. It aligns objectives with critical actions to create a climate-resilient built environment.

Listed below are objectives related to urban planning and design that are included in Chapter 4 of the National Adaptation Plan.

New and existing places are planned and managed to minimise risks to communities from climate change. The explanation to this objective is to: Improve resilience through effective planning, urban design and management. Objective HBP2 National adaptation plan

Māori connections to whenua and places of cultural value are strengthened through partnerships. Objective HBP3 National adaptation plan

These objectives point us in the right direction, although I wonder how do effective planning and urban design in Aotearoa New Zealand are when it comes to planning for sustainable urban mobility.

I also question if the above is sufficient for our policymakers to give SUM planning the right weight when writing new policies for climate adaptation.

RMA reforms

Over the past eighteen months, the Government has been working with stakeholders, partners, Iwi, and Māori interests, to build a new resource management system that is fit for the future and provides better outcomes for our natural and built environments.

The Government is committed to enacting new laws – the Natural and Built Environment Act (NBEA) and Spatial Planning Act (SPA) – this Parliamentary term. The new Bills are to be introduced into Parliament before the end of the year with a select committee process following shortly afterward.

National Planning Framework (NPF), Spatial Planning Bill, and Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS)

The purpose of the NPF is to address “matters of national significance” or require nationally consistent ways of doing things where this has significant benefits.

This sounds like the place to introduce SUM planning. However, the word mobility does not exist in the National Planning Standards (updated on November 2019) and/or in the Spatial Planning Bill.

SUM planning could be considered by the regional planning committee as part of the RSS although it will take until the 1st quarter of 2025 to introduce them in the NPF.

Furthermore, if the NPF regulates and introduces SUM as part of the NBA plans, these could be included as a requirement when developing Regional Spatial Strategies.

The Government is committed to enacting new laws – the Natural and Built Environment Act (NBEA) and Spatial Planning Act (SPA) – this Parliamentary term. The new Bills are to be introduced into Parliament before the end of the year with a select committee process following shortly afterward.

Article 4 of the Spatial Planning Bill describes how regional spatial strategies will promote integration with the National and Built Environment (NBE) Act and the Land Transport Management (LTM) Act.

(b) a regional transport committee under the Land Transport Management Act 2003 (the LTMA) must be satisfied that its regional land transport plan is consistent with the relevant regional spatial strategy (see section 14(a)(iii) of the LTMA). Article 4 (1) (b) of the Spatial Planning Bill

Te-Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

To understand Wellington, we must consider the entire region. This is crucial to understanding the urban mobility model we want long-term.

Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) has a Long Term Regional Public Transport Plan (LTRPTP) (2021-31).

When describing the role of public transport the RPTP says:

Enables efficient land use and a compact, well-designed, and sustainable urban form. page 24 of the RPTP

From a land-use planning perspective, what kind of urban mobility model goes with a sustainable, well-designed, and compact urban form? Shouldn’t we consider the integration of private (individual) and public (common) interests while planning for Te Oranga o Te Taiao (The health and wellbeing of the natural environment)?

Joint ventures between territorial authorities (WCC and GWRC), and Waka Kotahi (a Crown entity governed by a statutory board). Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) or City River Link (CRL) present great opportunities to plan for sustainable urban mobility.

“With this much money being invested in Wellington’s transport and urban development future I would hope that we are doing the absolute best due diligence we can get.” Thomas Nash, chair of the transport committee

LGWM will spend $130 million on consultant fees by the end of next year, and it expects to spend $60 million on overseas experts in the coming year, after already spending $38.

Conclusion

An integrated approach to land use and transport planning is paramount when planning for urban mobility.

SUM’s main goals of a reliable public transportation system and a better infrastructure network for our collective well-being, should be read as our legacy to the next generation of young people.

District Plans and Urban Mobility Plans should have the same weight in our legislation, especially if we’re going to take intensification and the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) seriously.

The implementation of city-wide transformational initiatives should be informed by SUM planning.

Key for our collective well-being is having all (walking, cycling, public transport, and multimodal) modes of transport integrated into one urban mobility plan at a territorial scale where mobility is treated as a right, and public service.

It could be argued that Waka kotahi (NZTA) along with Greater Wellington should develop the overarching metropolitan and sustainable UMS that includes all districts (Hutt Valley, Kapiti Coast, Porirua, Wairarapa, and Wellington), while LGWM and CRL should deliver their respective sustainable UMPs for Wellington and Hutt Valley. Both UMPs could be informed by an overarching UMS. These documents (UMS and UMPs) should be subject to public consultation.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss further the content included in this post.