Cities in Motion: Cities partner up with universities to seek transport solutions
Cooperation between universities and their cities is one of the priorities of the ENLIGHT alliance. On 6 November, Comenius University hosted municipal leaders from partner cities, and university dignitaries from Uppsala, Ghent and Galway at an event named Cities in Motion. The main focus was sustainable public transport, particularly bike traffic.
Cycling in the dark in Ghent
Our alliance partners are much further in supporting bike transport and shared mobility solutions. Together with the Netherlands and Denmark, Belgium is one of the European cycling superpowers and 85% of the population of the university city of Ghent use a bicycle daily to travel to work or school. Public debate no longer focuses on building infrastructure. One of the current debates is how to increase bike use at night. "Many people are afraid to bike in the dark, because of poorly lit bicycle paths. Therefore, we are looking at ways of designing the lighting so that the safety of cyclists is improved while biodiversity is not disturbed," said Hannah Hook from the University of Ghent, presenting a project in which the local government cooperates with the university to improve cycling at night.
Winter bike tires in Uppsala
The university city Uppsala may be located in the north of Europe and is covered in snow for several months of the year, but bicycles have been the primary means of transport for several decades. "In the winter, we clear the snow on bike paths and put winter tires on our bikes," said Teresa Uggla from the municipality of Uppsala. She presented the city's plan, according to which climate neutrality in transport should be achieved by 2030. The city builds new rental houses without parking spaces for cars, but with sufficient infrastructure for bicycles. One of the challenges they are currently facing is dealing with a city borough housing many immigrants who have not brought a positive attitude towards bicycle transport from their countries.
In Galway they dress for the weather
The municipality of Galway in Ireland also strongly supports sustainable transportation in the city. Recently, an elegant steel bridge for cyclists and pedestrians was built next to the historic Bridge of Hope in the city centre. It is located on the campus grounds and the University of Galway participated in its construction, as was explained by Eoghan McDermott from Galway Municipality in his presentation. Even though rains are a frequent occurrence in the region, students and residents use bikes every day. "It's all about your mindset. We dress for the weather," says Eoghan McDermott.
Car-free schoolstreets in Bratislava
At present, Bratislava is still a city where people prefer to travel by car. Nevertheless, there is a gradual shift towards more sustainable modes, as shown by Dorota Šaríková and Katarína Bajerčík Kocková from the Bratislava Metropolitan Institute that is a part of the municipality. They presented a project named "school streets" which involved a series of gradual, well-thought-out steps to increase safety and motivate children to use bikes or scooters, or walk to school. The project is developed jointly by MIB and the Department of economic and social geography, demography and territorial development of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University. Department member Marcel Horňák took the guests from partner municipalities and universities on a city tour to the borough of Petržalka along the new tram line and spoke about specific urban design choices made during socialism. The tour ended in Eurovea on the bank of the Danube, which is an example of efficient and modern use of public space and a successful attempt to return urban life to the riverfront.
Inspiration from the partners
"The meeting showed how important it is to connect universities and cities and seek modern sustainable transport solutions while involving students. It appears that we can inspire each other through this cooperation. I hope that we will meet more frequently as part of ENLIGHT activities and that this cooperation will bear fruit in the form of actual projects," says Marcel Horňák.
Barbora Tancerová