Soft Mobility
Better Mobility
Rede 20 and BooST
Soft Mobility is an alternative that contributes to physical well-being and sustainability, presenting various benefits such as reduced traffic and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The Municipality of Porto is implementing infrastructure that allows for new formats of urban mobility, with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality Based on these goals, the Rede 20 project has emerged, which aims to return public space to citizens while simultaneously promoting healthier and more sustainable modes of transport. From an academic perspective, the BooST project is presented with the purpose of developing a roadmap that provides technical guidance to encourage the use of bicycles in the city.
Soft mobility is transforming Porto into a more inclusive city, where the focus is on people and environmental preservation.
The Rede 20 is an initiative that has been implemented by the Municipality of Porto,
aiming to return public space to citizens while promoting healthier and more sustainable modes of mobility. This project focuses on pedestrianization and the reduction of car traffic in over a hundred streets, prioritizing pedestrians and transforming the urban centre into a safer and more accessible space.
This project is a response to contemporary challenges of mobility and sustainability, centred on creating a greener city where residents and visitors can move around comfortably and safely.
To achieve this, the Porto City Council has been promoting policies for the revitalization of urban spaces that encourage pedestrian mobility and the use of bicycles.
This effort is part of a broader sustainability strategy, reflected in the city’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, which encourages active participation from citizens and fosters a paradigm shift in the way we move and experience urban space.
Research has focused on so-called "champion cities",
providing limited responses to the challenges faced by “emerging cities.” The importance of utilizing bicycles is widely recognized in the scientific and political debate surrounding urban mobility. The BooST project aims to develop a Roadmap for Emerging Cities intended to offer technical guidance to encourage bicycle use (available in the form of a manual and an interactive web page) in close collaboration with local authorities and other stakeholders.
The roadmap will provide a set of tools for cities that are just getting started on their journey to carbon neutrality , including a framework for assessing the Gross Potential for Bicycle Use (GPC) of cities, a framework for evaluating the Economic Value of Bicycles (EVC), and a selection framework for the most suitable mobility management measures for start-up cities, tailored to their GPC.
