Just Transition Webinars

Just Transition x Access Webinar:

Public transport first—Strengthening the backbone of mobility justice

Public transport remains the backbone of sustainable and socially just mobility systems, but it faces growing pressure from decarbonisation targets, budget constraints, and evolving travel behaviours.

Drawing on European research and local practice, speakers will discuss how to bridge social, spatial, and economic inequalities through inclusive planning, service innovation, and better governance. The session will bring together researchers and practitioners to highlight strategies that make public transport not just a service, but a shared social right.

Speakers

• Tanu Priya Uteng (TØI)
• Willeke Passmore (Vervoerregio Amsterdam)
• Wenche Pedersen and Kristoffer Westad (Ruter)
• Jasper Bohlen (Bax Innovation)

Moderated by Melina Zarouka, Access Cluster Lead at POLIS

Details

• Tuesday 18 November 2025, 10:00 – 11:30 CEST
• Read more about the event here

Just Transition x Small and Medium-sized Platform and Active Travel & Health Webinar:

Breaking Free—Reducing car reliance in Small and Medium-sized Cities 

Small and medium-sized cities (SMCs) face unique challenges when it comes to reducing car dependence, often lacking the dense networks and resources of larger urban areas.

Drawing on practical case studies, this webinar will explore how SMCs can break free from forced car ownership, addressing the ‘car need’ with a focus on peri-urban and rural contexts, where alternatives are limited but modal shift goals should nonetheless be met.

Speakers

• Wieger Postma (City of Leeuwarden)
• Annarita Leserri (Pinbike)
• Isabel Garnika (City of Vitoria-Gasteiz)
• George Gorgogetas (e-trikala)

Moderated by Ingeborg Bennink, EU Project Advisor at the EU Office at Cities Northern Netherlands

Details

• Thursday 23 October 2025, 10:00 – 11:30 CEST
• Read more about the event here

Just Transition x Active Travel & Health Webinar:

Designing for real choice—Infrastructure as enabler

How can better walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure help tackle transport poverty and make our cities more inclusive?

Safe, accessible, and inclusive street design can empower individuals by improving access to public transport and supporting multimodal journeys. From first- and last-mile connections to low-cost traffic calming measures, we will look at how reclaiming space from cars can deliver high-impact improvements in everyday mobility, especially for those most affected by social and transport inequities.

Speakers

• Judit Rab and Gergely Kofrán (BKK)
• Lily Scarponi (Transform Transport)
• Maria Risom Laursen (City of Copenhagen)
• Mario Alves (International Federation of Pedestrians)

Moderated by Andréia Lopes Azevedo, Active Travel & Health Cluster Lead at POLIS

Details

• Wednesday 17 September 2025, 10:00 – 11:30 CEST
• Read more about the event here and here

Communicating climate action for a Just Transition

How we talk about climate and mobility matters. Language, storytelling, and public engagement are critical tools, not just to raise awareness, but to build support for fairer, more inclusive urban mobility systems.

Featuring Maite Peris (Q4A/former Communications Advisor, Barcelona City Council), Andrea Rosso (LINKS Foundation/JUST STREETS), Mathias Schmid (Nachhaltige Mobilität für Baden-Württemberg), and Reena Mahajan – Studio Divercity/StreetSmart, the webinar explored how communications can truly support a Just Transition in mobility—from framing safety and sustainability to shifting perceptions and empowering communities.

With insights from Barcelona, Baden-Württemberg, Brussels, and beyond, the speakers highlighted how inclusive messaging, emotional storytelling, and digital tools can foster empathy, trust, and behavioural change.

• Tuesday 8 July 2025, 11:00 – 12:30 CEST
• Read more about the event here

Embracing gender equity in urban transport: Insights from leading cities

This webinar was dedicated to gender equity in urban transport as part of POLIS’ International Women’s Month initiatives for 2024. Esteemed panellists from Ile-de-France Mobilities, the city of Vienna, and the city of Lisbon shared their experiences and strategies for advancing gender equity in transport policies and practices. From innovative infrastructure designs to inclusive public transport initiatives, speakers explored ways in which cities and transport authorities can create a more inclusive and accessible urban environment for all.

• Wednesday 27 March 2024, 11:00 – 12:00 CEST
• Read more about the event here

Advancing the Just Transition in urban mobility projects

This edition of the Just Transition Webinar series focused on three groundbreaking (POLIS) projects: UPPER, ELABORATOR, and SMALL. These projects exemplify innovative approaches to ensuring mobility as a right, fostering inclusive public transport and shared mobility, and promoting safe and inclusive active mobility.  The webinar was designed to showcase tangible actions that drive a just transition in urban mobility. We explored how these projects can transform the urban mobility landscape by ensuring equity, accessibility, and safety for all individuals. By facilitating dialogue among project representatives, policymakers, experts, and stakeholders, we aimed to inspire collaborative efforts and practical solutions that can catalyse positive change in urban mobility policies and practices.  

• Thursday 26 October 2023, 10:00 – 11:30 CEST
• Find out more here

Why do people need cars? Car dependency and city’s policy response

Car dependency strongly determines the acceptance of urban vehicle access regulations. If you do not have or see an alternative to using the car, any measure to curb car use is perceived as a threat. Featuring insights from Eva Van Eeno at VUB, the webinar explored potential policy responses to curb (perceived) car dependency, and to tackle it as a showstopper in urban mobility policy development.

• Tuesday 7 February 2023, 14:00-15:00 CET
• Access Working Group (POLIS members only session)
• Find out more here
• Check the Infographic here

Fostering active travel for people with disabilities

With many cities taking different actions to curb car use and prioritise active travel, are they also ensuring that disabled people are part of the equation? Active modes, and especially walking, can be the most democratic modes available, but cities and practitioners need to address the barriers to active travel for all people. This webinar aims at discussing how to make active travel not only accessible but inclusive for everyone.

• Tuesday 14 February 2023, 14:00-15:30 CET
• Active Travel & Health Working Group (Public session)
• Find out more here
• Check the Infographic here

Addressing urban-rural transport divisions

Transport connectivity plays a major role in regional integration, encouraging a shift away from car use which currently dominates travel. However, across Europe, there is currently a substantial gap between urban, peri-urban and rural transit offerings. This webinar will examine the role of regional planning and inter-urban transport in helping to bridge urban-rural divisions.

• Tuesday 21 February 2023, 14:00-15:30 CET
• Regions Working Group (POLIS members only session)
• Find out more here
• Check the Infographic here

Gender mainstreaming done right

There has been a range of initiatives to identify and challenge the ways mobility ignores and indeed further marginalises women. However, while actions in European capitals capture headlines, it is in fact in our smaller and medium-sized cities where some of the most pioneering strategies are to be found. We hear from Umea (Sweden) and Emmen (Netherlands) on how actions to address inequality can be pushed to truly mainstream gender across mobility and urban planning.  

• Tuesday 28 February 2023, 14:00-15:00 CET
• Small & Medium sized-cities Platform (POLIS members only session)
• Find out more here
• Check the Infographic here

What about the jobs?

Automation and digitalisation are challenging transport companies to revamp their services, and enabling new players to disrupt a highly regulated sector. Mobility services cannot operate without workers, regardless of how automated they become. They also cannot change without the support and active input of workers, particularly if we want them to change in the right direction, and as fast as possible. Discussing a Just Transition in the mobility sector necessarily requires understanding the labour dimension. So, what about the jobs? 

• Tuesday 7 March 2023, 14:00-15:00 CET
• Governance & Integration Working Group (Public session)

Reallocation of Space, Time, and Danger

Traffic deaths and serious injuries are neither a ‘neutral’ nor an ‘inevitable’ by-product of urban mobility. The systematic allocation of more space to motorised traffic has enabled its users to save time by driving faster – raising risk for themselves, but also for others, especially for those who don’t enjoy the protection of a one-ton steel cage. The reallocation of space and time is a necessary condition for relieving the so-called “vulnerable road users” from a disproportional allocation of danger. 

• Thursday 9 March 2023, 14:00-15:00 CET
• Safety & Security Working Group (Public session)

Challenges for the labour market

Companies face challenges related to technology, cost, and workforce. Several factors, such as increasing automation and use of technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of e-commerce, have put pressure on the logistics sector and changed the working conditions. Several jobs are at risk: the webinar will explore this challenge and will also investigate what big retailers are doing to make sure that fair and just conditions for workers are in place.

• Tuesday 14 March 2023, 14:00-15:30 CET
• Urban Freight Working Group (Public session)
• Find out more here
• Check the Infographic here

Making EV charging a reality for people with disabilities

The uptake of EVs must include sufficient charging infrastructure, and that the transition to electromobility leaves no one behind – the needs of people with disabilities, as well as the elderly, are currently not fully considered in the design of EV chargers and surrounding areas. The deployment of the recharging infrastructure is happening now, so these concerns also need to be addressed now. POLIS and local authorities share good practices and recommendations for more inclusive EV charging infrastructure.

• Tuesday 21 March 2023, 15:00-16:00 CET
• Clean Vehicles & Air Quality Working Group (By invitation only)
• Find out more here
• Check the Infographic here

Towards digitalisation in transport, no one left behind

Digitalisation of transportation services benefits several stakeholders, including passengers. However, the rising use of digital technology in transportation services, such as shared mobility and public transportation, also places new demands on (possible) travellers that not everyone is able to meet. How to ensure that digitalisation doesn’t create more inequality in transport? This webinar will explore this topic with insights from research and EU projects.  

• Tuesday 28 March 2023, 14:00-15:30 CET
• Mobility & Traffic Efficiency Working Group (Public session)