Flanders

The Flemish region, or Flanders, is the Dutch-speaking, northern part of Belgium. Despite being one of the most densely populated regions in the world, the region does not include big cities: in fact, cities like Antwerp and Ghent can be considered medium-sized cities, as they welcome around 500,000 and 250,000 inhabitants, respectively. Nonetheless, open spaces are few and far between and settlements are very sprawled, representing one of the challenges for the region’s mobility policy.

Credit: Dim Hou

However, this has not stopped the region's ambitions: in 2020, the Flemish Ministry for Mobility and Public Works announced that it would invest €2.2 billion in an ambitious mobility plan, focusing on road safety, infrastructure, and public transport as key areas.

In 2022, Flanders took these ambitions a step forward by publishing the first version of a Flemish agreement framwork for MaaS, which aims to create the conditions for a properly functioning, open MaaS ecosystem with adequate regulations.

Within POLIS, the region has been particularly active in the Regions Working Group, where it has brought forward its extensive knowledge in regional sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs). Indeed, Flanders has been a forerunner in promoting the concept of SUMPs, with more than 300 being in place within the region. In 2019, the region implemented a new regulatory framework for regional mobility plans that brings together authorities at different levels to provide user-oriented sustainable mobility through planning, implementation and evaluation, ensuring basic accessibility is provided to all individuals.

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