Why Co-Creation matters

Why is it so important to involve citizens in the identification of mobility challenges at the neighborhood level? Four CIVITAS projects - SUNRISE, Cities4People, Metamophosis and MUV - explained it in a workshop held at INEA.

On 19 November 2019, the cluster workshop ‘Co-creating Urban Mobility in Neighbourhoods’ was held at the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in Brussels. The event gathered four EU-funded mobility projects working on co-creation at the neighbourhood level. Local project partners presented how the co-creation approach had impacted mobility plans in different European cities.

Project partners gathered in a World Cafe session to discuss topics such as engaging the political level, consultation fatigue, hard-to-reach groups and other co-creation challenges in. Other topics discussed were ways to approach vulnerable user groups, different techniques to engage citizens, and methods for evaluating co-creation projects. The workshop also gave an opportunity to hear the views of the European Commission (EC). Alan Haigh, Head of the Energy and Transport Department, INEA, expressed the EC’s interest in supporting the development and implementation of neighbourhood and urban district level transport innovation. He also emphasised the importance of the EC acknowledging the barriers, challenges, and potential of the co-creation approach in future EU Research calls.

The workshop ended with closing words Marcel Rommerts, INEA, who highlighted the importance of co-creation for building better cities for people. He explained how this approach contributes to consensus building and the application of tailor-made tools, both crucial elements in the development of Successful Urban Mobility Plans. He also mentioned some important aspects to consider, such as the long-term results and the limitation of the approach. He added that despite “co-creation might not be a magic tool suitable to solve all mobility issues” it’ is an excellent method to build policies that are not only effective but also highly accepted by people.

Find out more on the projects on their respective websites: SUNRISE, Cities4People, METAMORPHOSIS, MUV.