TInnGO @ CIVITAS Forum Graz, 4th October 2019

The CIVITAS Forum 2019 was held in Graz, Austria, from 2-4 October 2019. The 17th edition of Europe’s top sustainable urban mobility event gathered the leading figures in the field from across the continent and beyond. This varied group of city representatives, practitioners, policymakers and academics debated and analysed the most pressing mobility topics and witnessed the pioneering solutions bringing cleaner, better transport to Europe.

The TInnGO project was actively involved and was presented at the

SESSION 28: Socio-demographic challenges, diversity and gender –Free market solutions versus political interventions

Friday, 4 October, 9:30 –11:00

Moderator: Andreé Woodcock, Coventry University

• Ensuring adequate transport services for the underserved –Free market solutions versus political interventions, Ralf Brand (Rupprecht Consult, Germany)
• Women in Transport, Policies and Practices for Inclusive Mobility Planning, Andrea Gorrini (Systematica, Italy)
• Introducing the Transport Innovation and Gender Observatory, Cathleen Schöne (Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany)
• Identification of new mobility options for vulnerable groups, Vivian Kiousi (Intrasoft, Luxembourg)
• Policy implications of a holistic understanding of the Value of Travel Time: Demographic data from the MoTiV Project, James Armstrong (European Cyclists’Federation, Belgium)

Session abstract and format: Our transport system is designed around speed and efficiency for assumed “normal” users: able bodied, white, male, in the 30-50 age bracket, native language speaker, etc. However, hundreds of millions of people are not “normal” (in such a simplistic sense). They experience various mobility limitations or exclusion from job opportunities due to physical barriers, safety concerns, lack of information, language skills, their location, financial constraints, etc. The free market tends to be good at providing opportunities for average users –but can it also serve other, maybe more complex needs –possibly thanks to new technological developments and business models? Or are there certain situations where there is no alternative to political intervention in order to ensure equal opportunities for everyone? Various EU projects such as INCLUSION, HiReach, TInnGo or DIAMOND explored related questions and presented their approach and findings. MoTiV also questioned the prevailing speed and efficiency paradigm fundamentally and empirically. The session featured a set of power-point based presentations and some time for Q&A at the end.