Periodic Reporting for period 2 - REBALANCE (futuRE moBility vALues ANd CulturE)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-12-01 bis 2022-11-30
REBALANCE moves from the assumption that the mobility culture that currently prevails in the world (including Europe) has led to unsustainable travel patterns, in social and environmental terms. The mobility choices made by users, fall short of ensuring a sustainable balance between traffics and places, freedom and welfare, creativity, security and public health. Therefore, there is a need for a critical examination in particular of the meaning and value(s) of the European mobility culture of today and how they translate into the current forms of mobility lifestyles, mobility policies as well as predominant practices of transport appraisal techniques. This is why REBALANCE was set to write down in black and white the ‘Language of the Present’, and critically examine European values and needs, including those not yet considered also in the light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. REBALANCE aim was to mobilise around the New Mobility Cultures and Policies Hub high level European minds, but also transport stakeholders and society at large, in a constructive dialogue to rethink about the way we move and the effective needs of mobility we have in a common effort to imagine the European mobility culture of tomorrow.
Thanks to a tailor-made foresight exercise, converging on a shared vision of an alternative mobility narrative chosen according to explicit political and cultural values endorsed by different interest groups and stakeholders, the project was set to provide the European Institutions with insights and practical hints (the roadmap) for planning a transformative transport research policy in future R&I programmes based on shared cultural values among Europeans. The political roadmap/policy guide was intended to combine soft/hard and short-/long-term policies: testing the interest of soft policies, such as better information, communication, and education (‘nudges’); as well as regulatory changes, key incentives, subsidies and investments. REBALANCE purpose was also to propose a new definition of ‘public interest’ under EU law to assess sustainable and transformative transport policies in European and national regulations.
The final synthesis of REBALANCE activities is the ‘Manifesto for a New Mobility Culture’ to make sure that shared values and beliefs of Europeans are embedded in the fundamentals of the new transport policy, and lay the foundations for a cultural change in the way people understand mobility and take decisions on transport policies.
Thanks to a tailor-made foresight exercise, converging on a shared vision of an alternative mobility narrative chosen according to explicit political and cultural values endorsed by different interest groups and stakeholders, the project was set to provide the European Institutions with insights and practical hints (the roadmap) for planning a transformative transport research policy in future R&I programmes based on shared cultural values among Europeans. The political roadmap/policy guide was intended to combine soft/hard and short-/long-term policies: testing the interest of soft policies, such as better information, communication, and education (‘nudges’); as well as regulatory changes, key incentives, subsidies and investments. REBALANCE purpose was also to propose a new definition of ‘public interest’ under EU law to assess sustainable and transformative transport policies in European and national regulations.
The final synthesis of REBALANCE activities is the ‘Manifesto for a New Mobility Culture’ to make sure that shared values and beliefs of Europeans are embedded in the fundamentals of the new transport policy, and lay the foundations for a cultural change in the way people understand mobility and take decisions on transport policies.
The REBALANCE New Mobility Cultures and Policies Hub (rebalancemobility.eu) has been developed to serve as the first point of contact for stakeholders and provide access to project outputs and outcomes. REBALANCE has been able to mobilise a significant number of thinkers, experts and stakeholders from different fields, who provided valuable insights into the project research activities.
The REBALANCE theoretical value framework of analysis was developed, integrating inputs from a series of high-level transport experts’ interviews (D3.1).
The state-of-the-art analysis of the mobility behaviours and lifestyles of Europeans was completed through literature and projects’ review, a cross-European assessment of travel patterns and mobility values using public datasets from H2020 projects, and the organisation of a focus group (D3.2).
A critical review on the applied methods for transport infrastructure appraisals and mobility decision-making process was completed, discussing the under-researched values beyond the traditional speed-time-price paradigm. In addition, the notion of "public interest" was analysed to extrapolate interests of public relevance which could justify derogations from fundamental freedoms (D3.3).
An analysis of the influence, over time, of communication on the European mobility culture was conducted, representing how media have conveyed and represented mobility concepts and channelled them to citizens (D3.4).
A tailored horizon scanning approach has been applied to examine the future trends and drivers of transport in Europe in line with the REBALANCE purposes. The identification of the cultural- and value-based factors that reflect the deeper roots behind such trends has been made through the organisation of five “Explorative conversations on the Mobility of the Future” (D4.1).
The REBALANCE trends have then been ranked and clustered and critical uncertainties have been identified. With the contribution of a focus group, four scenarios for future mobility culture at 2050 have been devised ensuring significantly differentiated images of the future (D4.2).
The last step of the foresight process led to the identification, and more in-depth characterisation of the alternative scenarios and the consensus over the alternative Vision for the European transport of the future (D4.3).
The concept of “public interest” under EU law was further studied as a preparatory work for the final deliverable on regulatory policy guidance and submitted for consultation to a restricted group of experts (D5.1).
A Strategy for the transport policy of the future based on the alternative mobility vision was finally devised. The parameters of the alternative vision that could be converted into policy objectives were analysed as well as the existing EU laws that could be modified in order to allow to set these policy objectives (D5.2).
Through a back-casting workshop with experts and stakeholders, a Policy Roadmap was conceived, combining soft/hard & short-/long-term policies and consisting in a set of concrete policy measures and their associated timelines. A Policy Guide developed the political process necessary to achieve the strategy (D5.3).
The final Manifesto “Making Mobility Meaningful to People” was officially unveiled in the REBALANCE Final Event (Brussels, 22nd November 2022).
The REBALANCE theoretical value framework of analysis was developed, integrating inputs from a series of high-level transport experts’ interviews (D3.1).
The state-of-the-art analysis of the mobility behaviours and lifestyles of Europeans was completed through literature and projects’ review, a cross-European assessment of travel patterns and mobility values using public datasets from H2020 projects, and the organisation of a focus group (D3.2).
A critical review on the applied methods for transport infrastructure appraisals and mobility decision-making process was completed, discussing the under-researched values beyond the traditional speed-time-price paradigm. In addition, the notion of "public interest" was analysed to extrapolate interests of public relevance which could justify derogations from fundamental freedoms (D3.3).
An analysis of the influence, over time, of communication on the European mobility culture was conducted, representing how media have conveyed and represented mobility concepts and channelled them to citizens (D3.4).
A tailored horizon scanning approach has been applied to examine the future trends and drivers of transport in Europe in line with the REBALANCE purposes. The identification of the cultural- and value-based factors that reflect the deeper roots behind such trends has been made through the organisation of five “Explorative conversations on the Mobility of the Future” (D4.1).
The REBALANCE trends have then been ranked and clustered and critical uncertainties have been identified. With the contribution of a focus group, four scenarios for future mobility culture at 2050 have been devised ensuring significantly differentiated images of the future (D4.2).
The last step of the foresight process led to the identification, and more in-depth characterisation of the alternative scenarios and the consensus over the alternative Vision for the European transport of the future (D4.3).
The concept of “public interest” under EU law was further studied as a preparatory work for the final deliverable on regulatory policy guidance and submitted for consultation to a restricted group of experts (D5.1).
A Strategy for the transport policy of the future based on the alternative mobility vision was finally devised. The parameters of the alternative vision that could be converted into policy objectives were analysed as well as the existing EU laws that could be modified in order to allow to set these policy objectives (D5.2).
Through a back-casting workshop with experts and stakeholders, a Policy Roadmap was conceived, combining soft/hard & short-/long-term policies and consisting in a set of concrete policy measures and their associated timelines. A Policy Guide developed the political process necessary to achieve the strategy (D5.3).
The final Manifesto “Making Mobility Meaningful to People” was officially unveiled in the REBALANCE Final Event (Brussels, 22nd November 2022).
REBALANCE embraced the challenging ambition of devising and promoting a new mobility paradigm, based on an alternative mobility narrative which would pave the way to a more sustainable path, more respectful of the environment and the wellbeing of the people. REBALANCE has been able to lay the foundations for a cultural change in the way we understand mobility and take decisions on transport policies, providing for:
- a critical review of the current mobility narrative with regard to social practices on transport decision-making, rebalancing economy and ethics, and conventional utilitarian and rational decision-making with emerging behavioural economics.
- an overview of the current travel patterns and mobility values of the users with a future perspective. The research has also deepened on already existing knowledge from what maybe the COVID-19 lasting impacts on mobility behaviour.
- an analysis of the role of communication in shaping mobility culture.
- an update of previous foresight studies to provide relevant references on alternative mobility narratives for a broad and inclusive deliberation.
- an attempt to converge towards an ideal narrative for the future of the transport system.
- a definition of a Political Roadmap testing the interest of soft policies, such as better information, communication, and education (“nudges”), as well as regulatory changes, key incentives and subsidies.
- a proposal for a new definition of “public interest” to assess transport polices in European and national regulations. Changes in the official CBA guides and other impact assessment methods have been proposed.
- a critical review of the current mobility narrative with regard to social practices on transport decision-making, rebalancing economy and ethics, and conventional utilitarian and rational decision-making with emerging behavioural economics.
- an overview of the current travel patterns and mobility values of the users with a future perspective. The research has also deepened on already existing knowledge from what maybe the COVID-19 lasting impacts on mobility behaviour.
- an analysis of the role of communication in shaping mobility culture.
- an update of previous foresight studies to provide relevant references on alternative mobility narratives for a broad and inclusive deliberation.
- an attempt to converge towards an ideal narrative for the future of the transport system.
- a definition of a Political Roadmap testing the interest of soft policies, such as better information, communication, and education (“nudges”), as well as regulatory changes, key incentives and subsidies.
- a proposal for a new definition of “public interest” to assess transport polices in European and national regulations. Changes in the official CBA guides and other impact assessment methods have been proposed.