Brussels' SUMP conceives the city as an ecosystem...

Brussels’ city SUMP conceives the city as an ecosystem, and in parallel has put in place an impressive participation system;

as Bruno Van Loveren, Strategy and Programming Director, Mobility Planning Authority, Brussels Capital Region explained to EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK about winning the 8th award for sustainable urban mobility planning (SUMP award): these two elements, are intimately linked. It is through involving all stakeholders and listening to citizens that we have been able to gradually take into account all the dimensions of the mobility policy. When asked what winning the SUMP award means for the city, Bruno Van Loveren said: ‘We are obviously very proud to have received this award, especially since we also won it three years ago for our logistics schemes. For those of us who work in the planning department, it’s a great reward and confirmation that our approach is relevant and recognised as such.’

When asked about the process of designing the SUMP he replied: ‘The system put in place is, in fact, unprecedented, at least for Brussels, in terms of its scope, its duration and the diversity of the public that we wanted to involve in the approach. It is this process itself that has led us to put aside an overly technical approach to mobility and to refocus on users, their needs, and above all their living environment.’

Read the full interview here.