CMM Logo Interreg Central Baltic EU logo

Asking "WHY" will bring your city further! - Peer review in Kalmar

“It was a great, productive and positive experience to have you here and I am very happy for the respectful sharing of ideas we had. This is very positive for Kalmar” summarizes Robert Dahlstöm, project manager,  the first cities.multimodal peer review in Kalmar on Januar 17th 2019.

In the cities.multimodal project, peer reviews are used to enhance the exchange and cooperation between project partners and to support transnational learning between colleagues on their project activities. With these aims in mind, colleagues from the partner cities of Vilnius, Guldborgsund and Tartu travelled to Kalmar to learn about the city´s plans for their mobility point and to contribute with own expertise and experience!

Kalmar municality faces some challenges that many cities know of  – plans are changing due to changes in politics, resulting in the reduction of municipal budget, therefore new solutions need to be found. As the initial plan for a mobility point within the project had to be revised,  the municipality now explores different new options for the activity. In the end, this was a great opportunity to get input from experienced colleagues within the project on these early stage plans.

Kalmar is growing  and with it the challenges for transport and mobility are increasing. There is a great demand for decreasing the amount of cars and their negative effects on the city and to increase alternative and sustainable transport modes for the citizens of this beautiful small town. Due to its compact center island, the distances are short and Kalmar in general has great prerequisites to develop its mobility in a sustainable way. The reviewing cities stressed many times, that the starting point for further development is a good one - also a fact that is worth to make clear!

The peer review focused on the initial plans and ongoing discussion to implement the mobility point in connection with a commuter parking lot just off the central island of Kvarnholmen. During the site visit, the group discussed intensively about the suitability of the location, ideas to arrange a mobility point with bike parking and/or a bike sharing system, parking fees and about how to best involve both citizens in the area and those potentially using the mobility point. An important issue was raised, when they discussed on the need of mobility planning and the integration of measures to achieve an overall mobility goal for the whole town. In the afternoon, four more colleagues from Kalmar joined the discussion, giving more input on their practical approaches and processes. The reviewing cities formulated recommendations and advices to the host city and we ended the day with having a "flashlight" evaluation of the event, summarizing with what every partner has learned.

The peer review visit will be summarized and elaborated in an comprehensive report, that will be published on the cities.multimodal website within short!

Read more about peer reviews here!

 

Report