Skip to main content

2015 Polis Conference debates urban mobility in making the city smarter

At the 2015 Polis conference, taking place in Brussels this week, 400 mobility professionals from across Europe and beyond have come together to debate urban and regional mobility. European Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, Commissioner for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness said at the conference's opening plenary session on "Smart Cities. What's in a name? Talented people want to work in smart sustainable cities. Polis is a crucial network in helping cities to share and to get access to know-ho
November 20, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
%$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 9782 0 oLinkInternal <span class="oLinkInternal"><span class="oLinkInternal">RSS</span></span> Events (Diary) false /rss/events/ true false%>At the 2015 Polis conference, taking place in Brussels this week, 400 mobility professionals from across Europe and beyond have come together to debate urban and regional mobility.

European Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, Commissioner for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness said at the conference's opening plenary session on "Smart Cities. What's in a name? Talented people want to work in smart sustainable cities. Polis is a crucial network in helping cities to share and to get access to know-how and proven practice in other countries than their own."

Polis also launched its new policy paper Sustainable Urban Mobility and the Smart City, which states that the role and potential of urban mobility in making the city smarter is currently not sufficiently recognised.

Karen Vancluysen, Polis secretary general said at the plenary session: "The Smart City knows what it wants, knows how to intervene, is interested to assess results and change course if needed, and in this process is able to take everybody along. The current European framework for smart cities, with focus on ICT, Energy and Transport is rather narrow. ICT is an enabler of many smart mobility measures, but still, not all transport solutions need ICT to make them smart."

"Smart cities are going to be more than technology. We therefore encourage and support Polis to put the citizens at the heart of a smart cities vision", said Jon Lamonte, CEO 817 Transport for Greater Manchester and Chair Passenger Transport Executive Group.

The 2015 Polis Conference has also marked the launch of Polis' new 'Global Platform' allowing local governments from beyond Europe to become associated Polis members, the release of the latest edition of Thinking Cities and the launch of the CH4LLENGE project's SUMP self-assessment tool.

Related Content

  • February 5, 2015
    Impact of new European Directive on toll concessions: ASECAP conference
    ASECAP, the European association of operators of toll road infrastructures is organising a high level conference to analyse the impact of the new European Directive on the award of concession contracts across Europe, focusing specifically on the transport sector. The conference, whose theme is Concession model, an efficient tool to foster growth across Europe: how to build a level-playing field to attract private investors, will be held on 30 March 2015 from 1030 to 1630 at the European Economic and Soc
  • September 2, 2015
    Looking forward to Intertraffic Amsterdam
    With nearly 95 per cent of the space filled, Intertraffic Amsterdam plans to host the very latest developments in traffic mobility and technology. Hall 9 will be rebranded as the Innovation Hall, with an Innovation Lab and the Smart Mobility Centre. Apart from all Innovation Award nominees, space will also be dedicated to start-ups, promoting their mobility solutions in a pitch presentation format. In addition, technical university students will be competing for the Student Award for smart solutions
  • August 26, 2016
    Used EV batteries to transform stationary storage
    According to a report (link http://about.bnef.com/landing-pages/new-life-used-ev-batteries-stationary-storage/.) by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the electric vehicle market is set to grow quickly, but so far there has been no consensus on a ‘second-life’ for the many used EV batteries. In this report, senior analyst Claire Curry has compiled the first data and shows that low-cost energy storage could be here sooner than previously thought. She projects that there will be 29 GWh of used EV batter
  • February 17, 2014
    Third European Motorcyclists' Forum
    The third European Motorcyclists' Forum, taking place in Brussels on 5 and 6 March 2014 features discussions on the essential road safety issues affecting motorcyclists, as vulnerable road users. Leading safety and ITS experts will join a panel discussion, ‘Setting the Scene’ on 5 March, moderated by Bernd Lange, Member of the European Parliament (S&D) and co-chair of the Forum for Automobile and Society. Discussions continue on 6 March and include: Motorcycling and ITS, a US perspective - Shane McLaugh