FOUR YEARS OF URBAN MOBILITY INNOVATION: STA & UPM AT THE SCALE-UP & MOVE21 FINAL EVENT

The SCALE-UP & MOVE21 Final Event, titled “Next Steps Towards Cities as Green and Connected Nodes for Urban Mobility”, took place in Brussels, Belgium on 1–2 April 2025.

Two STA Member’s have been actively involved in the SCALE-UP project: Smart Transportation Alliance (STA), leading the Communication and Dissemination Activities over the past four years, and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid -UPM (Technical University of Madrid), leading the development and validation of strategies for vertical and horizontal upscaling of integrated, data-driven, and inclusive urban mobility solutions.

STA co-hosted the event together with Eurocities, POLIS, the City of Antwerp, and the City of Oslo.

During the two days, 158 policymakers, city representatives, innovators, sustainability experts, and project stakeholders came together to explore the results, milestones, and challenges of the two EU-funded projects.

On 1 April 2025, the event opened with welcome remarks from the two project coordinators: Tiina Ruohonen, Project Coordinator for MOVE21 and Senior Adviser at the Office of the Governing Mayor of Oslo, and Michiel Penne, Project Coordinator for SCALE-UP and Coordinator of Smart Ways to Antwerp.

Participants of the session Navigating and governing complex urban mobility topics from the perspective of functional urban areas and urban nodes

Participants of the session Priorities for Urban and Logistics in the Coming Years

Day 1 focused on urban mobility governance and future priorities. The sessions explored the “governance lasagne” of functional urban areas, with expert speakers highlighting the importance of cross-border strategies and coherent Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). The day also addressed priorities for green mobility and inclusive planning, with case studies presented by the cities of Oslo, Rome, and Madrid.

Prof Andrés Monzón during the Session Defining multimodal hubs: Connecting mobility scales and networks

Participants of the Sessions Defining multimodal hubs: Connecting mobility scales and networks

During the Session “Defining multimodal hubs: Connecting mobility scales and networks”, Prof Andrés Monzón, Professor of Transportation Engineering at UPM, highlighted the role of intermodal nodes and their importance within the transport network, emphasising their potential to make sustainable transport a viable alternative to car travel.

Day 2 of the event was dedicated to technical presentations and discussions on the main results from both projects. On the same day, Jorge Alfonso Kurano, Project Manager at UPM, moderated the session “Data & Digital Integration”, where speakers explored different types of data and digital integration pilots, sharing insights and learnings from both MOVE21 and SCALE-UP, including developments related to digital twins. Lastly, Anna Ibraeva, Senior Researcher at Transport Research Center (TRANSyT - UPM), participated in the Session ”Key results and reflections on KPIs”, presenting the key results from the SCALE-UP projects, discussing the potential of specific measures to drive modal shifts and reduce emissions.

Jorge Alfonso Kurano during the Session Data & Digital Integration

Anna Ibraeva during the Session Key Results & Reflections on KPIs

In total, more than 14 sessions and 60 speakers shared their insights, aiming to inspire scalable change in urban mobility and logistics across Europe.

The proceedings and photographs of the event are now available.

You can read the article on the SCALE-UP website that summarises the highlights of the Final Event.