Identifying barriers, hooks and opportunities – WP4CONTRY PROFILE REPORT

CROATIA1. INTRODUCTIONThis report is aimed at providing the information about local, regional and national barriers to the better integration of sustainable transport and mobility measures into urban mobility plans. It identifies the target areas in which to market the benefits of sustainable mobility.

The information is based on the interviews with the following groups of professionals in the field of sustainable mobility:

i) Decision makers and policy influencers - to encourage them to take advantage of opportunities to maximise return on transport investment;

ii) Practitioners – so they understand the value and significance of sustainable transport investment when developing strategies and advising clients;

The list of interviewees consisted of the members of the following institutions/organisations:

DECISION MAKERS AND POLICY INFLUENCERS

The Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure, Directorate for Transport Infrastructure and EU funds; Sector of EU funds Directorate for EU funds, Sector for support and implementation of projects

Municipality of ZAGREB; office for strategic planning Municipality of Koprivnica; Vice Major, City councilor Municipality of Rijeka; senior consultant for transport

PROFESSIONAL PRACTITIONERS AND THEMATIC EXPERTS

- University of ZAGREB - Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences; professors, senior researchers, assistant researchers

- University North- Primorsko-Goranska County; Head of department for regional development and

infrastructure- Municipality of Koprivnica – department for urbanism and town planning- City of Ivanic Grad- Bicycle sharing service provider; project manager- Energy Institute; researcher in transport - Cyclist union of Zagreb; project manager

Report completed and finalised in Dec 2015

EVIDENCE

- NGOs – Cyclist union of Zagreb, Association for railway, Association for sustainable development; project managers

- Various consulting companies in the field of transport/urbanism/architecture planning; project managers

The interviewees consisted of people who are leaders in the field of (sustainable) transport planning and implementation. The majority of them have participated in sustainable mobility oriented initiatives e.g. Civitas ELAN, CH4LLENGE, Bike2Work etc., which helped to get a broad overview of the practice in this field.

The information contained in this report is based on a series of personal and telephone interviews with a broad mix of mobility experts and decision makers conducted between May to Dec 2015.

2. STATUS OF SUMP IN CROATIAThe concept of SUMP was successfully adopted in Croatia through the tender by the Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure. Since then all the Regions (Županije) have undergone the process of applying to the tender for financing the preparation an adoption of SUMPs. Currently, the Croatian Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure is preparing the guidelines for development of SUMPs.

There exist two levels of transport planning on which sump was applied in Croatia – i.e. municipal and regional level, meaning that the planning surpassed the size of agglomerations recommended by the EU as well as in those which were significantly smaller.

In general the strategic mobility projects and programmes in Croatian cities focus on the modernisation of public transport, prioritising public transport in intersection management, energy-efficiency and car use rationalisation measures, integration of public transport systems into a single tariff union (bus and tram network, regional train), better use of existing railway infrastructure by providing improved service and building new stops, introduction of a light rail system. Though more and more attention is being given to bicycle networks.

Among other activities more attention is given to acquiring transport related data, urban statistics and demography as well as to the integration and cooperation at city, regional and national level. The instrument of public participation in the planning and development processes is gaining importance.

The first example of SUMP in Croatia was the town of Koprivnica – even though the town (approximately 34.000 inhabitants) was deemed too small for SUMP, Koprivnica proved that the approach can be beneficial in various situations.

Based on self-evaluation and consultations with experts in SUMP, Koprivnica concluded that it possessed great conditions for promotion of sustainable mobility, which was also the key in the selection of the most appropriate strategy for its implementation. Being positioned in a flat geographic area, Koprivnica had great potential for development of cycling infrastructure as well as for the public transport. More than 30% of the inhabitants cycle regularly, and over 70% of schoolchildren use public transport. Also the car users have stated that they would change their travel habits, if there was an improved infrastructure for other means of transport.

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

EXPECTATIONS OF EVIDENCE

It is expected that this programme will ensure that developing a SUMP will now become part of standard urban planning practice in Croatia.

Also in many cases the SUMP will be an integrative part of the regional old city Master plan, which calls for certain adaptation in the process of development and adoption of SUMP. It is believed that the biggest barrier in implementing sustainable mobility measures is that decision makers as well as the potential users are afraid of the possible changes without knowing exactly what to expect in terms of results/benefits. In this regard it is expected that evidence gathered within the project will provide the necessary input for a more effective impact at the initial stages of any projects related to sustainable mobility - serving as an important and much needed driver for other related projects to be developed.

On a technical side, what is expected is an easily accessible archive of data that can be applied to any specific mobility planning situation – the data should be organised and presented in such a manner as to allow a comparison of data for various mobility modes and various (geographical) environments. Ideally it should also provide clear ‘before and after’ investment evidence to show the financial impact achieved of investing in such mobility measures.

3. PESTLE ANALYSISThe PESTLE analysis has been performed, as it was foreseen in the Description of work.

PESTLE analysis is a concept used as a tool to track the environment in which a new project/product/service etc. is to be launched. It provides a general overview of the situation from Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental perspective.

POLITICAL

The political climate in relation to sustainable mobility in Croatia is two-fold – on the one hand mayors and the political bodies are in favour of sustainable mobility measures and have them included at the front of their city investment programmes, while the others generally support sustainability, but are reluctant to implement the measures before they are successfully proven. It must also be emphasised, that an understanding of sustainability is focused only on CO2 emissions - this can be understood as a direct relation to the compliance to the EU policies. But having just these such views means often overlooking the main pillars of sustainability – i.e. society, economy and environment (in broader scale). Sustainability is therefore not considered in its full scope.

The decision-making regarding transport is more or less limited to political circles – expert opinion is sometimes included in the technical basis for decision-making or it is included in the preparation of technical/planning documentation. These are often considered as the support for the already existing ideas. Meaning that expert input is not really a part of the decision making process but more just a part of the decision agreement process. However, it can be that if successful relationships have been established between the politicians and sustainable transport experts (as a result of various EU initiatives – Civitas, Pumas…) it is easier to get the politicians attention when a new set of sustainable transport measures is planned.

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

Lobbying is still an important part of the decision-making processes. A potentially important decision influencer is also the public – the political bodies wish to comply with the viewpoints of the majority of voters (the conformity of politics).

ECONOMIC

Economy has been the key barrier (in terms of larger transport projects), but also a driver (savings in terms of transport cost) in implementing transport measures in recent years. Using these drivers to the benefit of expanding sustainability in transport with the appropriate dissemination of the benefits an accelerated implementation of the measures could be achieved.

External costs of transport are gaining importance as a driver for implementing the sustainable mobility measures, however the downside of this is, that the methods are not yet fully recognised as trustworthy and data are not widely available.

It must also be mentioned, that the Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure has assigned a part of its funds for the development of guidelines for SUMP, but more importantly – it has issued a tender for co-financing the development and implementation of SUMP documents nationwide. This also included the allocation of 170 M€ of EU funds, along with the financing from national budgets.

Funds have also been allocated for the development of guidelines for the elaboration of SUMP documents; this is expected to bring together the high level of expertise (within the existing expert circles as well as from abroad).

SOCIAL

The key in societal aspect of sustainability is satisfying the needs of present and future generations – in terms of transport this relates to acquiring the opinions of citizens, users etc. and to provide these though the physical planning process.

However, the problem lies in the fact, that people live under their perceptions on what is the best solution for their needs. In general society is very keen on sustainable mobility to the point where it doesn’t force them to change their travel habits. The first step in applying changes must be the presentation of all possible scenarios to satisfy certain transport needs – the need in this case would be in getting from A to B and not driving a car through the city centre; there are certain other possibilities (walk, cycle, public transport, perhaps there even isn't a need to move from place A to B). Therefore, if transport changes are applied with appropriate approach, and proper meaningful involvement, then the public will soon recognise its benefits.

An important societal driver is the recognition of the adverse effects of air pollution to public health and the benefits of daily exercise as a result of cycling, walking etc.

The experience of larger EU initiatives in the field of transport (Civitas, Champ, B2W, Push&Pull, Pumas and other) has shown that this can be realised by using the “bottom –up” approach. The dissemination of the evidence should follow this agenda through identifying the target groups and through designing appropriate messages. Also important is a careful selection and influence of media to help spread the information.

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

TECHNOLOGICAL

In terms of technological framework of sustainable transport it is important to present it as a way of life (holistic approach) and not only as an introduction of special and technologically advanced optimisation of the existing transport modes (e.g. hybrid propulsion, real-life information systems for PT, etc.). Cities have already adopted the technological advances in the field of transport – electric vehicles, real-time information, smart city grids, etc. There remains much scope for further technological development through personal smart phone technology.

LEGISLATIVE

Lower levels of government (local, regional) follow the incentives of higher hierarchical levels. Since the Croatian Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure has a strong SUMP strategy, there should be less political barriers at local level, with the local governments supporting sustainable mobility now having an easy accessible path to implementing it. Also the guidelines, decrees etc. now exist upon which the local governments are able to act upon.

What is interesting in this regard is that some municipalities have begun the development of SUMP documents based on the existing good practices before the initiative from the ministry. These can also be considered as important breaking points, since they have shown that implementation within their own legislative and administrative framework is possible if the will to follow them exists.

ENVIRONMENTAL

The CO2 emissions are often mentioned as the most important aspect of sustainability, but the detailed overview shows that in fact less attention is paid to them in the decision-making processes. More attention is given to health issues (as a result of particulate matter emissions, noise). Spatial issues are also identified as a very significant issue since the majority of transport infrastructure related issues have a direct link with their use and dedication of space. It is envisaged, that the introduction of sustainable transport measures will improve the quality of life in both health and spatial issue related areas.

The respondents have also stated that for more efficient planning of transport the data about environmental parameters without the burden of transport would be beneficial. This would aid in identifying the pressure that transport introduces in the environment – and would serve as a background for evaluating which sustainable transport measure performs better in terms of environmental indicators. Based on the comparison the decision-making process would be facilitated, also in relation with public participation.

4. STATUS BASED ON ANSWERS TO CORE QUESTIONSThe chapter follows the process of decision-making (with political background) and funding of SUMP and provides the main findings in terms of barriers that prevent the realisation of a full potential of sustainable mobility to be implemented.

4.1 Power structures/decision-making

The main reason for implementing new measures lies predominantly in increasing transport safety.

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

Political circles are often the source of ideas for transport reorganisation/planning; occasionally the proposals come from transport experts working in the transport-related departments. Occasionally, analyses and appraisals are made during the planning process; some are done when the measure has already been chosen and their purpose is mainly to support the decisions (for example Cost-Benefit Analysis). The decision-making process goes through a process of being approved by the city councils, based on the documentation that is prepared in advance with the support of technical experts.

In the initial stages of planning – when the vision is being transpired to setting goals etc. the decision makers seek informal approval by the public (voters); if politicians recognise the positive attitude towards the proposed measures they will continue with the motion, otherwise the benefits of the proposal should be presented to the public first, who in turn would accept the changes from decision makers (i.e. “bottom-up” approach); in this process clear arguments must be provided to the experts, who can then act as additional supporters of these incentives.

The decision-making regarding the sustainable transport has been predominantly within the framework of cities/municipalities and regions. In smaller municipalities the communication within their hierarchy was easier and as a result of this they are more prone to accepting and implementing sustainable transport measures, because ideas and state-of-the-art move faster and more efficiently from practitioners (i.e. relevant municipal departments) to the decision-makers. It is expected that the standardised system of developing SUMP documents will bring an uniform approach (also through the introduction of SUMP guidelines); hereby it should also be mentioned, that the SUMP documents will in many cases be part of the regional master plans, which is hierarchically higher document, and will thus have to be followed by the city administrations.

The most important barriers in related to the decision-making are related to the social aspects; car is a status symbol and thus predominantly in use, while cycling and PT perceived as an inferior mode of transport. Since habits are hard to overcome, the politicians are cautious when proposing new measures – they are reluctant to upset their voters – which slows down the wide implementation of sustainable mobility measures.

The driver for adopting the sustainable mobility measures is linked primarily to political incentive for reduction of CO2 emissions (merely as a compliance with the EU policies). Another important driver is the fact that when political circles see the positive results from the previous sustainable mobility schemes they are keener to accepting new ideas.

4.2 Funding

The funding is primarily based on EU sources in combination with national or local (municipal) budgets. The budget allocated to transport measures is uniform - the distinction between the amount of funds earmarked for infrastructure or sustainable transport measures is therefore currently impossible. This presents a drawback in the evaluation process when determining how the things have changed towards sustainable mobility in terms of availability/earmark of funding.

The driver in this context is that the funding is readily available, once the decision for sustainable measures is taken. It is an integrative process.

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

5. Using EVIDENCE to support future SUMP development and implementation in Croatia

This section provides an overview on how Evidence Project set out to provide objective, robust information to support Romanian local and national policy initiatives seeking a substantial change in the flow of funding towards sustainable urban transport investments. In the Organogram attached to the end of this report, one can see which deliverable is most useful for which stakeholder.

Responding to strategic goals

Looking to the future, the range of modernisation and integration goals for mobility interventions described in Section 2 of this report will be well supported by the resources provided by EVIDENCE. In particular, information in respect of selecting and combining measures that will optimise the economic benefits of moving towards more sustainable transport solutions. The emerging interest in the role of cycling as a more sustainable mode is also well provided for, with significant evidence relating to cycling infrastructure (Measure No.20) and cycle-sharing or bike-hire schemes (Measure No.21) in the resources. EVIDENCE also provides access to an online database of material underpinning these resources, providing the asked-for reassurance to those looking to implement SUMPs in Croatia as to the potential economic (and sustainability) benefits of these interventions.

Encouraging aspirations for more sustainable mobility

The EVIDENCE resources will also provide tools for politicians and mayors looking to progress more sustainable mobility measures in their cities by providing them with materials that can be used to help broaden the understanding of ‘sustainability’ beyond emission reduction. These resources will help them to articulate that there are also economic and social benefits from such approaches as well as a wider range of environmental benefits. In this respect, the EVIDENCE measure-summary notes will provide decision makers with short and accessible information on choices, whilst always being supported with more in-depth material when required.

EVIDENCE also directly addresses the issue of economic benefits (and costs) in transport solutions, providing policy-makers, planners and citizens with the understanding of the costs and benefits of delivering more sustainable mobility solutions in a city. In particular, the EVIDENCE reports provide an understanding of the additional benefits that can be achieved by bringing a range of measures together in a city, addressing a current perceived weakness in understanding in Croatia.

The outputs from EVIDENCE also provide a useful set of resources to be drawn on as guidelines on SUMP implementation are developed for Croatian cities. In particular, EVIDENCE (and the database of material on interventions) will help bring in expertise and best practice in respect of sustainable urban mobility solutions from outside the country.

There would also seem to be an opportunity to draw on the materials in EVIDENCE describing interventions involving behaviour change, measures such as personal and workplace travel planning (Measures No.9 and No.10), or marketing (Measure No.11), as a means of better engaging in SUMP promotion and development with communities in Croatia. In particular, this might involve these communities exploring some of the economic benefits of sustainable mobility interventions – such as improved air quality, benefits of exercise, with health-related issues seemingly another key driver for sustainability measures in this country.

EVIDENCE resources have been developed to address different audiences, and for example include a range of academic materials, and simple documents such as the two-page Measure summaries. This

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

will help to support a bottom-up approach to disseminating knowledge about sustainable mobility interventions in Croatia, an approach seen to help other EU initiatives be successful here.

Supporting decision-making on sustainable mobility and SUMPs

EVIDENCE resources will also help decision-makers in several ways. Firstly, they will provide an important input to support the case made by technical experts for sustainable mobility interventions, and secondly, they can provide support to the use of a range of appraisal and evaluation approaches beyond simple cost-benefit. Where the latter is being used, EVIDENCE can highlight possible shortcomings, and give pointers towards more effective use. As already noted, the wide range of EVIDENCE resources help support wide engagement with the topic of sustainable mobility from the ‘bottom-up’, providing support to clear arguments underpinning choices.

The EVIDENCE project was specifically charged with exploring the economic benefits of sustainable mobility interventions likely to be found in a SUMP. As a consequence it will provide an additional tool for justification of more sustainable mobility solutions, over and above policy imperatives to reduce CO2 emissions – which might be seen to be economically less-desirable otherwise. Thus allowing decision-makers in Croatia to confidently pursue SUMP development in the knowledge that it will bring a range of sustainability benefits to their citizens.

5.1 Data requirements

The most sought after data in order to move planning/implementation of sustainable transport measures forward is evidence of best practises with a clear definition of the context for each case presented. Consequently, the issue of incomparability (often used counter-argument) of data would be avoided.

The data requirements are the following: - Uniform format of data that would enable comparison in various situations (normalised);

clear causal relationship between the measure-result- The data should be applied to different economic, social, political etc. backgrounds in order

to be applicable in various geographical locations- numerical evidence of benefits (economic – cost savings, GDP; social; environmental – energy

savings, pollution); expressed through a CBA results from past examples to show the relation between various transport modes

- methodology; a detailed description of the methodology of acquiring, analysing of data is expected, by which a clear transfer to the situation in question could be made - transferability

- benefits (based on external costs) of changes in modal split ; expressed through a CBA results from past examples to show the combined effect of systematic change (a combination of measures)

- external costs; description of external cost data and the method by which they were obtained/calculated. This information should be provider comparatively for various transport modes

- description of a process of planning/implementation/operation of the measures – barriers, drivers

- Easy accessibility of data - web platforms/archives would be the most appropriate in this regard

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

The organisation of data in such a way to allow for a comparison among various measures for all transport modes, (e.g. walking, cycling, PT, car use), because the majority of arguments were oriented towards the incomparability of data (i.e. that a selected measure of sustainable transport is not applicable for a certain city).

5.2 Data dissemination

The majority of practitioners have their education background in traffic sciences, civil engineering & architecture, geography and economy. Some of the respondents come from backgrounds such as spatial planning/architecture/urbanism and economy.

Also, an important role in their professional life is a membership in various networks – the predominant ones include:

o Union of Cyclistso Danube cycling associationo Civineto Intelligent Transport Systems associationo National association of transport

Current sources of information are:

o mobility platforms (ELTIS, CIVITAS, Civinet…)o internal communication (e.g. City administration)o conferenceso internet

6. CONCLUSIONSThe SUMP development is in its beginnings in Croatia, but very strong interest exist for its growth, therefore we can expect the expansion in forthcoming years. This is also enabled by the incentives of the Ministry of maritime affairs, transport and infrastructure, which helped build this motivation to a large extent.

Both the decision-makers and practitioners have welcomed the Evidence initiative and have strong belief that it would help accelerate the implementation of sustainable mobility measures. All of them are also very interested in receiving the feedback of Evidence project, since best practices from Croatia and other EU countries that were the role model examples for previous work have proven the main drivers for this process. The dissemination also plays a crucial role in this regard. The communication channels that existed from the Civitas ELAN, CH4LLENGE and the other projects and were re-opened with EVIDENCE PROJECT must be used to their full potential in terms of changing the attitude of stakeholders towards the sustainable mobility.

As mentioned before, the SUMP development processes are currently in their infancy in Croatia; in relation to this the respondents sometimes feel that they are not competent to answer the questions about SUMPs at this point. Therefore the interviews have been slightly adapted to focus more on the sustainable transport measures that are the part of sump (cycling, walking, railway) rather that the holistic approach of SUMP, since the majority of respondents did not have experience with SUMP yet

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

EVIDENCE

It should also be noted that it had been rather difficult to find the envisaged number of candidates (30 practitioners + 8 decision-makers) for interviews.

Report completed and finalised in Jan 2016

ORGANOGRAM – EVIDENCE Materials Needs Analysis

Report completed and finalised in Dec 2015