One of EU goals’ for 2030 is to reduce GHG emissions, and transport is one the largest generator of them (EEA). But we have to understand that urban sustainability is more of a process tan a goal and we have to be able to recognize urban areas as systems and not at individual items. For that policies must be adapted to meet the evolving challenges. Is Sevilla ready for that?
Source: debatingeurope.eu
In order to give a concrete answer to the increasing mobility needs we have to be prepared and develop an integral mobility system, because most attractive cities are those who privilege walking, cycling and public transport. The Urban Planning Office of the city Council of Sevilla in cooperation with other departments at regional and national level, the stakeholders and citizens have to be together in this process and increase the focus on city planning and densification problems.
To try to solve these problems I create a new blog where I will (attempt) answer these and othe mobility questions. If you are interested, please do not hesitate to visit and comment, I am glad to hear about new topics, new experiences and other study cases.
https://mobilitytrendsblog.wordpress.com/
And do not forget, MOVE YOURSELF!
Sense of Place 
When thinking about cities with well developed bike lanes, I usally think about countries like the Netherlands or Kopenhagen. So I was really surprised to read Sevilla is the fourth best city for biking! I am really impressed by the new bike lanes that were constructed.
Biking can be an importent tool in solving current problems we have in europe like air pollution, obisity, traffic problems and dependence on fossil fuel.
I think it is right that money was investet in building the infrastructure for biking. However it should also be invested in campaign since taking the bike instead of the car is mostly a discission of the mind. Not just raising awereness but also trying to appeal to the people with financial benefits like tax reliefes or other small treats like a free meal for every biker employe in the work canteen.
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Thank you for your comment! Yes, you are right just raising awereness is not enough, it would be a great idea to combine this with motivation benefits (like you said: tax reliefes, small trats, etc.) But I think it is also important no to forget about pedestrians and how healthy is walking in the cities. Improving walking in the cities is also necessary and it is usually forgotten.
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Hi Marta! I would like to visit Sevilla one day! 🙂 I enjoyed reading and watching videos about it! I think that it is very good that your government is interested in the ecological performance of Sevilla, and is concerned about reduction of GHGs emission. In one of your replies to the comment to your post, you said that there was a reduction of the GHGs by 5,000 tones due to the new mobility planning in 2010! It’s a good example when the introduction of such mobility programs can significantly improve the ecological performance in the city. I live in Astana, Kazakhstan, which is a new city. In Astana, the bike renting service started to work in 2013. We are quite new to this service, and I hope that my city will continue to implement such programs which will solve the ecological issues. If you would like to know more about the bike renting system in Astana, you are welcome to visit the official website: http://velobike.kz/cabinet.html?lang=en#rent
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Thank you Natalya! It is very interesting to know how it works in Astana, also the website it is a perfect example of a well design web, very interesting and the system it is very similar to this in SEvilla, the first 30 minutes is for free and then a small charge is done. I will try to learn more about it, thank you very much for the information.
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Hallo Marta, I liked your text. Especially about the improvement of the bike lane system, because normally when you here about good examples about bike friendly cities you only hear from north European cities like Copenhagen or Amsterdam. I think the idea for a ticket for all kind of transport (bus, train, metro, bike…) is something very important because I know from my experience when ticket systems are too complicated you don’t use the public transport infrastructure.
What too you think about a congestion charge like in London (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge) for the city center of Sevilla?
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Thank you Paul! I think Sevilla is a good example about cities without a big cycling tradition and what can be done. I think a unique transport ticket is essential to go on in a sustainable way. Thank you very much for the London information, I think the system is great and the results are astonishing, but in Sevilla the main problem would be to increase public transportation because the structure of the city center doesn’t allow big busses, but why not? all you need is a good plan!
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Hi Marta, I visited your website, it was an interesting read. I went to Andalucia last summer, visited Granada and Cordoba, but unfortunately had not got chance to go to Sevilla. I was a bit surprised to read that Sevilla is a bike-friendly city (it’s good to hear about this), since I think it is not the case for Granada or Cordoba. I wish this could be applied in my city in Bandung, Indonesia (the city that I discussed on my website). The city government already tried to make bike lanes, but it seems not successful. The pavement was already narrow (but I think they are currently improving it), so some parts of the lanes were made on the side of the street (not separated with the main road), so it was often that the lanes was occupied by motorcycles.
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Marta, this is cool! I honestly with more metropolitan cities and cities in general would participate in emitting less GHGs by commuting by bike or other forms of sustainable transportation. I am from a small county town outside of Davis, California, so I am very much familiar with a bike friendly community since Davis is well known for their bike friendly atmosphere. Although, Davis is way smaller than Sevilla we do not have the issue of needing more transportation. Most of the city commutes with bikes! I read some of the future implications you have mentioned about to better the bike/transportation traffic and safety and am wondering if they have ever thought about inserting a roundabout? I’ve heard and read that installing roundabouts in areas of high traffic actually reduce the amount of traffic congestion, traffic accidents, and overall helps improve the smoothness of heavy traffic on busy streets.
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Hi Marta, the idea of creating bike lines is really cool. If they are separated from the common traffic, it will probably be not so dangerous and it motivates people to use their bikes more often. The city of Karlsruhe (Germany), where I did an internship once, tries to implement bike lines, too.
I think the bike lines are a good idea to get people moving ecologically! I really like your website. On the page I got a very good overview about this topic.
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Hello Marta!
I really enjoyed reading your site, I think it is awesome that cities and countries are really taking the initiative to reduce greenhouse gases before it is too late. At my school I am part of a planning committee and our school plans to turn our main streets into bike/public transportation only and I am very interested to see how it plays out especially since we are considered a commuter school! I like that they are advertising this whole bike lifestyle as a healthy one because it is true, it is very important to be active, it is good for your body, mind, and spirit. I will definitely check up on this interesting issue in the future, thank you for sharing your knowledge!
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