Mobility Management

in Low Carbon Cities

Arjen Jaarsma and Fadiah Achmadi

ECOMM Conference
Graz, Austria
6 May 2010

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CONTENTS

1. Low carbon cities

2. Cities on the road to sustainabiliy (Amsterdam and Masdar
City)
3. Mobility Management in Amsterdam (conventional approach)
4. Development of new MM approach for low carbon cities
(Masdar City)
5. Conclusions

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LOW CARBON CITIES

Low carbon city = city with zero (or low) CO2 emissions.

Three main producers of CO2 in cities:

1. Buildings (housing, working)
2. Hard infrastructure (energy delivery, waste management,
water supply, sewage, etc.)
3. Mobility of persons and goods (traffic)

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CDM as a CO2 calculation method

• CDM = Clean Development Mechanism under Kyoto protocol

• Crucial feature in CDM  carbon project (CO2 reduction
through renewable energy and energy efficiency).
• Two transportation systems with CDM accreditation:
TransMilenio Bogotá & Metrobus Mexico City
 CO2 credit for sustainable transport system
 calculation method is very difficult and costly

We expect that calculating a city’s reduction of CO 2 emissions

(for transport) will be very important in the next decades!

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CITIES ON THE ROAD TO SUSTAINABILITY

• Amsterdam (the Netherlands) – solar energy / cycling /

electric vehicles
• Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (China) – new planned
city with 90% Public Transport +cycling
• Masdar City (UAE) – new planned city, the low carbon city
of the future!

Amsterdam vs Masdar City

(old city) (new city)

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Amsterdam
• one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world
• a centre of bicycle culture with good cycling facilities
• 600.000 bicycles for 750.000 residents
• Amsterdam aims for 100% sustainable traffic by 2040 
200.000 electric vehicles on the road
• Amsterdam also plans for solar panels on (all) roofs in the city

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 Masdar City
• Twin city of Abu Dhabi
(United Arab Emirates)
• the city will rely entirely
on solar
energy and other renewable
energy sources
• Aims to be zero waste, zero
carbon and fossil fuel free
• The 1st large scale zero
emission transport system
• Maximum 250 meters walking
distance to PT stops

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Masdar City
The construction of the city is ongoing.

The city will have:

- 40.000 inhabitants
- 70.000 workers
- Personal Rapid Transit (PRT).
- Light rail (LiRa).
- connection to Abu Dhabi
metro system

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Mobility Management Measures

Source: UN Habitat and GTZ

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MM measures in Amsterdam
Strategies for Non-Motorised Modes  cycling policy

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MM measures in Amsterdam
Parking pricing  off- and on-street parking

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MM measures in Masdar City
This city is developed based on 10 principles (pillars) of sustainability
(One Planet Living)

Pillar 3  Travel by car and airplane is contributing to

climate change, air and noise pollution, and congestion.

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Our challenge for this presentation:
In which ways the conventional measures are /
can be applied in Masdar City?

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1. Integration of land use and transport planning
• Masdar City is a brand new city which is built with the
main purpose to be the first zero carbon city in the world.
• The land use is planned coherently with the transport
planning (a wall around the city / green zones / high
building densities around PT stations).

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2. Strategies for Non Motorised Modes (1)
• Urban environment made for
people, not for cars.
• Shaded walkways
• Cycling facilities ?

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2. Strategies for Non Motorised Modes (2)
• The only motorised modes in the city are Personal Rapid
Transit, Light Rail Transit, and metro.
• No private cars allowed in the city.
• Stops are accessible by
maximum 250 meters walking.

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3. Physical restraint measures
The city is planned to completely restrict cars
inside the city
 narrow streets + parking at the edge of the city

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4. Road pricing
• Cars are not allowed in the city  How to avoid a
situation where many cars are coming and parking at
the edge of the city?

• Road pricing might be applicable for the access roads

to the P+R’s and parking garages at the edge of the
city

• Road pricing:
• eliminates the number of parked cars at the parking
areas outside the city wall
• increases the possibility of more people using metro
and LiRa to access the Masdar city
• expected outcome: the low carbon area is not
limited only in the city but also on a certain distance
outside the city.

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5. Regulation of parking supply
• In the current plans for Masdar City, parking will be supplied
at the edge of the city (probably in multi storey parking
buildings).

• In our view: parking could be regulated in Masdar City to

enhance sustainability of the city, by e.g.
• Several privileges for electric / clean cars (e.g. parking
next to the PRT / PT stop)
• Enough parking supply near PT stops just outside
Masdar city (P+R) – differentiating parking fees to
regulate supply and demand

• Consider private car usage for the inhabitants of Masdar City

as an adjacent mode of transport (‘’when it is not convenient
to use public transport or to walk”)
• Provide attractive shared car schemes

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 6. Public awareness campaigns

• Knowledge dissemination about

sustainability to the inhabitants is
started at basic school to spread
the awareness over.
• Masdar Institute will be the
leading institution and the
knowledge center of sustainability

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7. Promotion of MM in companies
• Masdar City will be home to 1500 companies.

• At the early stage, it is of importance to develop a

cooperation scheme with the companies to promote
sustainable mobility.

• Incentives can be introduced to encourage the

companies to apply for example flexible working hours,
telecommuting, dedicated (semi) public transport for
employees, etc.

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 The new approach of Mobility Management

• Low carbon cities like Masdar City have good supply of

public transport and a good built environment.
• It is also important to influence the life style of the
inhabitants

The new approach of mobility management:

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Conclusions

• Masdar City will become a trend setter of a low carbon

city and a knowledge centre referred by the next
sustainable cities.
• Masdar City as a low carbon city has a very strong
focus on land use planning + supply of transport
modes.
• The Conventional MM is based on cities built for cars
(and manage the demand).
• For Masdar City a new form of MM has to be developed
to influence the life style.
• Implementation of MM in a new city is more effective
and efficient because the behavior of the inhabitants is
shaped from the initial phase.
• Evaluation of MM measures by calculating CO2
emissions of low carbon city and its inhabitants is
extremely important
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