15 partners from six EU countries have launched a three-year long Horizon 2020 project set to transform local transport.

The PoliVisu project, aimed at transforming local transport systems, will make transport more optimised, resilient and citizen-centric by working with the cities of Ghent, Belgium; Pilsen, Czech Republic; and Issy-les-Mouluneau, France.

PoliVisu will promote data-driven policy making as a solution to urban mobility challenges, such as congestion, parking and the inadequacy of transport infrastructure.

PoliVisu’s framework envisions agile policy making as a continuous process consisting of three cycles: Design, reconciling different stakeholders’ views and facilitating experimentation of policy scenarios through data visualisation; Implementation, going beyond policy execution by including frequent communication activities coupled with reaction monitoring on social media; and Evaluation, assessing policy impact on environment, mobility, financing and citizen welfare using a range of evaluation techniques.

Geert Mareels, PoliVisu co-ordinator, said: “Clearly the project has an ambitious vision and a correspondingly high potential to realise it while delivering multiple benefits to a variety of stakeholders.”

He added: “There will be financial benefits for public administrations and logistics companies; business opportunities for consultancy and IT firms; greater policy acceptance among citizens; improved quality of life and more opportunities to innovate thanks to the availability of new data, knowledge and tools.

“We invite cities in Europe and beyond to join us on this exciting new journey.”

The PoliVisu project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

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