MobilityShow will offer an important schedule of side events, including round tables, seminars and workshops about environmental and mobility subjects introduced by leading professionals working in sustainable urban mobility.

1. Sustainable mobility, energy saving and air quality.
   
   
2. New means of transport and innovative vehicles with a low environmental impact.
   
   
3. Technologies and systems for the integrated management of urban mobility.
   
   
4. Right to mobility, governance, management and regulations

Session "A"

"Sustainable mobility, energy saving and air quality"

The goal of this session is to deal with compatibility between the development of the demand for mobility (often leading to an increase in private vehicles) and the Kyoto objectives, in the light of the strong price tensions existing on the oil market.
The issue of vehicles and their development will be addressed in some of its most significant aspects, with special reference to the development of traditional vehicles, the possibility to use low impact fuels, the use of bio-fuels, the scenario of electric and combination vehicles. In particular:

• Development of traditional technology
  This part of the session will deal with the development of “traditional” vehicles, with special reference to the increasing development of diesel vehicles and their environmental impact on urban areas; it will illustrate the effects of the EU regulations on emission limits; it will illustrate the activities that are under way to improve performance and reduce consumption.
  

• The experience of methane and LPG
  In Italy, the use of methane and LPG has a very long tradition. Only recently, on the initiative of the Environment Ministry, has this area grown, in terms of circulating fleet and new vehicles designed and manufactured by the manufacturers themselves to use LPG or Methane as fuels. The goal of this part of the session is therefore to review:
  


• The development of technology and  distribution networks;
• Ministerial incentives (ICBI initiative and Methane initiative);
• Subsidies for emission containment in urban areas, with special attention of the development of fleets (buses and goods vehicles).
  
  
  
• Development of electric traction
  Over the last few years, electric traction has gone through times of strong development alternating with times of stagnation. This part of the session will try to review the current scenario and illustrate the most significant experiences that have been developed in Italy and Europe. Special attention will be paid to:
  
  
• The development of combination vehicles (private cars and buses);
• Fuel cell vehicles;
• The development of new accumulator systems for electric vehicles;
• The cities’ new attention to new-generation streetcars and trolleybuses.
  
  
  
• Bio-fuels
  The development of bio-fuels has become more and more important, through the European Commission, in the area of transportation. More energy self-sufficiency and the reduction in CO2 emissions are the factors that have helped steer the public decision-makers towards this type of fuel, also for vehicles. This part of the session will tackle the development of bio-fuels, with special reference to:
  
  
• State of the art;
• Development of legislation and tax relief (in terms of reduced excise duties);
• Potencial effects on the development of agriculture;
• Presentation of some success stories (Stockholm and the Sweden Bio-Fuel Region)  and the EU BEST project.
  
  

Session "B"

New forms of innovative, clean transport capable of delivering real alternative to the car.

The main lesson of the 1963 report, Traffic in Towns; that in most European towns and cities it would prove impossible to cater for unrestricted use of the motor car, is today widely accepted. Yet many cities have still to accept and adopt the policy implications that they need to provide good, cheap public transport alternatives to the private car and to introduce measures to restrict the its use. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that the car has so changed the size and shape of urban areas and their travel patterns as to make the provision of good, convenient public transport much more difficult. Conventional forms of public transport, such as the bus and the train, have found it increasingly hard to provide a realistic and competitive alternative to the car for any urban travel apart from journeys to some city centres.
Today the need find good alternatives to the car, to clean up the transport sector as a whole and to reduce its emissions of CO2 have become critical as the contribution of transport to global warming continues to increase and as politicians are obliged to admit the gravity of the situation. Today we also live at the height of the second industrial revolution of communication and automation, a revolution which has yet to have much impact on urban public transport. A bus is still a bus and is usually a poor alternative to the car.
This session of the conference will consider what new technology can already and will increasingly contribute to the problem of finding new, clean forms of urban public transport that are capable of out-performing the car or at least providing an acceptable alternative to it. The systems to be considered by leading experts in the field will range from the re-invention of the tram, through driverless cars and buses to the new personal rapid transit systems, which are forecast to be capable of delivering urban and suburban public transport that will be as fast and convenient as a car and far cleaner.

Malcolm Buchanan
Colin Buchanan and Partners
London

Session "C"

Introduction to the Workshop
“Technologies and systems for the integrated management of urban mobility"

In urban and metropolitan areas, traffic congestion has by now reached unsustainable levels which have heavy environmental impacts, while the prospects for 2010 show a 26% increase in the number of vehicles by kilometre and a 38% increase in the number of goods.

The current trends in the main European cities and metropolitan areas, as well as in the EU-funded strategies/plans, go towards integrated governance that should affect both the demand for mobility and the supply of collective transport as well as boost the use of eco-sustainable vehicles and methods.
At the same time, as proven by the “Mobility Show”, the supply of technological tools and communication platforms (Information and Communication Technology, ICT) and ITS systems (Intelligent Transport System) has hugely increased and has begun to significantly affect the choices of the local administrations, so that it is now possible to act at different stages of the transport and logistic chains: from network planning to traffic management and control, from message boards and user information to public fleet control and location, to electronic ticketing, goods distribution, etc...

These technologies and systems, if supported by appropriate organisational and operational scenarios, can be basic tools for cities to manage and channel the ever-increasing demand for mobility, while differentiating the overall supply, so as to produce a rational, flexible and coordinated use of the existing road and transport capacity.
Therefore, cities really need to supplement their technical and administrative tools (City plan, City traffic and mobility plan, Parking plan, etc.) with actual Mobility Technology Plans, as also stated in the latest General Transport Plan.

In this scenario, the workshop “Technologies and systems for the integrated management of urban mobility", without claiming to be exhaustive, aims at addressing and above all at discussing the role of ICT and ITS technology in mobility governance and, more generally, in an “organised” and flexible city. The following reports will be presented by experts:

• Urban mobility governance and technology plan
  
• Simulation tools for practical network planning
  
• ITS systems in support of transport and mobility control and management
  
• Integrated platforms. Multi-service centre of flexible mobility
  
• Towards an organised city

The purpose of the workshop is to involve different stakeholders from municipalities, provinces, regions, public transport operators, associations having responsibility, roles, needs in the life, overall sustainability and eco-efficiency of the city, in terms of mobility and transport.

Session "D"
aims to address the problem of managing city traffic by tackling four subjects, which have been the focus of research and debate over the last few years.

The first subject is the use of city roundabouts; it will describe their technical specifications, applications, pros and cons, by presenting some case-studies for an appraisal of before- and after- traffic conditions and road safety.

The second subject, which will be addressed by Pietro Gelmini, is about the management of access to city centres through road pricing and will present the most important experiences in the world, from Singapore and Oslo to the later, more positive experience of London. Finally, it will illustrate the Italian experiences, especially the ‘Bolzano Project’.

The third subject, which will be presented by Massimo Percudani, concerns traffic limitation and will highlight the need for an integrated approach and illustrate some interesting European experiences in the attempt to exhaustively deal with the many aspects of this topic.

The fourth subject, which will be dealt with by Isabella Steffan, is the mobility of weak users. In particular, it will address the issue of pedestrian mobility, with special reference to children’s needs. The report will include a presentation of significant foreign experiences and a proposed methodological approach.