Ravenna completes the initial public consultation for its new SUMP

Ravenna, city of art and culture on the Italian Adriatic coast and a beneficiary of European funds due to the role of its port in the TEN-T network, has started the process of updating its SUMP and a series of related implementation plans, such as the Urban Transport Plan, the Public Transport Plan, the Plan for Cycling Mobility and others. For this purpose, between November and February, the municipality organised a first round of public consultation structured in 9 focus groups.

The focus groups were opportunities for an open discussion between the different stakeholders, the public administration and the experts in charge of drafting the plans. The meetings were structured following the main topics to be covered in the planning documents: local public transport, city logistics, cycling mobility(link is external), city-port logistics, tourist mobility, home-to-work and home-to-school trips, inclusive mobility and the mobility in the historic centre.

Some of the outstanding outcomes of the recent process were:

• The focus group dedicated to inclusive mobility focused on strategies to enhance services for people with reduced mobility that would allow better accessibility and usability of the city' mobility options. The stakeholders highlighted the need to rethink the city, emphasising aspects such as adapting bus stops and on-board equipment to improve accessibility to public transport, as well as of improving digital literacy to guarantee equal accessibility to all.
• The meeting dedicated to mobility in the historic centre highlighted the need to improve liveability and accessibility to this area, which is of high artistic and cultural value. The desire was to make the city centre increasingly suitable for visitors and residents by favouring walking, cycling and improving the quality of public spaces.
• The last scheduled meeting was dedicated to home-to-school mobility. During the discussion, associations highlighted the need to emphasise the role of the school mobility manager in every local school. Other important discussions were structured around the need to improve public spaces around schools to improve safety and air quality and to reduce road accidents.

Common themes of interest emerged in almost every focus group, such as the need to inform and raise public awareness on issues related to sustainability so as to promote a greater use of sustainable ways of moving in the city, on the coast and in the city's outskirts.  

This first cycle of public involvement, which concluded on 2 February 2022, was the opportunity to present the analysis that has been undertaken to date and to discuss the main problems of the city's mobility system. All of these meetings aimed to provide inputs for defining the objectives and strategies associated with the SUMP revision and were an essential element for the identification of challenges. Further discussion will follow during the next few months to define the planning scenarios and the selection of the measures that might be included in the SUMP.