Good Practice Lessons from the Urban Traffic Project, Denmark

In 1990, as the first government in the world, the Danish Cabinet approved a national action plan for sustainable transport. In 1992, as part of the implementation of this plan, the Urban Traffic Project was set up with the EPA. The policy situation was one of a state agency trying to motivate urban municipalities to work with T&E (transport and environment) integration, i.e. integration of concerns for safety, energy, air quality, noise etc. in urban traffic planning. 50 major urban municipalities participated in the project. The most important lessons to be learned from the project are: (1) With a fairly modest investment (DKK 150 million in seed money) it has been possible on a voluntary basis to motivate the majority of urban municipalities to work with T&E integration. (2) The top motivating factor for municipalities to participate was a desire for organisational and professional learning. (3) The use of a concrete, action-oriented approach with a high degree of actual project implementation was key to the success of the Urban Traffic Project. (4) So was a focus on the development of inter-organisational skills, cutting across administrative boundaries and across the administrative-political and public-private divides. (5) Finally, professional support and the establishment of fora for mutual learning were also crucial to the success of the project. The presentation will also cover barriers to the success of the Urban Traffic Project.