Urban mobility plans are essential

Planning. That's the magic word used by Paula Teles, president of the Institute of Mobile Cities and Towns, when discussing issues in relation to citizens moving between cities and suburbs and within the urban agglomerations themselves

What determines practically all mobility choices is time rather than the distance between home and the workplace. Reducing distances is no longer as important as reducing waiting times.

As such, the authorities have been paying greater attention to urban mobility policies. Mobility plans are beginning to appear, drawn up with the idea of ​​land development, which will be decisive to the manner in which we view the cities of the future.

However, Paula Teles warns that “in European terms, Portugal is poorly qualified in these matters, and is one of the countries that obviously is not planning mobility". A situation that needs to change.

Gearing cities to the way in which citizens move both in and beyond the urban area is one of the major challenges that no political strategy can turn its back on. With urban outskirts gaining in importance in day-to-day life, mobility issues will arise almost immediately. Our cities are not prepared for this change and, according to the experts, may not be preparing for the future.