GreenSAM

Although a lot of cities in the Baltic Sea region are introducing green urban mobility solutions, the majority of senior citizens remains reluctant towards these alternatives. The GreenSAM project develops a toolbox of good practices and potential obstacles for the participation of seniors in the decision-making processes in green urban mobility. The toolbox applied by public authorities in Hamburg, Aarhus, Gdansk, Tartu and Riga enables to exchange knowledge in efficient involvement of seniors and increasing their acceptance of eco-friendly mobility services such as collective transport and ride-sharing.

Project summary

Increased institutional capacities

Most city administrations in the Baltic Sea region lack structured knowledge of the mobility needs of seniors. Their awareness of the accessibility need does exist (barrier-free design of new mobility solutions) but psychological and other “hidden” barriers usually remain unrecognised. This is why public authorities often take investment decisions that are environmentally-friendly but not age-friendly. Against this background, the project GreenSAM develops a set of innovative participation tools that help recognise mobility needs and requirements of seniors. GreenSAM also integrates new age-friendly solutions into decision-making procedures.

Behavioural change

GreenSAM directly cooperates with senior citizen groups in its partner cities and involves them in developing and testing new participation tools. These include e.g. consultations, coaching, tutorials, mobility labs, applications and chatbots. Not only do these interactive tools help public authorities to learn about the demands of senior citizens; they also trigger a behaviour change, convincing seniors to e.g. a bicycle sharing system.

Proven approaches for green age-friendly mobility

GreenSAM tests the participation tools in six pilot regions around the Baltic Sea, which face similar demographic challenges, yet they are diverse from a socio-cultural, political and economic perspective. Additionally, six follower cities, i.e. Gdynia, Göteborg, Oslo, Tampere, Växjö and Vilnius, complement with their insight into the transferability of the tools.

Budgets

GreenSAM
in numbers

1.94

Million

Total
1.53

Million

Erdf
0.00

Million

Eni + Russia
0.00

Million

Norway

Highlights by mid-term

GreenSAM realised various activlities that contribute to improving senior participation and enhancing knowledge on this within public authorities. Model solutions have been implemented in the partner cities, partly adapted to Covid-19 restrictions. Among these, there were street talks and co-creation workshops with seniors in Hamburg. In Riga, Mobility Lab sessions were organised in close cooperation with local public authorities. With the involvement of Turku Region Traffic Authority, partners from Valonia realised the first “Mentoring Model” to increase senior participation in public transport.

The “Atlas on participative approaches to age-friendly green mobility” is available. It provides public authorities with a framework on how to create a participatory process that is targeted at an age-friendly city. Moreover, concept papers on participation tools have been published in the toolbox for age-friendly green mobility solutions.

Outputs

Project Stories