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Transforming Urban Mobility: Introduction to Transport Planning for Sustainable Cities

Discover the different dimensions of sustainable urban mobility, including the Avoid-Shift-Improve (ASI) framework.

7,600 enrolled on this course

Photograph of street in Bogota with many pedestrians
  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Learn how urban mobility projects can help to create sustainable cities

Good transport systems and projects are critical to the development of environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive cities.

This course considers the impacts of motorisation, our current unsustainable travel patterns, and the framework for changing to sustainable urban mobility.

Understand the components of a sustainable urban mobility strategy

You’ll explore the impacts of different transport systems and discover approaches to transport planning that help cities become more sustainable.

You’ll also examine the different dimensions of sustainable urban mobility, including the Avoid-Shift-Improve (ASI) framework, which strives to achieve significant GHG emission reductions, reduced energy consumption, less congestion, with the final objective being to create more liveable cities.

Discover how sustainable urban mobility is most effectively delivered

You’ll understand the role of urban planning in supporting the use of public transport, walking and cycling, and how integrated solutions can work across cities worldwide.

You’ll experience how integrated urban and transport planning helps improve the welfare of people and their communities, shaping travel behaviours and neighborhoods into healthier, more efficient spaces.

You’ll also consider how sustainable land use planning helps improve the welfare of people and their communities, shaping their urban areas and neighborhoods into healthier, more efficient spaces.

Learn from planning experts at the UCL Bartlett School of Planning and the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI)

The Bartlett School of Planning is one of the leading research-led planning schools in the world. In collaboration with TUMI, you’ll learn about planning, design and management of cities, their transport systems, and how you can shape their future.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 8 seconds Mobility has become an integral component in all of our lives. Transport allows us to access activities and to participate in life. Transport systems are very different across cities and facilitate very varied experiences of life. However, in most cities, the private car has become too dominant. Over the period from the 1950s to the 1980s and onwards, our lives are too dependent on the use of the car. Space on the street has been given by a complex set of processes, institutions, and actors through one dominant mode, the private car, at the expense of all others. This has been justified in terms of supporting individualised travel but has ignored the very significant adverse impacts on society.

Skip to 1 minute and 6 seconds In this course, we ask how transport systems can most effectively support sustainable cities.

Skip to 1 minute and 16 seconds Your lead educators on this course are from the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. We will hear from a range of experts giving lectures and discussing case study material. We will explore practise in many cities internationally, including Delft, Freiburg, Hong Kong, Hauten, and London. Using videos, articles, and discussions, we will ask how transport affects our cities, examine the Avoid-Shift-Improve framework for development sustainable urban mobility, and assess good practise in integrated urban planning and transport. The course is intended for a range of people, including transport and city planning practitioners in the global scene, including in Africa, South America, and Asia. You can join us to explore how transport systems can most effectively support sustainable cities.

What topics will you cover?

  • Introducing sustainable urban mobility
  • How transport affects our cities
  • The Avoid-Shift-Improve (ASI) framework for developing sustainable urban mobility
  • Integrated urban planning and transport.

When would you like to start?

  • Date to be announced

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Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explore the impacts of different transport systems, including the adverse impacts of motorisation
  • Explore the different dimensions of sustainable urban mobility, including the Avoid-Shift-Improve (ASI) framework
  • Explore the role of urban planning in supporting the use of public transport, walking and cycling

Who is the course for?

The course is best suited to transport and city planning practitioners in both the Global South and Global North, including in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

This includes academics, researchers, students and those working in national and city authorities, consultancies, and civil society. It’s also suited to those who are simply interested in learning more about sustainable urban mobility.

Who will you learn with?

Professor at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, and Director of the MSc in Transport & City Planning at UCL.

Beatriz is Postdoctoral Researcher at CEDEUS and the BRT+ Centre of Excellence, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. She got her PhD at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London.

Hello! I am a Sustainable Transport Planner and Adivsor at the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) and Women Mobilize Women (WMW) at GIZ.

Urban Planner and Policy Advisor at the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) at GIZ.

Who developed the course?

UCL (University College London)

UCL was founded in 1826. It was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, and the first to open up university education to those previously excluded from it.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (English: German Agency for International Cooperation GmbH), often simply shortened to GIZ, is the main German development agency. It provides tailor-made services for sustainable development through international development cooperation and international education work.

Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI)

The Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) is implemented by GIZ and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Endorsers and supporters

funded by

Giz

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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