News
Project Inception Activities 2019
T-SUM | March 2019
T-SUM inception meeting, workshop and public lecture
T-SUM workshop: Public-private relationships in urban transport
T-SUM, 2019
T-SUM international inception meeting
06 March 2019
The T-SUM project held its International Inception Meeting in London between 6th and 8th of March, 2019 at UCL in London with attendance of all international co-investigators and representation of local stakeholders in the case-study cities and international partners. Dr Joseph Macarthy and Braima Koroma from the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre – SLURC were joined by Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Hindolo Shiaka (Director of Transport and Infrastructure Development Unit, Ministry of Transport and Aviation), and Ing. Patrick James Lavalie (Sierra Leone Roads Authority). Similarly, Joaquin Romero de Tejada from WAZA and Prof. Antonio Matos from the Eduardo Mondlane University of Maputo were joined by Luís Nhaca, Transport Councillor, Maputo City Council, Mozambique and Ana Maria Alves, Finance Councillor, Matola City Council, Mozambique. We also had attendance of Fatima Arroyo Arroyo from the World Bank and William Le Bec from the French Development Agency. The meeting was the perfect opportunity to share progress in Work Packages 1 and 2, work on city profiles and refinement of methods and next steps in empirical research. It was also an opportunity for co-production of reflections around common and case-specific challenges for transitions to sustainable urban mobility and production of synergies between cities. Collective and case-centred work was developed alongside the UCL team and with support of project partners.
The Inception Meeting also involved a working session on 07 March with the T-SUM International Advisory Board comprised by experts such as David Bull, Professor Julio D. Davila, Professor NIck Tyler, Professor Gina Porter and Holger Dalkmann.
T-SUM workshop
07 March 2019
The first T-SUM public workshop entitled: Public-Private relationships in urban transport: considerations and experiences from the Global North and South was held at the Institute of Advance Studies in UCL. The workshop, supported by UCL Grand Challenges, discussed the role of private actors in cities across the world in transitioning to sustainable urban mobility pathways.
The workshop started with short presentations contrasting experiences from African and South American cities and London, presented by T-SUM co-investigators Dr Clemence Cavoli, Joaquin Romero, and Dr Daniel Oviedo, as well as Dr Polyvios Polyviou from the Transport Innovation unit at Transport for London (TfL). Presentation discussed pressing challenges associated with emerging technologies and business models and the different reactions from public authorities in rapidly growing cities.
Presentations were followed by a panel discussion that included speakers and experts such as: Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist, Google, Dr Matteo Rizzo, senior Lecturer in Development Studies, SOAS, David Bull, former head of transport and urban planning, Birmingham.
The event was chaired by Professor Peter Jones, OBE, T-SUM Principal Investigator, Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development, UCL.
Open discussions with attendees, emphasised on the implications of disruptions and technology for equitable and inclusive urban mobility, the need for structural interventions that address essential needs, and the challenges of capacity for planning, regulation and delivery in Global South cities.
T-SUM Public Lecture
07 March 2019
On 07 March, T-SUM hosted its first public lecture discussing the principles underpinning sustainable urban transitions and the extent to which rapidly growing cities in the Global South can benefit from it.
The event, chaired by T-SUM work package 4 lead Professor Caren Levy, included thought-provoking keynote addresses by Professor Nick Tyler, CBE, Director of the UCL Centre for Transport Studies and Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering, CEGE, UCL, and Dr Debbie Hopkins, Assistant Professor at the Transport Studies Unit of the University of Oxford.
Presentations by speakers were followed by a panel discussion involving Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Professor Peter Jones, OBE, Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development, UCL, and Holger Dalkmann, Urban Theme Lead for the DFID-funded High Volume Transport (HVT) programme. Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr made inspiring and practice/oriented remarks that resonated with the audience, while experts in the panel emphasised on the challenges and opportunities of what transition discourses and actions may entail for building a future vision of cities currently following unsustainable development trajectories.
The event was followed by a cocktail reception including a speech from UCL Vice-Provost Research, Professor David Price.
