What we are doing
Walking and cycling are often overlooked in city planning despite their growing importance as the most affordable, resilient, and clean form of transport. The “Sparking Active Mobility Actions for climate-friendly Cities” project aims to promote active mobility strategies, policies, and practices contributing to avoiding greenhouse gas emissions, improving safe connectivity in cities, and promoting climate-friendly mobility behavior in the Philippines.
Due to the growing urbanization, economy, and motorization, greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector in the Philippines are projected to double by 2030. Transportation is responsible for 80% of air pollution emissions, costing 1.9% of GDP, and 27,000 premature deaths. Active mobility has the potential to reduce 3.46 million tons of emissions in highly urbanized cities while contributing to public health, equity, and green socio-economic recovery.
In response to the pandemic, cities in the Philippines are paying more attention to active mobility; however, cities need to overcome challenges such as limited data, lack of political support, limited capacity for local policy, and planning to move towards climate-friendly mobility systems. Resilient, equitable transport systems must become the norm. Walking and cycling, in particular, have been catalysts for redesigning streets and generating momentum toward people-centered cities.
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How we are tracking
1. GHG mitigation: GHG emission reduced or carbon stocks enhanced in the project area in t CO2 eq. The target value of GHG emissions reduction will be defined and reported in interim reports after developing the action agendas and selecting the tactical urbanism interventions.
2. 5,000 people in each community will directly benefit from the implementation of the pilot project, assuming the site of the project is in highly concentrated areas with high walking and biking traffic potential. This will be further defined and reported in interim reports after the selection of community for the model interventions.
3. Two Local Ordinances/Executive Orders and 2 policy documents promoting active mobility:
4. Two improved institutionalised structures
5. One walkability and cyclability assessment methodology is developed
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What we are achieving
The overarching goal of the SPARK project is to increase the role of active mobility in building resilient and safe transport systems, contribute to national emission reduction targets, and promote climate-friendly mobility behavior in the Philippines. To achieve this goal, the project will work with two selected cities through four work packages:
1. Understanding the context and setting baseline
2. Design model interventions and enhance the capacities of the local administration
3. Use tactical urbanism to jumpstart the implementation
4. Scale the tactical actions and disseminate globally
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