Working Group 6: Tartu as a City of Active Transport
Team leaders: Friedrich Kuhlmann & Ghieth Alkhateeb (EMU Tartu), Ellen Fetzer (LE:NOTRE Institute/NGU)
Field trip: A tour by bicycle, foot and public transport around the city of Tartu looking at a range of aspects related to active travel, such as cycle paths, typical wheeling behaviour on streets, recent road construction projects and the bicycle/scooter rental systems.
Lecture: 1. Active travel and its future development in Tartu; 2. Modelling of car traffic and the implications for introducing active travel on traffic patterns )
Workshop: Estonia and Estonians tend to be car-focused because of the low density of population, among other reasons. This theme will look at how to convert Tartu from a car dominated to an active transport focused city. This theme is very pertinent for Tartu2024. There are many problems of wheeling on pavements and people do not like to ride bikes on the streets.
Local challenge: To increase the proportion of non-car use in Tartu and to improve the street experience for pedestrians and wheelers and to enhance the quality of the public transport system.
Research questions:
- What are the main barriers to improving the proportion of active travel? Are they social, economic, political or cultural?
- How can a more efficient network of active travel routes aimed at wheeling be established beyond the current plans?
- How can the pavements be safely repurposed for mixed use in order to make them more comfortable for pedestrians?
Tasks:
- To assess the current situation of active travel in Tartu using maps and other spatial resources and to identify the main gaps or problems such as areas without easy access to cycle routes.
- To suggest where expansion of the network might be undertaken and to provide ideas or exemplars of good practice from elsewhere.
- To examine the problems of mixed use of pavements and to suggest design ideas for improving them.