NICHES+ · New and Innovative Concepts for Helping European Transport Sustainability - Towards Implementation

NICHES+ aims to network actors engaged in developing innovative urban transport concepts. This proposal relates to the successful previous NICHES project, with similar objectives, but different topics. Both share the mission to stimulate a debate on innovative urban transport between stakeholders from different sectors, to promote the most promising new concepts from their current niche position to a mainstream urban transport application. NICHES+ will explore innovative urban transport concepts, which are high on the European & local agenda, while also looking into the needs of its potential users and implementers, i.e. concepts to increase accessibility to urban mobility options; concepts to increase the use & efficiency of infrastructure & interchanges; concepts to exploit functionalities of urban traffic management centres; concepts for automated & space efficient transport. These topics add to the work started under NICHES, which already examined a set of innovative concepts and successfully promoted them. NICHES+ will collect information & encourage networking by gathering urban transport experts in Working Group meetings. Selected concepts will be looked at in terms of their transferability to ensure wider replication. The project will develop policy notes for decision makers, implementation scenarios for selected cities and site visit programmes to promote the concepts. Recommendations for further research on urban transport innovation will be formulated. The project will work directly with cities, developing implementation scenarios for integrating innovative concepts in urban policies and move from the development of innovative mobility solutions to practical implementation. The added value of funding NICHES+, which can build on the basis of its predecessor project NICHES, is that a substantial coordination platform for innovative urban transport will continue to expand. Synergies between the 2 projects will help to achieve results in a very efficient way.