Title: Climate-friendly mobility in Tirana
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Albania
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, Municipality of Tirana
Overall term: 2020 to 2024
Context
We are currently experiencing a fundamental change in the mobility of people and goods world-wide. This was not only visible through the recent challenges around Covid19, but also in the global question on climate change. New technologies, new business models, and new lifestyles and mobility habits are changing the way our global mobility regime works. Cities in particular are shaping the global mobility transition.
Urban mobility in Tirana, one of the most densely populated and fastest growing urban regions in Europe, has been on the Albanian government's agenda for many years. The number of cars has increased from almost zero in the late communist period of the late 1980s to around 200 cars per 1,000 inhabitants today. Negative consequences are an extremely high volume of traffic, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and serious impacts on air quality.
In order to make mobility in Tirana more sustainable, alternatives to car usage have to be im-proved, such as high-quality public transport or safe and convenient infrastructure for walking and cycling. Initial investments have already resulted in positive results, for example in cycling. This momentum needs to be further supported and expanded through the cooperation.
Objective
Technical and institutional capacities to implement sustainable urban mobility measures in Tirana are improved.
Approach
The project goal is to modernise the bus system as well as the walking and cycling infrastructure in order to expand the still high proportion of people who walk or cycle (32 percent) or use public transport (36 percent).
To achieve these goals, the project supports the development of efficient and data-driven management processes towards climate-friendly mobility in Tirana. The project uses a variety of tools and demonstration projects to address three main areas of action:
• Building a data-driven management process and culture to support sustainable mobility.
• Improving the quality of service and sustainability of the bus system.
• Improving the quality and integration of walking and cycling.
The project is part of a global partnership for sustainable urban mobility, the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).
Last update: June 2023