MOBILIZE Summit is an event brings together urban transport and development practitioners alongside world-class researchers to accelerate implementation of sustainable transport projects.

Using research to fill knowledge gaps, activities around MOBILIZE harness the availability of international solutions and draw on the lessons of a local case city used as a learning laboratory.

Interaction between researchers and practitioners foster greater global resource allocation toward the goals of making streets, transport systems, and cities the best possible places for people. This year, the MOBILIZE Summit event was held in Yichang, China which is also the winner of “2016 Sustainable Transport Award” for implementing a series of progressive transit projects over the last year.

GUANGZHOU

As a series of MOBILIZE Yichang trip, ITDP Indonesia made several visits before arriving in Yichang. Guangzhou was selected as the city that we visited to see the best practice of sustainable transport. We also invited Medan officials to join us. It was also a part of our capacity building program through site visit project to show the Medan officials how the best practice of BRT is implied. On the first day of the trip, we visited Guangzhou to take a visit to the busiest BRT system in China, Gangding BRT Station. The Guangzhou BRT has more than tripled the peak passenger flows of any other BRT system in Asia, and also higher throughput than nearly all metro systems in China. Gangding BRT station itself formed a model of efficient urban mobility where passing lanes and direct service were applied in the system.

The group also visited Tangxia village, one of “urban villages” among 304 “urban villages” all over Guangzhou. “Urban villages” were born to accommodate Guangzhou’s rapid urbanization. It is a traditional village placed in metropolitan area, consists of houses, stores and public transit. 23 of them are located along the 23km BRT corridor.

Another interesting area in Guangzhou is Liuyun area. Originally, Liuyun is residential area. When the residents started to open the building for business, lots of people came to the area and it became one of the busiest business district in Guangzhou. The government didn’t make the area official as a business district because of security reason. But the demand kept increasing and it ended with the government making several rules such as prohibition of motorcycles passing the area. Now, the first and second floors of the building are allocated as business area and the rest of the floors as residential area. With park, public space and prohibition of motorcycles, Liuyun area is a very comfortable space for people in Guangzhou to visit.

When visiting Guangzhou, you will be able to see bikes passing by everywhere on the segregated road. Cycling is a common mode of transport in China. And Guangzhou started to implement bike sharing system in 2010. The system built along and around the BRT corridor and featured 5,000 bikes at 110 stations with 20,000 bike sharing trips per day. It connected one BRT station to another BRT station, making it easier and shorter traveling time for the people of Guangzhou.

YICHANG

Yichang is the next destination in our trip. The city of Yichang which just received a 2016 Sustainable Transport Award for implementing a series of progressive transit projects over the last year also has interesting places to visit. Yichang opened its own BRT system in 2015 and features a BRT corridor through the heart of the city. In its first full month of operation, the Yichang BRT carried 240,000 daily passenger trips on 362 buses. Another interesting place is Canal Linear Park that was built more than 50 years ago. After its restoration, the Canal Linear Park now serves as an exciting public spaces integrated with other elements of the city.

During our visit in Yichang, we also participated in MOBILIZE Yichang, an event that is a part of Sustainable Transport Award 2016. The event included so many keynote speakers attending the event to share knowledge about urban mobility. Yichang, host of the first annual MOBILIZE summit, has shown that a mid-size city can put great ideas into action and produce projects that inspire other cities. Many of today’s mid-size cities, which are greater in number than mega-cities, will be the big metropolises of the future. The way these cities plan for and manage growth can provide particular lessons. Participants to this invitation-only summit have a unique opportunity to experience this model emerging city, as mid-size Chinese cities plan for intensive growth over the next decade.

More pictures: ITDP Indonesia Facebook