ITDP Indonesia’s Senior Urban Planning, Gender and Social Inclusion Associate, Deliani Poetriayu Siregar attended SEA Gathering Mobility Movers in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The gathering event was held for three days from August 23 to August 25, 2023.

The first day activities were an introduction and panel discussion. It started with group activities by presenting SEA cities’ typical daily commuting trips with the aim for the participants to understand more about what they shared in common and the differences related to challenges as well as opportunities in accessing sustainable transport modes. Deliani shared a sensory mapping by doing a role-play and storytelling about a fictional persona’s, named Jeniper, daily commuting trip from Bogor to Sudirman and Monas. The activity was followed by the sharing session from FOPDEV (Thailand), Pinay Bike Commuter Community (Philippines), and Think Play (Vietnam). This session emphasized the importance of inclusive environments for vulnerable groups to access city public facilities.

The second day activities were divided into three sessions. Storytelling in the morning session was delivered by Adriansyah and Vareck. This session followed with discussion about the need for easy access to public transportation, which reflects to most cities in South-East Asia’s issues about the first/last mile challenge disrupting people to get to public transportation. For instance, transport in Jakarta helped to increase public transportation accessibility by improving their passenger information, including wayfinding and maps. Afternoon session storytelling was delivered by Deliani, Fay, and Celine. They shared best practices about how to lead pedestrian improvement in the city of their representative country such as Jakarta, Bangkok, and Manila, which also included campaigns, audits, district-based movements, and awards.

In panel session discussions as one of the second day activities, the collaboration with private sectors was explored based on best practices in Vietnam, Philippines, and globally. The evening session included storytelling of Jakarta and Vietnam to monitor clean air by Clean Air Catalyst and WRI Indonesia who shared their experiences in developing LEZ. Closing the second day’s activity, Aslihan and Sid from CMC shared the global context and previous collaboration, such as from a study case, in India, CMC partnered with ITDP India to promote complete streets and invite more municipalities to be granted more technical assistance.

The last day’s activities were a community visit and group discussion. It was scheduled to look at the best practices of a cycling community in Muang Kaen initiated by the city mayor who uses a bike to do his daily activities. All sessions were closed in the evening with group discussions to summarize and reflect on all three-day activities by following up with recommendations and/or suggestions for the next steps. Furthermore, the community agreed to look forward to further collaboration since Golda from ICSC also shared with Deliani, a potential project on first/last mile urban logistics. SEA platforms should be addressed next time to connect with others.