MOVE21 participated in the Urban Nodes session at the 13th Florence Intermodal Forum, co-organised by Isabelle Vandoorne and Robert Szucs (European Commission) and Professor Thomas Finger (Florence School of Regulation).
Urban hubs are a significant development in the revised TEN-T Regulation, which aims to address the specific needs, including financial needs, of 432 cities along the trans-European transport network corridors. Ivo Cré (POLIS), Alan O’Brien and Neri Di Volo (European Investment Bank) and Tiina Ruohonen (City of Oslo) provided insights into determining the appropriate scale for an urban node, be it the municipality, the metropolitan area, the functional urban area or the region.
Identifying stakeholders:
Wolfgang Backhaus (Rupprecht Consult GmbH), Mario Tartaglia (Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A.), Peter Staelens (Eurocities) and Anna Gotheil (Groupe SNCF) helped to identify the main stakeholders. These include municipalities, metropolitan authorities, regions, Member States, transport authorities, infrastructure managers (rail, airports, etc.), transport service providers, passengers, as well as major employers, urban planners and sectors such as energy and digital. The aim is inclusivity, but simplicity is crucial for the effectiveness of urban nodes.
Coordinating urban hubs:
Identifying the key facilitator for the urban nodes is essential. Françoise Guaspare (Région Ile de France), Alessandro Del Piano (Citta Metropolitana di Bologna), Adrian Mazur (Ministry of Infrastructure, Poland) and Faustino Gomes (EMTA – European Metropolitan Transport Authorities) assessed the pros and cons of different coordinators: cities, metropolitan authorities, transport authorities and member states. While the choice is not easy, it is crucial to give a voice to urban authorities, ideally those with the resources, knowledge, political power and budget to invest.
The discussions emphasised the need for the right institutional models, linked to the TEN-T institutional framework, while remaining open to new ideas and developments.