SUMPs for BSR · Training programme
Engaging stakeholders in planning mobility measures and SUMP
- The importance of stakeholder involvement in the SUMP process
- How to map stakeholders based on their different roles, interest and importance
- How to secure political support
- How to effectively engage stakeholders, types of stakeholder engagement activities, tools and examples of best practices and lessons learned from other cities
What will you learn?
This module covers strategies for involving stakeholders throughout the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) development and implementation.
The module will provide an overview of three main steps to plan for an effective stakeholder and citizen engagement – stakeholder analysis, framework for the engagement and the techniques. The module will teach how to raise awareness, secure political support, build stakeholder capacity and improve collaboration between stakeholders with different priorities.
- WEBINAR · 13.05.2026
The webinar recording provides a clear and practical introduction to stakeholder and citizen engagement in Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning.
The first part of the webinar focuses on why meaningful engagement is essential throughout the SUMP process. It explains how involving citizens, stakeholders and political decision-makers can help cities better understand local needs, build trust, secure support and create shared ownership of mobility plans. The presentation introduces key questions for planning engagement activities: why to engage, who to involve, when engagement should take place, and how to choose suitable methods. It also highlights the importance of reaching different groups, including vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities, and of understanding stakeholders’ interests, influence and potential role in implementation.
The second part of the webinar presents practical experiences from cities and examples of engagement methods in action. The City of Leuven shares its approach to citizen engagement, showing how public opinion, neighbourhood initiatives, citizens’ panels and temporary public space transformations can support mobility planning and help build acceptance for change. The webinar also explores how to select effective engagement activities for different planning stages and target groups. Finally, the City of Vilnius presents its experience with a Citizens’ Assembly, demonstrating how structured dialogue can help address complex urban mobility challenges, involve residents in decision-making and support more inclusive and transparent planning processes.
- WORKSHOP · 27.05.2026
The workshop recording presents practical examples of stakeholder engagement in Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning, with a focus on engaging decision-makers, citizens and other local stakeholders in planning and implementing mobility measures.
The recording includes a case from the City of Gdynia on engaging decision-makers and municipal departments in the SUMP update process, and a case from the City of Turku on using a citizen panel to gather residents’ experiences and feedback on SUMP-related measures. It also introduces Participatory.tools, a practical online resource developed in the HUPMOBILE project to support cities in selecting and combining stakeholder engagement methods.
Presentations & PDFs
Key elements of successful stakeholder and citizen engagement
Dr Kristina Gaučė
The power of the public opinion Citizens engagement The Leuven approac
Tim Asperges
VILNIUS CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY: opening streets and minds through dialogue
Beatrice Umbrasaite
Engaging decision-makers in the SUMP update process Experiences from Gdynia
Justyna Suchanek
Engaging citizens in the SUMP implementation
Anna-Kaisa Montonen
Exercises
Exercise 1 — Mapping out relevant stakeholders and their role in the SUMP process
This exercise supports city planners and practitioners in identifying and prioritising stakeholders for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) development. It provides an overview of key stakeholder groups, explains why inclusive engagement is essential, and offers practical tools such as stakeholder tables and an interest–influence matrix. The material helps participants reflect on who should be involved in the process, what roles different actors play, and how to plan meaningful engagement throughout the SUMP cycle.
Exercise 2 — Choosing engagement strategies
In this exercise, participants translate their stakeholder analysis into concrete engagement actions. Cities are guided to clarify why specific stakeholder groups should be involved, at which stage of the SUMP process, and which engagement formats are most suitable to achieve practical results. The exercise supports everyday planning work by helping cities choose realistic, goal‑driven participation methods that fit available resources and decision‑making timelines.
Background & additional materials
Guidelines for Developing and Implementing a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. Second Edition (Rupprecht Consult (eds.) 2019)
SUMP development and implementation process, detailed in the guidelines, consists of four phases, of which, Phase 1: preparation and analysis, helps to plan citizen and stakeholder involvement throughout the whole SUMP process. The guidelines help to identify and decide timing, methods and involved citizen groups, the involvement and communication approach through the clear list of tasks and good practice examples from other European cities.
Topic Guide: Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning in Smaller Cities and Towns (Rupprecht Consult (eds.) 2021)
The guide applies the SUMP Guidelines to the planning realities of smaller cities and towns and their specific challenges, including advice on how to involve the public and participation activities in the reality of scarce resources available.
CH4LLENGE Institutional Cooperation Manual: Working jointly with institutional partners in the context of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (2016)
Publication developed within European project CH4LLENGE “Addressing Key Challenges of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning” supports practitioners in dealing with barriers in the following situations: identifying relevant partners, encouraging impacted stakeholders to participate and engage, and delegating and agreeing on each partner’s responsibilities. The manual helps to understanding different barriers planning authorities face when involving institutional stakeholders in transport planning, as well as presents recommendations, methods and local case study examples of how best to approach them.
CH4LLENGE Participation: Engaging Citizens and Stakeholders in the Development of SUMPs (2016)
Publication developed within European project CH4LLENGE “Addressing Key Challenges of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning” supports practitioners in dealing with common participation challenges of SUMP processes, such as limited prior planning experience, resources, and/or capacities, deciding whether internal or outsourcing support for participation activities is required, developing a participation strategy to ensure common understanding between all involved actors to prevent conflict and creating a good representation of impacted stakeholders from all demographics.
Mobility Academy e-courses “SUMP learning programme for mobility practitioners” developed in CIVITAS SUMPs-UP project (2020)
The SUMP Learning Programme for mobility practitioners consists of 7 e-courses on different parts of the SUMP cycle. The courses tackle different phases in the SUMP process, while for this module, the most relevant is “Course 2: Co-creating the SUMP vision“. The course will introduce basic principles for mapping relevant stakeholders for the process. It will also give advice on what to take into consideration when cooperating with institutional stakeholders and how to prepare a public participation and communication strategy. The course presents concrete examples of methods and tools that can be used in workshops and events with different stakeholder groups to support the co-creation of the SUMP vision.
CIVITAS ECCENTRIC project Topic Guide: Addressing gender equity and vulnerable groups in SUMPs (2020)
This Topic Guide offers support to mobility practitioners and local authorities in understanding where gender equity and inclusivity meet transport planning and how to plan gender-responsive stakeholder engagement and meaningful participation.
Planner’s guide to Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (2020)
This Planner’s guide presents hands-on planning practices and measures to support sustainable urban mobility based on the experiences of cities.multimodal project partners. During the implementation of mobility measures, cities tested different ways to involve citizens. The case studies provide insights into the lessons learned on citizen involvement.
Participatory.Tools
Participatory.Tools developed within Interreg BSR HUPMOBILE project, is a webpage that collects tools and recommendations for the 5-step Stakeholder Engagement Process. The Participatory toolkit contains a library of different methods for participatory and co-creation activities with citizens and stakeholders, as well support for selecting the most suitable methods.
Year-Round Active Mobility Citizen Activation Guide for Practitioners (2024)
The Citizen Activation Guide (CAG) is a comprehensive framework designed to help planners working on urban planning, mobility, or transport-related issues to promote Year-Round Active Mobility (YRAM) by systematically engaging local people. It provides practical steps for planners to engage residents in maintaining active mobility year-round, especially during colder and darker months. The guide consists of three main components WHY, TO WHOM, and HOW and provides a CAG Canvas ensuring a structured and knowledge-based approach.
EU Urban Mobility Observatory Case Studies
The library includes numerous case studies and good practices on a variety of topics – from SUMP development to measure planning to implementation.
Justice Toolkit For Streets
Justice Toolkit For Streets is a practical guide diving into the topic of social inclusion and mobility justice, translating them into actionable strategies for creating more inclusive public space and supporting active mobility for all citizens. This guide is developed within the JUST STREETS Horizon Europe project.