Sustainable urban mobility planning and monitoring are key for the trans-European transport network
In July 2024, the revised TEN-T Regulation entered into force. It strengthens the role of cities, as vital enablers of sustainable, efficient and multimodal transport. In order to ensure the effective flow and interaction of the entire TEN-T network, the Regulation designates 431 cities as urban nodes and sets out specific requirements for them. Those include that urban nodes should adopt a Sustainable urban mobility plan and collect and regularly submit to the Commission data on urban mobility indicators. Annex 5 of the Regulation specifies the requirements for urban nodes as regards the development of sustainable urban mobility plans and sets out provisions on how to bring together urban mobility and TEN-T policies within urban nodes to ensure the effective functioning of the TEN-T as a whole. The list of urban nodes is available in Annex 2 of the Regulation.
What is a Sustainable urban mobility plan?
A sustainable urban mobility plan is a strategic plan designed to satisfy the mobility needs of people and businesses in cities and their surroundings for a better quality of life. It builds on existing planning practices and takes due consideration of integration, participation, and evaluation principles.
A SUMP should cover the entire functional urban area (a city and its commuting zone), taking into account real traffic flows. A SUMP should foresee cooperation and synergies between all levels of government, local, regional, national and across different policy areas. It should be prepared in partnership with local residents and stakeholders. It ensures a variety of sustainable transport options for the safe, healthy and fluid passage of people and goods, with all due consideration for fellow residents and the urban environment.
SUMP concept and guidelines
As part of the 2013 Urban Mobility Package, the Commission presented a concept for sustainable urban mobility planning. This was well received by cities and towns across Europe, catalysing the preparation and update of hundreds of urban mobility plans.
The original concept was updated in 2023, integrating new EU strategies and policy priorities, without major changes to its original philosophy. The SUMP concept can be found in the Annex to the Commission Recommendation on national SUMP support programmes.
SUMP guidelines give cities advice on a process for preparing and implementing their SUMPs.
National SUMP support programmes
By 19 July 2025, the revised TEN-T Regulation requires Member States to designate a national SUMP contact point and establish a national SUMP programme with the aim of supporting the urban nodes to adopt and to implement the SUMPs.
In March 2023, the Commission adopted a Recommendation calling on each Member State to put in place a national programme with a dedicated office to help cities with sustainable urban mobility planning. The Recommendation provides advice to Member States on how to develop these support programmes and sets out a range of measures that could be included in them.
National SUMP support programmes could include guidance material, training programmes and capacity building, and provide technical expertise and financial support to cities. They should animate a networks of cities and towns and coordinate dedicated communication campaigns.
Urban Mobility Indicators (UMI)
The revised TEN-T Regulation requires the European Commission to adopt an Implementing Act setting out a limited number of indicators covering the fields of sustainability, safety and accessibility. Those indicators are a necessary tool for monitoring the implementation of SUMPs and providing feedback to cities and stakeholders. The indicators allow for targeted steering of their implementation. They help to identify the strengths and weaknesses of cities’ mobility systems. The data should allow to monitor progress towards the achievement of urban mobility policy objectives at local, regional, national and European level, and for cities to take timely corrective action, where needed.
In view of preparing the implementing act, a group of experts has worked on developing indicators. The result of their work is summarised in seven fiches. In July 2024, the expert group on urban mobility (EGUM) has adopted its opinion on sustainable urban mobility indicators.
The TEN-T committee decided to set up an ad hoc working group composed of national, regional and local representatives in order to support the European Commission in developing the Implementing Act setting out the indicators that capture key aspects of each of the three fields. The Implementing Act will include a list of indicators, the methodology for collecting the data for each indicator as well as a timeline for their submission. The Implementing Act requires Member State to submit the data for the first time by 31 December 2027.
Reference materials
To empower towns and cities to develop a SUMP, the European Commission continues to raise awareness through training courses, good practice examples, networking opportunities, and by providing funding opportunities and a coordination platform for SUMP-related projects.
A compendium of non-binding guidance and reference materials, developed through EU co-funded projects, is available to all cities to support them in preparing and implementing their individual SUMPs. Cities are invited to use these information resources as appropriate for their own needs.
The materials are available on EU Urban Mobility Observatory