As European civil servants increasingly focus on the sustainable mobility transition, a hands-on training programme is enhancing their citizen engagement capacities and boosting their skills.
Launched in 2023 by EIT Urban Mobility, the Citizens on the Move training programme brings together civil servants from around Europe for online and in-person modules. By working on real case studies from their own cities, participants gain essential skills they can use directly in their own projects: from learning how to bring about public acceptance and behavioural change, to designing and implementing engagement activities, the course also equips participants to evaluate solutions from user and citizen perspectives. Alongside the coursework participants also benefit from having open conversations and exchanging practices with peers and instructors from other cities.
Additionally, participation in the training programme was open to participants from Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) cities. The RIS programme was designed by EIT to boost innovation in countries which are currently classified as ‘low to moderate innovators’ by encouraging greater innovation and entrepreneurial capacities. As part of this mission, Citizens on the Move empowers civil servants to involve citizens in the design and implementation of innovative mobility solutions in their cities.
Meeting evolving EU demands
Citizens on the Move emerged in response to a growing need among civil servants for enhanced citizen engagement skills. These skills are crucial not only in their planning work, but also to meet the increasing demands of EU projects that require cities to demonstrate that their citizens are key stakeholders.
The programme empowers civil servants to be open and courageous, engage directly with citizens, and learn from those who know their neighbourhoods best. “In the end, the residents feel like they’re leading in a city which is created for them, together with them,” explained EIT Urban Mobility’s Katarzyna Janusz, an Education Officer co-responsible for the programme.
Kadıköy, Türkiye’s accessible citizen engagement project
In 2023, the first edition of the programme took place, and included a two-day study visit to Rotterdam where learners were exposed to leading practices in citizen engagement in a city renowned for its forward-thinking approach to sustainable mobility. “It was very much eye-opening for many of the participants. They were confronted with such a different reality and way of doing things,” Janusz noted.
For Mert Yaman, Urban Planner and Project Manager from the Municipality of Kadiköy in Türkiye, participation in Citizens on the Move in 2023 was an opportunity to overcome challenges faced in the past. “In my previous experiences, the development of participatory processes gave me a little bit of a hard time when we were managing projects and that got me very interested in seeing good practices,” Yaman explained.
Yaman found the experience valuable and drew on the knowledge he gained in the programme to contribute to his Accessible Kadıköy project, getting the population who would hopefully benefit from the project, people with disabilities, involved in the process.
Of the experience, Yaman explained, “As a technical guy who switched to more of the social side of things and is now managing mostly EU projects, I think it’s very important to know these participatory processes.”
Thanks to the training Yaman discovered that “there is no hard-to-engage stakeholder.” And by interacting with participants from across Europe during the Rotterdam study trip he was reassured to discover that others were facing similar challenges. “It taught me that I should not be that worried, and this is problematic everywhere, only in different ways,” he said. “I would love to share this experience both internally and globally.”
Implementing the training in Metropolitan Lisbon, Portugal
For Camila Garcia of the Studies and Planning Department of Lisbon Metropolitan Transport, the Citizens on the Move programme was an opportunity to expand her skillset. With a background in engineering, the training was a “game-changing experience” for her.
“I was like, let me put my models and my data aside, let me first talk with people, and then I will come back to all of that,” Garcia explained, of her shifted mindset. “I felt the need to acquire these skills and to understand more about different ways to engage with citizens so that when I define the requirements for tenders, I know exactly what I have to ask.”
Throughout the “very interesting, positive and productive” training, Garcia and her fellow participants were taught different methodologies for engaging with the public, which she says provided her with “critical tools” to engage and communicate with citizens in a systematic way. As a result, she was able to enhance her city’s forthcoming sustainable urban metropolitan development plan to be “full of public participation.”
Looking ahead, Garcia plans to use her experience to co-create mobility hubs with citizens. “I feel more confident when I talk with consultants and I can give them more precise feedback on what I want,” she explained, “When we start to listen to people directly, we will find solutions that we have never thought of before.”
Citizens on the Move 2024 edition
Building on the success of the 2023 cohort, the Citizens on the Move programme will have its second edition and return to Rotterdam for the 2024 two-day study trip in the fall. “Engaging with the citizens is a crucial way to validate everything civil servants are doing. That is why we believe this course is important,” explained Carolina Cominotti from EIT Urban Mobility, co-responsible for the programme. Encouraged by the 2023 cohort’s experience, Cominotti mentions one participant mused, “I’m never going to run a boring public meeting again!”
