Consortium Meeting in La Rochelle, France: a step towards project finalisation

La Rochelle, an old fishing village and Atlantic harbour that grew into a tourist attraction, thanks to its pristine buildings from white sandstone and a maritime atmosphere around the old harbour, was the location of the latest Park4SUMP consortium meeting. The French city took several measures that ensures accessibility, while reducing the negative impacts of private cars in the old city centre. The results of significant investments in (underground) parking infrastructure and new parking rules in the centre were presented to the Park4SUMP consortium during its last meeting before the Park4SUMP Final Conference, which will take place on 16-17 June in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The consortium meeting, which took place from 23-24 March, focused on the sharing of results concerning the local parking innovations across the 16 Park4SUMP partner cities. Additionally, updates were provided concerning the internal evaluation process. In case of several cities, these results will be shared with a wider national audience during upcoming training events. Dates for these learning opportunities will be shared in the upcoming days on the Park4SUMP homepage.

In the afternoon of the first day, participants had the opportunity to visit a newly build parking garage next to the old harbour with a capacity of more than 600 parking spots. The members of our consortium were told that residents and employees, that work or live in the old town, can purchase an annual ticket for the price of 600€ (employee) or 700€ (resident). Prices for visitors range from 0.8€ for the first hour up to 5€ (4 hours).

 Internal exchange concerning the evaluation was continued on the second day during parallel sessions, which allowed partners to provide feedback on local implementations. Whether local measures included the expansion of parking zones in the inner city (Sofia) or a transformation of street space (Reggio Emilia), partners were delighted to see tangible results across the group of cities. The consortium meeting finished with a discussion on the upcoming Park4SUMP Final Conference and brochures that summarise parking guidelines and best practices for a wider audience.

The entire consortium gives a special thanks to our colleagues from La Rochelle for hosting a great event that is an important stepping stone on our road to finalise the Park4SUMP project.