Holiday Greetings from the SCALE-UP project: An Overview of 2024 & Milestones Achieved

2024 marks a successful year for the SCALE-UP project, as the three Urban Nodes involved: Antwerp (BE), Madrid (ES), and Turku, have reached most of the milestones and developed mobility measures at this stage, with less than half a year remaining until the official end of the project.

In 2024, all three Urban Nodes continued to make significant efforts towards achieving a more inclusive, green, and sustainable mobility system for their citizens.

Let us have a closer look at what SCALE-UP Urban Nodes achieved throughout this year.

Starting with the City of Antwerp, project coordinator of the EU-funded initiative, the City continued to focus on multimodality and providing mobility options for all citizens. One highlight worth mentioning is the development of the freight route planner, marked as a success story for the City of Antwerp, along with the multimodal route planner. This year, the focus was also shifted to scaling up road safety, as cutting-edge 3D cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) technology were implemented at four key intersections and on a bicycle highway network. Finally, on 13 November 2024, the City co-hosted with Eurocities the second SCALE-UP Urban Nodes Platform Event in Antwerp, Belgium.

The City of Madrid, under the Madrid 360 sustainability strategy, worked towards achieving climate neutrality by 2050. During this year, Bicimad, the bike-sharing system, expanded to more than 21 districts, offering residents unlimited rides for free. A new bike lane along Paseo de la Castellana has also made cycling safer and more accessible, marking important steps in reducing carbon emissions and promoting greener transport.

Meanwhile, the City of Turku kept up the momentum and continued to embrace sustainable mobility measures with the introduction of a new electric truck for transport and logistics needs. Alongside this, Turku has developed an innovative, sustainable activation model for kindergartens and schools aimed at encouraging children and families to embrace cycling. The City has shown a significant focus on promoting additional research in various topics by successfully collaborating with university students, who were able to incorporate the project’s aims and actions into their end-of-studies theses.

Furthermore, this year, a position paper under the title “Urban Nodes: Empowering Cities and Regions to Build the TEN-T” by the Urban Nodes Alliance was published concerning SCALE-UP and its sister project MOVE21 as exemplars of sustainable urban mobility. It demonstrates how cities can combine infrastructure improvements, innovative solutions, and citizen engagement to pave the way for a more sustainable future.

Looking ahead, we are committed to accelerating green and inclusive mobility change not only in the three Urban Nodes—Antwerp, Madrid, and Turku—but also in cities across Europe.

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the joint SCALE-UP and MOVE21 Final Event in Brussels, Belgium, on 1-2 April 2025, where we will present the key findings of the two projects, showcasing the innovative solutions and insights developed throughout its duration!

Author: Eftychia Koliou , Friederike L. Kühl (STA)