City of Groningen, The Netherlands

The city of Groningen is the most important city in the north of the Netherlands and capital of the province.

The two provinces of Groningen and Drenthe together with 12 municipalities have jointly formed the Region Groningen-Assen. The partners in this alliance collaborate in order to achieve a co-ordinated spatial development and transport planning. For this purpose they developed the strategic Regional Vision “Groningen-Assen 2030” and an implementation programme for residential areas, business locations, green zones and transport. Also, they jointly developed the Kolibri Public Transport Network, aiming to develop a modern, fast and comfortable public transport network able to compete with car use and increases accessibility.

Groningen has been a pioneer in developing sustainable transport policy. Since 1977, the city has pursued a policy of integrated town and traffic planning. The city’s integrated travel management policy aims to reduce car traffic while maintaining a good level of accessibility related to concepts of compact and mixed urban developments.

With a 50% share of bicycle use, Groningen has become one of the world’s leading cities for bicycle use, while maintaining the right conditions for commercial activities. The co-ordination of town planning and transportation policy led to Spatial Plans favouring the compactness of the city, access restrictions for cars to the city centre, parking management, management of the car flow, an extensive cycling network, and public participation and consultation of stakeholders. The Transport Policy aims to keep travel distances as short as possible to as many destinations as possible (“Compact City” approach).

The City of Groningen will work in all five technical work packages and as pioneer contribute its extensive experience in the field of urban transport.