AMIGOS

The sustainable mobility project AMIGOS (Active Mobility Innovations for Green and Safe City Solutions) has started in the beginning of June 2023. The project has 8 objectives, which include improving co-habitation between different mobilities in 5 living labs, and improving safety and the quality of life of citizens, especially people in vulnerable situations in 10 Safety Improvement Areas.

AMIGOS is financed by the EU Horizon programme. The project leader is the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and the City of Lappeenranta is a partner in the project. There are 28 beneficiaries in the project: 14 city partners and 14 research organisations / technology prociders / NGOs / consultants from altogether 16 countries. In the project, the City of Lappeenranta is one of the 5 Living Labs (LL) and one of the 10 Safety Improvement Areas (SIA). We have selected a recently constructed school and its surroundings in the Lauritsala neighbourhood as a SIA.

Contacts: Terhi Jantunen, +358 40 530 5958

The AMIGOS project enhances sustainable and safe mobility around Europe

AMIGOS Living Labs:

1. Hamburg (DE)
2. Gabrovo (BG)
3. Lappeenranta (FI)
4. Istanbul (TR)
5. Las Rozas (ES)

AMIGOS Safety Improvement Areas

1. Hamburg (DE)
2. Gabrovo (BG)
3. Lappeenranta (FI)
4. Istanbul (TR)
5. Las Rozas (ES)
6. Reykjavik (IS)
7. Jurmala (LV)
8. Bologna (Cittá metropolitana, IT)
9. Ankara (TR)
10. Nazareth (AYAlon, IL)

Objectives of the AMIGOS project are as follows:

• Demonstrate the replicability of active urban mobility solutions in 5 Twin Cities and install capacity-building measures​.
• Improve co-habitation between different mobilities in 5 living labs​.
• Improve safety and the quality of life of citizens, especially vulnerable groups in 10 Safety Improvement Areas​ (SIA).
• Assess the effectiveness of the developed inclusive, safe, and resilient innovative urban mobility solutions and install capacity-building measures​.
• Optimize public transport usage and create incentives for active mobility modes in 5 living labs to cut emissions​.
• Develop and test an inclusive co-creation methodology for designing sustainable urban mobility solutions involving urban stakeholders, especially VRUs​.
• Rebalance public space according to stakeholder’s needs through space optimization in 5 living labs and 10 SIA​s.
• Provide a better understanding of urban mobility challenges that cities are facing through advanced data modelling methods.​

Work packages of the AMIGOS project:

WP1 Preliminary analysis and stakeholder engagement

WP2 Co-design and development of innovative solutions

WP3 Implementation and testing of solutions in LL and SIA

WP4 Short-, medium- and long-term impact assessment

WP5 Replication and scaling-up of solutions

WP6 Communication, dissemination, and exploitation

WP7 Project management, data management, ethics

AMIGOS urban mobility toolbox, which is under review, consists of multiple development means towards sustainable and safe mobility. It is divided into four sections.

 Public space re-allocation

• Dynamic space re-allocation to favour active mobility at certain times.
• Low emission / Active mobility zones.
• Traffic re-routing.
• Temporary urbanism (“urban acupuncture”).

Infrastructure

• Accessible personal mobility vehicles in the hub’s areas.
• “Map displays” for the visually impaired to be installed.
• Safe cycling infrastructure (e.g., cycling zones) also for children, parking space for bikes and other services.
• New routes for active mobility.
• New road signs (traffic lights for bikes, bike entry signals, etc.).
• Street signals for visual and other types of impairments.
• Parking options (on the outskirts or next to key places.

Technological solutions

• Smart AI- and ML-based traffic lights and management systems in key intersections.
• IPgallery’s Real-time AI Data Platform.

Incentives and information

• Awareness campaigns in public spaces and at events, in cooperation with local associations, neighbourhood initiatives, etc.
• Special tickets to specific areas or for events.
• Maps of accessible accommodations for people with reduced mobility.
• Training tourism office employees to support the disabled people in the definition of their itineraries.
• Sharing travel options, itineraries, and occupancy forecasts with citizens online.
• 4K-camera and speed display.
• New safety measures (e.g., speed limits).

For deploying mobility toolbox actions mobility and all kind of applicable data is needed from the living lab and safety improvement area cities. Data is collected in the beginning of the project and after couple of years in the same location to evaluate the development of the actions.

Ways of collecting and processing data

• Identification and use of existing data ​
• Analysis of urban form and infrastructure
• Fotefar App
• Mobility observation box (MOB)​ - Will be used in all LL/SIA
• Innovative co-creation​
  • Interactive scenario development​
  • Participatory observation ​
  • Cultural probes​
  • Art-based methods​
  • Use of existing urban data platforms​
  • Human centric co-design​ (Design Science Research)
• Big data platform​

-> MaaS platform (Real time AI Data Platform by IPgallery)​ (Istanbul, Las Rozas, Lappeenranta, Gabrovo, Jurmala)​

-> digital twins​

Digital twins​

• 3 Digital twins will be developed (Las Rozas, Gabrovo, 1 SIA)​
• Cohabitation between mobilities​
• Traffic management​
• Focus on safety issues​.
• Existing digital twin (traffic portal) will be used​.

Project duration is 48 months - from 01.06.2023 – 31.05.2027​ and project costs is​ 10.3 M EUR, 9.17 M EUR EU contribution.​

1.6.2023 - 31.5.2027

The city of Hamburg together with 28 partners

The European Union's Horizon Europe programme