From a city for cars to functional urban mobility for ALL!

The Center for Green Politics and the Citizens Association Ulice za Bicikliste (Streets for Cyclists) are inviting you to a lecture and discussion with Professor Miloš Mladenović titled “From Car-Centered Cities to Functional Urban Mobility for ALL!” The event will take place on Tuesday, November 19, from 18h at Impact Hub, Makedonska 21 in Belgrade.

Congestion and traffic are the first associations when it comes to transportation in Belgrade. In 2023, there were 687,858 registered cars in the territory of the city of Belgrade, marking an increase compared to the previous year and continuing the trend of constant growth in the number of automobiles.

Slow, poor, expensive, unreliable, crowded, polluted – these are just some of the associations of Belgrade residents when public transport is mentioned. The average speed of public transportation in Belgrade has dropped from 14.78 km/h to 13.26 km/h over the past 15 years. Vehicles are old and unmaintained. Bus and tram lines are often disconnected, and a large number of citizens avoid paying for public transport. Nevertheless, the majority of trips in Belgrade are still made by public transport, which provides a good starting point.

On the other hand, other modes of mobility are almost completely neglected. Instead of bulky cars, cities could be filled with vehicles that are up to a hundred times lighter and more fuel-efficient. During the lecture, topics will include why traffic in Belgrade is slow, how to speed it up, how to transform, and whether there are any similarities between Belgrade and Helsinki.

Dr. Miloš Mladenović is an associate professor at Aalto University in Helsinki, in the Department of Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering. After graduating from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering in Belgrade, he earned his PhD from Virginia Tech in the United States.