AVANTIA project

AVANTIA, “Avanzando hacia la recuperación: El sistema de transporte de Bogotá como catalizador de la sostenibilidad medioambiental y la igualdad de género en la era post COVID-19” is a three years term project to be implemented in Bogotá, Colombia, from April 2022 to March 2025.

The idea behind the proposal is to help the development of a more egalitarian, sustainable and human-centric Bogotá. A better place for everyone. Considering urban mobility as a key factor with a huge impact on air quality, a more sustainable future requires the activation of  transportation alternatives which also should be conceived from a gender inclusive perspective.

AVANTIA is a collaborative effort presented by Metropolis, the City Council of Bogotá and Madrid and IS Global. The project is co-funded by the European Union.

avantiaproject.eu

Context

The project will be giving support to the implementation of Bogotá Development Plan 2020-2024, “A new social and environmental contract for the 21st Century” and its achievement of a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient mobility. Specifically, it will be targeting 3 of the Development Plan 5 pillars, the following:

• “Making a new social contract with equal opportunities for social, productive and political inclusion”,
• “Changing our habits to make Bogotá Greener and adapting and mitigating the climate crisis”
• “Making Bogotá-region a model for multimodal, inclusive and sustainable mobility”.

Hence, this proposal takes an interdisciplinary approach that aims to articulate the inclusion and fulfillment of multiple goals and efforts that Bogotá is already pursuing.

The proposal departs from an understanding that transportation systems do not only move people around. Designs and differentiated approaches have lasting impacts upon relevant urban matters such as environmental sustainability, social and gender equality, or safety and security. Transport systems can act as a catalyst for moving cities forward as they are a relevant economic and social shaper of a city.

Objectives

The purpose of the project is threefold.

Firstly, it aims at improving public capacity to implement sustainable mobility alternatives in Bogotá.

The transport sector is a relevant economic force in Bogotá. Investments in green mobility alternatives are at the heart of Bogotá’s development plan. Consequently, the city council is in the process of introducing 1.485 electric buses to the transport system. This new fleet will approximately reduce 95.000 tons of CO2 yearly, and 37 tons of PM, making Bogotá the largest electric bus fleet in the continent.

Likewise, the city is expanding its bicycle-lane network. While 84 new kilometers were already introduced, Bogotá is committed to adding 280 km until 2024, for a network of 830 km total. Additionally, the city is working on making last mile distribution more sustainable and efficient through the implementation of a cyclelogistics strategy

Secondly, the strengthening of Bogotá’s ability to measure air quality and the impact of sustainable mobility will be fostered. Given the environmental impact of mobility, specifically of carbon fuels, the design of a transport system has relevant implications for a city’s environmental impact, and being able to measure it, is key to track progress. Therefore, building a more sustainable mobility system and measuring it will have lasting impacts on the mobility, health, and wellbeing of all Bogotá citizens.

Lastly, the project will increase female participation in the public transport sector and boost economic recovery from the pandemic. In Bogotá, occupation segregation by gender in the transport sector exists. Out of the 18.800 operators of the Transmilenio system, only 300 are women, which represents merely 1,6%. Advancing a more equal occupational distribution in the sector will bring socio economic wellbeing for women and society. The change will mean breaking stereotypes of the role’s women can perform and open doors for further social change.

MoToREC disclaimer

AVANTIA, is the translation into Spanish of the project’s name. While the official name remains “Moving Towards RECovery: Bogotá’s transportation system as a catalyst for environmental sustainability and gender equality in the post COVID-19 era (MoToREC)”, the name AVANTIA will be publicly used as an adequation to the implementation place audiences. 

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