Transforming Your City: Enhancing Urban Mobility with Vehicle Access Regulations

Imagine a vibrant city with clean air and no traffic jams - public transport, cycling and walking gets you easily around the city. There is pleasant space to spend time outside, with friends and neighbours, and you can reach everything you need for everyday life within 15 minutes. Sounds like a utopia? It doesn’t have to be. There are tools available to start moving in that direction.

One of them are Urban Vehicle Access Regulations (UVARs), policies that shift the focus away from individual car use towards public transport, cycling, walking, and cleaner logistics solutions.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, in the 1980s in Europe it was normal for the town square to be full of parked cars. When town planners wanted to pedestrianise them, there was an outcry. Now nobody wants to go back.
It is unrealistic to expect the change to happen overnight, and there are critical problems in many cities: pollution kills thousands a year, drivers spend hours in traffic jams behind other vehicles. Phasing in cleaner vehicles can start to reduce pollution levels. Perhaps access to the central area is restricted to those who are essential to the running of the city. Roads and car parks can be converted to bus and cycle lanes to get more people into the city faster.

🚦But how can cities realistically start making this shift?

Join our Virtual Coffee with Lucy Sadler, a leading air quality expert with over 20 years of experience in policy, research, and implementation. Lucy runs the European UVAR Platform and advises cities and ministries globally on how to design and implement UVARs that support cleaner air and more liveable urban environments.

☕ Whether you’re working in city planning, care about sustainable mobility, or are just curious how access regulations can shape better cities – grab your coffee and join the conversation.