The European Union Support for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Cities Project (SKUP Turkey) is co-financed by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey.
The main objective of the project is to promote a shift away from an individual transport-oriented approach at both national and city level, and to encourage a transition towards sustainable, accessible and inclusive forms of mobility. In line with this objective, it is aimed to reduce the environmental impacts of mobility in cities, strengthen accessibility for all users, including vulnerable groups, and make transportation options more equitable.
The project aims to support policy dialogue and capacity building of municipalities in the field of sustainable urban mobility. In addition, the project aims to promote the European Mobility Week (EMW) in Turkey and raise awareness in this context.
The concrete results of the SKUp Turkey Project are structured as a holistic set of outputs that strengthen the policy-making, institutional capacity building and access to information components together. The Green Policy Paper is a strategic document that comprehensively examines the existing policy-legislative-institutional framework, prepared with the participation of stakeholders and decision makers, based on a detailed analysis of the current urban mobility conditions in Turkey. This document makes visible the gaps between Turkey's and the EU's sustainable mobility goals and systematically identifies key issues, priorities and areas of opportunity for improvement.
The White Policy Paper is positioned as a policy document that defines national targets in a holistic framework for the first time based on the sustainable urban mobility needs of cities and aims to make urban transportation more livable, accessible, integrated and climate-friendly with a 25-year vision. This transformation is not limited to technical interventions, but is designed with the necessary legal arrangements, institutional reforms, data-based governance tools and sustainable financing models. This framework, in line with the EU's strategic orientations, brings together central and local institutions on a common strategic ground and serves as a reference in all processes from planning to implementation.
The project establishes a long-term policy dialogue on sustainable urban mobility between key stakeholders in Turkey and their European counterparts in support of policy documents. This dialogue serves to set a common agenda at different governance levels, transfer good practices and strengthen inter-institutional coordination. In parallel, trainings support the enhancement of knowledge, skills and experience of Union of Municipalities of Turkey staff, municipal administrators, urban planners, experts and service providers, thereby enhancing implementation capacity.
In terms of access to information and visibility, the website created under the project provides a digital information platform with source documents, training content, good practice examples and visual materials, and regularly informs the public about European Mobility Week activities. Through study visits, SKUp experts from Turkey, representatives from the Union of Municipalities of Turkey and Task Force institutions are able to observe successful practices in Europe; these visits are carried out with the aim of mutual experience exchange and institutional capacity building.
In terms of localization of technical know-how, Turkish translations of 10 ELTIS Guidelines, which are among the European Union's main reference sources for SDIP planning, are prepared; texts are adapted to the national context and technical terminology consistency is ensured. Complementing these translations, handbooks serve as practical guides for municipalities and support planning processes with practical examples by focusing on sectoral thematic areas such as data management, participation and public transport integration.