Renkum’s Bold Step Towards People-oriented Mobility
Spotlight | Lessons for practitioners | Renkum, Netherlands
In 2020, the municipality of Renkum decided it was time to renew its mobility plan. Not only was the Municipal Traffic and Transport Plan from 2010 outdated, but it no longer reflected the local priorities. The municipality, with about 31,400 inhabitants, is shifting its approach towards a new paradigm of people-centred mobility. The 2025 plan, titled “Connecting roads: mobility vision and plan for emerging generations and aging with dignity” (which will be referred to in this article as “MVP”), was approved by the municipal council in March 2025. The MVP expands the value of mobility beyond simply getting from A to B, and recognizes the vital role that independent and spontaneous access to destinations plays in the community’s health, well-being, and happiness.
Renkum is the first municipality in the Netherlands to have developed a concept of mobility explicitly framed around the independent movement of children and the elderly. The latest version of the MVP received overwhelming support and positive feedback from local stakeholders and is catching the media’s attention. The municipal council was impressed by the clear vision centering the human experience in transportation planning, and also appreciated how it was developed in-house by municipal staff.
Curious about this innovative initiative, the Urban Cycling Institute interviewed Christian Ratering, full-time Senior Advisor in Mobility Planning for the Municipality of Renkum, and PhD Candidate at Radboud University, who developed the MVP for Renkum. The interviews took place in January and February 2025, before the plan was approved by the alderman and by the municipal council. Christian shared insights about the policy development process, the motivations behind the paradigm shift, and the progress Renkum has made. Renkum has achieved the title of best small residential municipality in the province of Gelderland, where the village achieved the highest satisfaction rating, based on a resident survey score of 8.1, for neighborhood quality (Streekgids, 2023). The small municipality aims to “keep it that way,” declared Christian who is extremely proud of the municipality's achievement. He intends to keep the momentum alive, by showcasing the municipality’s exemplary practices and continuing to collaborate with the region and various stakeholders.
In this article, we recount the key insights from the interviews and the plan, highlighting the innovative social policies included in the 2025 MVP, and the factors that contributed to their inclusion.
From car dependency to accessibility
Almost everywhere, including the Netherlands, streets are designed to give priority to those traveling at the highest speeds, in the bulkiest vehicles. This dates back to the Second World War, when society embraced the newly affordable private car as a symbol of personal freedom and technological progress. Engineers followed suit, designing roads for the safety and convenience of this burgeoning mode. Road infrastructure throughout cities was expanded to ensure smooth and efficient traffic flow, following the logic used for water management and electrical systems. Traffic congestion was identified as the primary mobility problem.
However, when fluidity of car traffic is the primary indicator of a successful transportation system, much of the population is excluded from accessing safe and comfortable mobility options. This includes those who cannot access or afford a car, and people who are unable to drive. Often, limitation in mobility profoundly impacts vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities. Christian has made addressing this equity gap the focus of his academic research. In the 2024 paper “Therapists’ perspectives on experience and treatment of mobility-related anxiety disorders”, Christian evaluates the experiences of people with mobility-related anxiety disorders in order to plan for more inclusive mobility systems. The authors conclude that to increase the accessibility of travel for people with anxiety disorders, mobility systems need to focus on giving adequate travel information, improving comfort and safety and creating more proximity between home and a variety of daily destinations.
Equipped with this academic foundation, and motivated by the town of Renkum’s readiness to embrace a new mobility paradigm, Christian helped to develop a mobility plan driven by the goal of inclusion, rather than vehicular level of service.
A New Plan as Paradigm shift
Shift in policy vision
In the new plan developed by Christian and his colleagues, the mobility hierarchy is reversed: pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport are prioritized over passenger cars. Transportation justice is framed in relation to people’s ability to travel independently, regardless of their age, class, gender, socioeconomic background, or ability. This priority is evidenced in the introduction of the MVP: “Working, studying, shopping, relaxing, meeting, experiencing culture and playing sports: all these activities are essential for a flourishing community. We want to cherish this and ensure that everyone, from young to old, can participate in this as independently as possible” (Joa Maouche, Councilman for Traffic and Transportation of Renkum).
In order to realize this mission, the mobility policies included in the plan are based on the following tenets:
Every child from the age of eight has the right to travel independently to school, sports, shopping locations and cultural destinations.
The elderly and people with disabilities have the right to grow old with dignity and freedom.
The street should serve as a "shared" public space.
Aligning with these tenets, the plan includes specific suggestions for interventions, including:
Rest sites in public spaces along high-traffic pedestrian corridors
Repurposed parking lots as public spaces
Car-free school streets
Bicibuses for children, cycling independently from adults in groups
Reduced maximum speed limits on collector roads
Supplements to and reconfigurations of public transit services
Tourist transfer hubs to provide opportunities for recreational cycling
Shift to participatory and flexible policy-making approach
The development process of the mobility vision had already started with a consulting firm before Christian joined the municipality of Renkum. In early September 2024, it became clear that the firm could not meet the municipality's expectations, and it was mutually agreed to part ways. That is when Christian took on the development of this policy and the accompanying decision-making process in house. The previously-gathered data was primarily a set of quantitative measures about traffic flow, supporting the outdated understanding that mobility planning should prioritize mitigating vehicular congestion. In order to develop a plan that reflected the needs of all users, Christian and his colleagues sought qualitative feedback from local stakeholders about policies that would improve their experience with the mobility system.
The MVP employs a transition strategy that emphasizes citizen participation and experimentation, where mistakes are embraced as learning opportunities and ambitions can be revised accordingly. The Forward of the MVP states this outright with a quote from Truman Capote- “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” The MVP delineates a framework and allocates a budget for developing urban “experiments” initiated by local stakeholders. These initiatives must maintain a safe and healthy environment, support social rather than commercial objectives, not negatively impact public transport, and maintain accessibility for all people. There must be consensus on the project from local stakeholders, with ⅔ stakeholder support demonstrated through signatures or a local vote. The experiments must be in place for a discrete amount of time, monitored throughout, and evaluated at the conclusion. Successful projects may be replicated or made permanent as funds become available. Projects that support the mission for every child to travel independently to school by age eight, have priority for selection. For example, the MVP intends for every elementary school to pilot a car-free school street with temporary fencing for a period of a maximum of 30 days. Additionally, experiments for parking solutions that differ from the municipality’s traditional standards-based parking policy are encouraged. Developers or initiators are given the freedom to determine the layout of the space in collaboration with all stakeholders, provided that at least 60% of the stakeholders demonstrably support the proposed plan.
Lessons For Practitioners
The municipality of Renkum can serve as an example for practitioners, city officials, engineers, and advocates seeking to adopt a more inclusive, people-centered approach to mobility planning. With a holistic vision that links mobility, quality of life, and citizen participation, even small municipalities can inspire their peers by implementing flexible and future-proof mobility policies. Here are some of the learnings inspired by this new plan:
First, is recognizing that the private vehicle cannot fulfill all mobility needs, and adjusting the mobility planning mindset accordingly to prioritize other modes such as walking, cycling, and public transit. This requires acknowledging the specific needs of vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and planning transportation systems that help them move independently, safely, and with dignity. The private car can continue to serve as an option for people who rely on it, within a multi-modal system that accommodates all users.
Second, is recognizing that a mobility system is only truly inclusive if its design process is participatory and inclusive. This means involving local residents, businesses, and other stakeholders early in the planning process so that the new policy meets their everyday needs and priorities.
Third, is embracing experimentation. Renkum’s MVP allows for experimentation with mobility initiatives, offering a small budget for local projects, and acknowledging that not all initiatives will be successful. With this approach, practitioners can try new strategies, and adapt the projects based on user feedback, before a more expensive scale-up of the project.
Fourth, is recognizing that a paradigm shift is an ongoing, iterative process of continuous improvement. In such a process, setting up a clear monitoring and evaluation plan is key, with clear metrics for success to determine the impact and scalability of the new mobility interventions. Beyond measures of mode shares and other numerical metrics, it is also essential to gather feedback from users in a more qualitative way. Engaging with users' experiences, concerns, and suggestions through surveys, group discussion and interviews, can help identify how well the system is meeting their needs and where further adjustments can be made.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is utilizing the skills, knowledge, and local experience of in-house staff. It is not always necessary to hire external consultants, especially when staff have a better understanding of the couleur locale–the unique characteristics of the locality–and can therefore more clearly identify the nature of community mobility needs, rather than approaching as an outsider. There must be a joint effort between the “us” of citizens, institutions, and businesses, and the “them” of government officials and decision-makers. Otherwise, you won’t get anywhere.
Written by Louise Raclet (Researcher) and (Intern) of Urban Cycling Institute.
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References:
Martens, K. (2016). Transport Justice: Designing fair transportation systems (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315746852
Ratering, C., van der Heijden, R., & Martens, K. (2024). Therapists’ perspectives on experience and treatment of mobility-related anxiety disorders. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 107, 39-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2024.08.022
Streekgids. (2023, October 17). Renkum gekozen als beste gemeente in Gelderland. Streekgids. Accessible from: https://www.streekgids.nl/gelderland/renkum-gekozen-als-beste-gemeente-in-gelderland/
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