MobiliseYourCity Latin America

Urban mobility in Latin-America

Almost 80% of the population of Latin America live in urban centers and although urban growth has slowed down, this proportion will reach 90% in the coming decades. Most cities in Latin America are relatively compact and thus favorable for sustainable urban transport modes. However, a newly developing middle class is adding to increasing rates of private motorisation in many Latin American countries and associated challenges like air pollution, congestions, road safety and greenhouse gas emissions.

In this already highly urbanised context, dealing with the urban transport sector will not only help to improve the quality of life in cities throughout the region but also to reduce overall transport related emissions to curb global climate change.

MobiliseYourCity members and partners in the Region

MobiliseYourCity has 17 partner cities in Latin America with a total population of over 31 million, and 3 national governments in partner countries with an aggregate urban population of over 61 million. The partnership also supports 3 national governments and 5 cities that are not yet officially members.

20 technical assistance projects are carried on in the region under the MobiliseYourCity partnership, supporting 9 Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), 4 National Urban Mobility Policies and Programmes (NUMP) and 6 pilot projects. These projects are funded by the European Union, by the German Ministry of Environment (BMU), and the German Ministry of Cooperation (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ and AFD.

For more information about each specific project, please read our project factsheets Latin-America.

Operationalizing MobiliseYourCity Activities in the Region

Most of the partnership’s projects in the region, 3 NUMPs, 7 SUMPs and 9 pilot projects are funded and implemented through EUROCLIMA+, the EU flagship cooperation programme on environmental sustainability and climate change with the Latin American region. The programme is operated by GIZ and AFD.

EUROCLIMA+ has organised and animated a community of Latin American practitioners through physical and online events, and an online exchange platform with more than 350 participants. Nearly 25 events have been organised in the past year, mostly online, and have brought together more than 2000 people.

To know more about EUROCLIMA+, visit the EUROCLIMA+ website.

Through other projects, GIZ also supports the development of national urban mobility policies (NUMPs) in Colombia  (funded by BMU through the TRANSfer project) and Peru (funded by BMZ, with support of BMU).

Results and project impact in the Region

The most notable achievement of MobiliseYourCity in Latin-America is the preparation and adoption of one SUMP in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This SUMP tackles issues of congestion, pollution, inequality and low-quality of public transport in the city, and includes an ambitious investment plan of USD 2.6 billion, 70% of which is allocated to public transport. The implementation of this SUMP is financed with the support of international finance institutions, including a public policy based loan from Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and AFD, a grant from the EU Caribbean Investment Facility and an infrastructure loan from AFD. When implemented, this SUMP will provide access to quality public transport to 1.25 million people, and greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 will be about 20% lower than in the business-as-usual scenario.

In 2021, the member city of Trujillo, Peru has recently adopted a SUMP, prepared with the support of GIZ and BMZ financing. With a focus on infrastructure, multimodality and and inclusivity, this plan foresees building 3 new bus corridors, 145 km of bike lanes and 42km of sidewalk by 2030.

MobiliseYourCity SUMPs and NUMPs in Latin-America have directly enabled mobilising over EUR 370 millions from international loans and grants, and offered a more coherent and sustainable framework for the implementation of over EUR 6.7 billion worth of investment and measures for which financing was already secured.

Our projects in the region