What we do
Commissioned by ABB Bouwgroep, we conducted a Quickscan in the field of (sustainable) Mobility for the Stougjesdijk-Oost expansion site in Oud-Beijerland. ABB is one of several development partners looking at a housing and facilities program at this location to be developed. This resulted in a concept urban design after which the request for a Quickscan on the ready-made plan followed.
With the implementation of additional housing and facilities, there is also an impact on the mobility and space of the surrounding area. If you were to build according to the traditional parking standard, you are sometimes at two parking spaces per home. 2500 homes would then mean 5000 extra cars, which the surrounding road network would not be able to handle. Especially since there is already a lot of traffic in the area. This makes it all the more important to look at mobility differently.
In the Quickscan, we first address questions such as “How accessible is the (future) area?”, “What are the access roads?”, “How accessible is it by public transport, by car and by bicycle?” and “What are the plans for the future? Also important is who will live, work and recreate there. What is the target group and what is its need in terms of mobility?
That need is not always one-to-one with the parking standard. For example, it could be that a target group will live there that has a parking norm of two from the CROW, but that we see that it is a different type of target group, where only one car is also sufficient because the need for travel has decreased. Because of working from home, other lifestyles and so on. So we see that the mobility needs are not always equal to the standards that are set.
At the same time, we also have to deal with the fact that things will have to be different. We also want to encourage people not to be 100% more facilitated with the car, but to be able to divert to alternatives. Those have to be there. Stougjesdijk is not the center of Rotterdam and there is no metro available and only the occasional bus. That is where we did the analysis: what is needed in terms of mobility to relieve the even greater traffic congestion?
Why we do it
It is a nice challenge to put down a recommendation that is in line with the municipal and provincial ambitions and with the ambitions of the developing parties. In terms of climate, energy and, of course, mobility. And perhaps most importantly, how those ambitions relate to the needs of the target groups. All parties want to create a sustainable environment in which people come first.
Examples include lowering parking standards and making public transport a full alternative through a high-quality bicycle network and commitment to shared transport. This also resulted in an elaboration in which we indicate what these measures and reduction conditions yield compared to the CROW standards and the vision of the municipality. This scan revealed a reduction of 47% compared to the CROW standard and 31% compared to the municipal vision.
Two variants for the facilities cluster were considered in the development. The overall project also looked at amenities and the guiding question from the developers was: do we want one center or do we want two cores? Our conclusion was one core to which a bus line connects. By having a central location for all amenities, you avoid encouraging unnecessary travel in the area and people are more likely to take the car. This in combination with smaller mobility hubs scattered throughout the area, so that the main core is easily accessible by bicycle, mobility scooter and in the future perhaps scooters.From this scan showed a 47% reduction compared to the CROW standard and 31% compared to the municipal vision.
The result
After conducting the Quickscan, we came up with 11 essential points that need attention in order to achieve a seamless implementation of the mobility vision. An important starting point is that people are central. An R-net bus connection is essential to provide a fast connection to other public transport options. Also, the bicycle network in Oud-Beijerland connects the east to the west, but is not attractive, which affects potential residents. Therefore, providing alternative (shared) transportation such as (shared) cars, bicycles and speedpedalacs is important. By reducing the number of parking spaces, livability will be greatly enhanced, through the increase of greenery and social gathering places, among other things.
The advice for further elaboration of the plan is now ready, in which we advise to further elaborate the Quickscan and proceed to a more in-depth analysis. An analysis that will ensure that specific quantities can be realized and we can contribute to a fantastic livable, green and relatively car-free residential area.
With the recent signing of the outline agreement, the project moves to the next phase and we hope that the ‘quickscan seed’ laid will lead to a fantastic forest of sustainable mobility in this neighborhood!