The Flemish area is unique for sustainable mobility

'It is remarkable that no-one has managed to make these 3 modes of transport interact in a coherent manner, also referred to as comodality.'

Mobility is increasingly being recognised as the “lubricant” of the economy and society. A sustainable society can be recognised by its mobility and in this regard Flanders is still not getting it right, in spite of the many advantages we have in respect of sustainable mobility.

Flanders has a unique infrastructural fabric modulated by industry, harbours and a multitude of settlements (urban and rural) in close proximity to each other. Flanders can be regarded as an urban field with the densest infrastructure in the world: a dense road network combined with dense railway and waterway networks.

It is remarkable that no-one has managed to make these 3 modes of transport interact in a coherent manner, also referred to as co-modality.

We must make these uniquely located grids (the Flemish area) more robust in such a way that co-modality becomes the point of departure of a multiplicity of innovative energy-friendly and environmentally-friendly regional developments concerning sustainable mobility: the coast with the urban region Ostend-Bruges, the metropolisation of Lille-Courtrai, the E17 transport corridor, the city/harbour dynamic in Antwerp and Ghent, the ‘Limburg Cross’ (Lommel-Hasselt), the A-B multi-level corridor (Antwerp/Brussels).

In terms of mobility, after all, Flanders is much more than the Flemish Diamond (the Antwerp-Ghent-Brussels triangle). Specific territorial holding companies (mobilising private and government capital) ensure that these Flemish urban-regional areas focus on future-oriented sustainable transport systems with a view to logistics with added value and transport quality.

In the case of each territory one is looking for the most optimal development bearing in mind the investment opportunities of the territorial holding company. In any event it already seems necessary in all these areas to extend specific research parks producing spin-offs in which sustainable LoMo (Logistics/Mobility) is developed which will then be tested in these areas and valorised for the market. Such territorial developments (regional developments) also demand a total rethink of the government apparatus: from top-down to horizontal decision-making