MOVILIZATION

America is the region with by far the greatest gap world-wide between wealthy and poor social segments of society. Therefore, heads of State and Government of the EU member states and Latin America and the Caribbean have agreed in their declarations at summits in Guadalajara 2004 and in Vienna in 2006 to set the issue of social cohesion as top priority on the agenda of cooperation among both regions. Nevertheless, also European European cities face growing social fragmentation of their societies and an increasing share of poor urban population.

It is widely recognized that mobility plays a vital role in overcoming social barriers (GTZ 2005, "Why transport matters"). Without access to mobility services urban population will not be able to benefit from education, professional training, health services and cultural events. Furthermore commuting to work and participating as private person in social life and as citizen in public and political life of the community requires adequate transportation services at accessible conditions.

Especially in Latin America the phenomenon of the "gated communities" for the wealthier poses great threats to the long term social development in those heavily affected, mainly greater cities. The problems of gated communities are always strongly inter-linked with specific urban transport structures which exclude the poor from certain districts and services in their town. Thus social problems have their impact on the built urban environment and this way tend to increase social fragmentation in a vicious circle by restricting possibilities of mutual contact and exchange among different segments of society. Socially inclusive urban planning needs to take into consideration these facts and has to be integrated with transport planning under a social paradigm in order to safeguard open access to all parts of the city and to foster contacts, exchange, cooperation and joint problem solving in an open and democratic society among the different social groups of an urban community.
Far stronger in Europe, but also in Latin America, aging societies pose new challenges on urban mobility services, a process which will gain strong relevance in the years to come. Not only infrastructure and rolling stock need to be adapted to physical accessibility needs, considering also the special needs of handicapped citizens, but there is also a necessity of adjusting the way of managing urban mobility to take into consideration more and more the special mobility needs and behavioral patterns of the elderly. Aging societies also require adjustments with regard to tariff systems in public transport which, in return, have their effect on the financing structures of transport companies.
Furthermore, it has to be considered that transport safety is a vital issue that still severely affects the majority of European countries. Looking at Latin America, the situation worsens according to the average income level of those countries, hitting the poorest of them most seriously. Lack of transport safety, however, is not a problem which affects a country as a whole. Exposure to traffic accidents increases according to the social status of travelers, affecting the poor and children most heavily. Taking into consideration the social aspect this situation is mainly caused by the economic constraints those segments of society are facing. GTZ (2005) has shown in studies in Asian developing countries that lower income groups are bound to transport modes which are more likely to be affected by accidents, as e.g. motor-bikes, bicycles or walking.