Mechelen

Mechelen is a medium-sized typical European city in the province of Antwerp. Located in the Flemish part of Belgium, it has almost 88.000 inhabitants and it is estimated that it will grow to 100.000 inhabitants by 2030. The city lately attracted more inhabitants, entrepreneurs, employers, visitors and tourists which implies a lot more traffic and transport flows.

The inner city is the area that used to be situated within the city ramparts with narrow cobblestone streets. There are only a few remains of these ancient ramparts. They have been replaced by the ring road around the city. In this part of the city there are about 20.000 inhabitants. The low-car and car-free zones are situated in this area. Deliveries in this area are restricted to specific timeframes with 4 different regimes. These zones are being monitored and maintained by the police via ANPR-cameras (ANPR: Automatic Number Plate Recognition). Moreover, vehicles that are larger than 10 tons and/or longer than 11 metres, are not allowed.

Mechelen is a Lighthouse city within ULaaDS.

In September 2020, no less than 29 partners signed a ‘covenant’ – a document in which every public or private partner commits to certain actions, ultimately to reduce logistic emissions in the city to 0% by 2030, in line with the EU-guideline of zero-emission logistics.

It took time and effort to gather these partners, but the real challenge now is to put these words into practice and, as a city, continuously remind all partners of their commitments.

Mechelen goal is to make urban freight more sustainable and more efficient by