Good practice:

SUMP in Rome the participatory approach

Rome’s SUMP design was generated through an intense multilevel participatory methodology. The participatory approach was set up according to three phases of engagement/participation.
The first step was the implementation of the Work structure.
1. Working group of local decision makers
Coordinator: Director of the Mobility Department
Members:
• Director of the Urban Planning and Implementation Department
• Director of the Infrastructure Development and Urban Maintenance Department
• Director of the Environmental Protection Department
2. Technical Secretariat composed of
• Roma Mobility Agency (coordinator)
• Risorse per Roma, Roma Metropolitane
3. Steering Committee of high-profile experts in the following fields
• Transport engineering
• Road Safety
• Transport Economics
• Environnmental Engineering
Urban planning and land use
The participation strategy applied to 3 phases:
1st Phase Rome SUMP guidelines adoption and publication in 2017
Definition of a priority list of interventions Opening of the web portal for citizens’ participation www.pumsroma.it. Analysis of the proposals received.
2nd Phase phone and web surveying set up of the plan scenarios and definition of the proposal.
3rd Phase Participation process through the organization of meetings on the territory at each City District to discuss the proposal with the local stakeholders and with the citizens. Final version of the SUMP adopted by the Municipal Assembly in 2019.

An average cost of the consultation and listening phases is around 200k€ including personnel costs.

The numbers of people reached are considerably high for Rome:
1st phase:
RECEIVED PROPOSALS 4,106
PUBLISHED PROPOSALS 2,668
COMMENTS MADE 3,132
CONTACTS 43,651
VOTES CAST 28,123
2nd phase:
Roman residents: 2000 via phone surveys
5415 web users
6814 contacted people
3rd Phase
- 18 face to face meetings
- 529 people over the territory of the municipality

The common understanding of SUMP’s goals as well as seamless cooperation of different department is a prerequisite for supporting also a strong engagement plan. Communication experts are also a critical component of success.

The participation approach imlemented in Rome has shown to be quite successful although quite complex, being Rome a very large city. An important managerial technical and communication structure must be implemented to get the correct level of committment.
The marketing technicques adopted can be easily trasferred to other cities. The SUMP participatory approach relied mainly on "Dialogue marketing" and on "digital marketing", gainig participation through: Surveys, Public consultation, experts panels and e-engagement.