The FUT programme
Vision
The vision of the FUT programme is to inspire and support new, equitable
solutions for urban transport, which improve accessibility and safety as well as efficiency and
environmental sustainability.
Background
Today, half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and the proportion is constantly
increasing. This development generates growing demands on the transportation of people and
goods. The distribution of mobility among the urban population as a whole and its subsequent costs to time,
the environment and other amenities, require policies and trade-offs between different interests,
which in turn put great onus on governance and leadership. The challenge to promote and sustain
an ever-evolving transportation system in large urban areas is a matter of the utmost complexity,
which requires innovative research and initiatives.
Mission
The main theme of the FUT programme is "how to cope with the complexity of urban transport
development". The main mission of the new initiative by VREF is to initiate and financially
support:
• New scientific approaches for the understanding of how successful development may be
created and implemented in larger urban areas.
• Constructive processes of change through the combination of new knowledge with coordinated
actions.
Programme content
The FUT programme rests on three cornerstones:
• A number of globally distributed Centres of Excellence (CoE), with the objective of
establishing an international network of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary
collaboration through the funding of research projects of the highest international standard.
• A somewhat larger number of Smaller Projects (SP), with the objective of supporting
research complementing the CoEs, through the funding of smaller international research
projects relevant to the main theme of the entire programme, emphasising the role of young
scientists in the development of new competence in this field.
• Recurring international FUT conferences, to create a meeting place (and thereby increased
interaction) for politicians, urban planners, industrialists, and researchers (especially the
grant holders of the FUT programme).
Further information is found in our "FUT policy statement document" found at the top of this page.