Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

Do all roads lead to Ghent? Of course not. But Ghent has gone to great lengths in order to make traffic run smoothly. 25 years ago, The Stedelijk Parkeerbedrijf (municipal parking authority) was founded, and 10 years ago, Ghent started a small revolution by introducing the famous Mobiliteitsplan Ghent Binnenstad (Mobility plan for downtown Ghent).

What has it amounted to? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Ghent traffic policy and can other cities take Ghent as an example? We’ll be asking these questions to a large panel of involved politicians, traffic experts, citizens and people who don’t drive cars.

Mobility debate with:

• Moderator: Johny Vansevenant (presenter on Radio Eén an political tv programme De Zevende Dag)

• Frank Vanden Bulcke (mobility advisor to the minister)

• Karin Temmerman (Alderman for City Development, Mobility and Housing, Ghent)

• Sas van Rouveroij (First alderman and alderman for the Port and Innovation, Ghent)

• Filip Watteeuw (member of the Ghent city Council for Groen!, the Flemish green party)

• Willy Miermans (Traffic expert, Hasselt University)

• Johan De Mol (Centre for Sustainable Development, Ghent University)

• Kris Peeters mobility official for Antwerp)

• Cartoons by ZAK

• Opening column and story by Flemish author Annelies Verbeke*