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According to forecasts, the share of urban populations will grow to 60 percent of the total, and in the Gulf Region, urban centers will embrace over 90 percent of the population. Kuwait City, Jeddah, Mecca, Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi are being rapidly transformed into conurbations that have international appeal.

The accelerating process of urbanization, however, is also presenting major challenges. Above all, growing volumes of private transportation are having a negative impact on life and work in cities. Day for day, people have to cope with hours of traffic jams. This hampers economic development and diminishes the quality of life. And the increasing air pollution is also a growing burden for residents.

Due to the networking of the global economy, it is clear that the need for mobility and transportation will continue to grow in the future.

Electric vehicles as a sustainable solution
Efficient urban transportation systems play a key role in a city’s economic viability, and systems based on electric vehicles powered, if possible, by renewable energy sources like solar and wind, are the ideal solution. Because electric transportation systems such as metros, trams and high-speed trains reduce energy consumption and help protect the environment. They are the only sustainable alternative to traditional vehicles operated with combustion engines. Electric cars will therefore also be increasingly important in the coming years.

Governments in the Gulf Region are tackling the challenges posed by demographic trends by increasingly depending on environmentally friendly technology when implementing their visionary plans. This naturally also applies to the Gulf Region’s highly advanced transportation concepts for shifting traffic from the road to rail systems.

Intelligently networking traffic flows
This cross-border network is a welcome plan, since the Gulf States are increasingly developing into a logistics hub between Asia, Africa and Europe. Major harbors and airports are already being built or expanded. In all these developments, urban planners and transport experts must ensure that the economic competitiveness and attractiveness of cities are secured and further enhanced. The answer here is to intelligently network and integrate traffic flows by rail and road, in the air and on the water.

The task ahead is to develop and implement future-viable solutions for the entire transportation infrastructure. Companies like Siemens are stressing sustainability in their infrastructure and mobility projects. With its “Complete mobility” concept, for example, Siemens offers a comprehensive package of measures for providing a networked, highly versatile transportation infrastructure – from analyses and consulting, to the construction of complete multi-modal transportation systems for rail, road and air.

In order to integrate all transportation modes as efficiently as possible, optimal connections are necessary. For example: A traveler arrives by plane and continues his journey without delay from the airport to the city center via a fully automated metro system or electric taxi. Or he continues his trip with a direct high-speed train.

Seamless mobility is possible only with a coordinated transportation infrastructure largely supported by electric vehicles that protect the environment. The future of cities lies in networked and electric mobility.