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The mUEve-Este project, which involves the municipalities of Curridabat, La Unión, Cartago and Paraíso, has moved into the second phase of the project. The mUEve-Este project is part of the overarching mUEve project in San José, Costa Rica that is funded by the European Commission. mUEve-Este aims to define plans within the specific region of the 5 involved municipalities to undertake comprehensive action to improve urban planning and stimulate the development and use of the Electric Train which is part of the Great Metropolitan Area, in line with the larger objective of the intermunicipal project mUEve of urban sustainable mobility. The second phase of the project consisted of site analysis and diagnosis of the current situation within these 5 municipalities and was based on existing studies and documentation. The analysis, which every municipality published in separate reports, identified the key problems, challenges and opportunities present related to sustainable development and the quality of public spaces within the area. Additionally, workshops that involved key stakeholders were carried out (called Talleres de futuro and Taller Caminata) that turned out to be extremely valuable of which the results have just been reported.

In the concluding sections of all respective reports the necessity to improve the access to a higher level of urban services was underlined. Currently, there is still too much reliance on (private) vehicles which in turn illustrates the need to improve public transport. In this light, municipalities are required to reconsider the location of the most important economic activities and their accessibility. The analysis revealed the importance and urgency of undertaking action considering the changing dynamic brought about by pressures from construction and real estate projects. For all municipalities the workshops were crucial in the identification of priorities. These included the safety of pedestrians, promotion of activity in public spaces, allowance of inclusive and active mobility which makes touring through the city more enjoyable and promotion of green areas within the city. Additionally, the municipality of La Unión experimented with an accelerated process of urban expansion which lacked a model that appropriately accounted for the role of landscape and controlled this growth which resulted in certain problems. Therefore, the experiment was very valuable to the municipality in exposing these challenges.