European Mobility Week 2009: ‘Improving City Climates’
Winner: Gävle (Sweden)
The city of Gävle was recently awarded the EMW Award 2009 by the European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potočnik for its outstanding achievements during EMW 2009. The city took an ambitious approach to promoting sustainable urban mobility during EMW 2009, complementing more traditional activities with communication via social media. Its activities included workplace seminars promoting sustainable travel; free chocolate for commuters at the central station and the ‘Gästrikeloppet Cycle Race 2009’ on Car Free Day in which nearly 150 people participated, including the famous Swedish adventurer Fredrik Sträng. To exploit the growing popularity of social media platforms, Gävle had its very own blogger, 20-year old Ingrid Bergström Nilsson, who travelled around the county on public transport and blogged about her adventures. In addition, the city engaged high school media students to produce an EMW video diary which was utilised as a promotional tool. Gävle also made a strong commitment to sustainable mobility by introducing dedicated parking spaces for electric cars (with charging facilities), an automated PT ticket machine and installed new bike racks at bus stops to encourage active travel.
Finalists:
León (Spain)
Ivanić-Grad (Croatia)
European Mobility Week 2008: ‘Clean Air for All’
Winner: Budapest (Hungary)
The city of Budapest received the European Mobility Week Award in 2009 for its outstanding achievements during European Mobility Week 2008. The city and districts of Budapest – dedicated participants since 2001 – developed a whole range of events and activities to promote sustainable urban transport, with major contributions from local artists and organisations, including two consecutive car-free days, a ‘Clever Commuting Race’ for VIPs, an open-air exhibition of clean and energy-efficient vehicles, a conference on air quality and noise mapping and a ‘Pedestrianised Areas Day’. The Hungarian capital also introduced and promoted several transport permanent measures such as expanding the downtown pedestrian area, increasing parking fees in the city centre, improving metro and tram infrastructure and services and opening new bicycle lanes and ’park and ride’ facilities.
Finalists:
Almada (Portugal)
Zagreb (Croatia)
European Mobility Week 2007: ‘Streets for People’
Winner: Koprivnica (Croatia)
The city of Koprivnica has been active in European Mobility Week since 2002. It was awarded the European Mobility Week Award 2008 in recognition of the major commitment it made towards achieving sustainable mobility during European Mobility Week 2007 by launching diverse projects to support modal shift. For example, Koprivnica introduced a three year programme ‘Streets for People’ (2007-2009) that aimed to make the city 100% accessible for all, reallocated 1.5 km of roads in the city centre to non-motorised traffic, promoted walking and public transport vehicles running on bio-diesel. The city also aimed to engage national and regional networks in more ambitious projects towards sustainable urban traffic.
Finalists:
Arad (Romania)
Frankfurt (Germany)
European Mobility Week 2006 ‘Climate Change’
Winner: León (Spain)
León was judged as the city which made the best contribution to European Mobility Week 2006. The city particularly impressed the Award jury with its ability to cover a wide range of important topics dedicated to sustainable mobility and climate change during a single week. Each day of European Mobility Week in León was dedicated to a different topic and many exhibitions and awareness-raising events were organised, with children one of the main target groups. León also introduced several permanent measures to facilitate sustainable mobility in connection with the Week, including an information centre on renewable energy, a cycle route linking the university campus to other parts of the city, an online information service on urban transport and a new access ramp for disabled people.
Finalists:
Bologna (Italy)
Budapest (Hungary)
European Mobility Week 2005: ‘Clever Commuting’
Winner: Copenhagen (Denmark)
The city of Copenhagen was rewarded with the European Mobility Week Award for its participation in European Mobility Week 2005. Copenhagen capitalised on the increased visibility of urban mobility during the Week to test 15 traffic experiments in different city neighbourhoods, including the elaboration of a new traffic plan for the Mimergade area, with a view to making the district quieter and safer, and measures to increase safety around school zones. The majority of the experiments were seen to have been successful and were also appreciated by the citizens. The results of these tests provided the basis for the City to take informed decisions on whether to make the measures permanent. During the Week, Copenhagen also actively promoted the benefits of car-sharing, made the city centre car-free for three days in a row, and organised activities such as guided cycling tours and courses, various public debates on sustainable traffic as well as children games and street theatre plays.
Finalists:
Budapest (Hungary)
Koprivnica (Croatia)
European Mobility Week 2004: ‘Safe Streets for Children’
Winner: Nantes (France)
European Mobility Week 2003: ‘Accessibility’
Winner: Ljubljana (Slovenia)
European Mobility Week 2002: ‘Public Transport, Cycling and Living Streets/Greenways’
Winners:
- Ferrara (Italy) for the most comprehensive action plan regarding thematic events, individual activities and involvement of citizens.
- Geneva (Switzerland) for the most innovative permanent measure implemented on the occasion of the European Mobility Week.
- Lund (Sweden) for the best communication strategy to promote the European Mobility Week towards the citizens.
- Krakow (Poland) for their commitment and involvement in implementing the first European Mobility Week in their local authority, the jury of experts proposed for a special mention.
