Resilience and sustainability at the centre of first EU Urban Mobility Days

The first Urban Mobility Days starts on 29 September and runs until 2 October, bringing together 2,000 experts for a virtual debate on the most important topics in urban mobility today. The conference theme is ‘zero-emission mobility for all’.

The conference will focus on solutions to make mobility in cities and towns more sustainable, with a view to making Europe a carbon-neutral continent by 2050, as set out in the European Green Deal.

Many cities adapted their infrastructure and mobility plans to keep people and goods moving during the COVID-19 outbreak. The conference will also feature a timely discussion on resilience and the role of urban mobility in the pandemic.

Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said: “This has been a challenging year for our towns and cities. But the pandemic is also an opportunity to rethink how we can make mobility in urban areas safer, cleaner and accessible to all. As the first EU event gathering all urban mobility stakeholders, Urban Mobility Days 2020 is the right place to take stock of the challenges we face and discuss solutions to address them.” You can watch her opening address here. 

The event will showcase measures to foster a carbon-neutral and inclusive urban environment across Europe, with CIVITAS Living Labs projects playing a prominent role. The CIVITAS Awards will be presented to towns and cities for their outstanding work to adapt to changing circumstances and to foster successful urban mobility through involvement in the CIVITAS Initiative. The calls for applications for the next EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards and EU Urban Road Safety Award will also be launched at the event.

This is the first year of the Urban Mobility Days conference, which gathers policymakers, local authorities, NGOs, researchers and other mobility practitioners for four intense days of discussions. The conference unites two former key events from the urban mobility calendar: the CIVITAS Forum Conference and the European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs).