The EUROPEAN MOBILITY WEEK Campaign

This case study provides information about EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK, an initiative that runs annually throughout Europe. The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Campaign continues to gain traction with participation levels in 2018 exceeding previous levels for the third year in a row. 

Context 

Since it began in 2002, the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign has sought to improve public health and quality of life by promoting clean mobility and sustainable urban transport. The campaign gives people the chance to explore alternative ways of using city streets and to experiment with practical solutions to tackle urban challenges, such as air pollution and congestion.

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK provides the perfect opportunity to demonstrate sustainable mobility alternatives to local residents and to explain the challenges that cities and towns are facing. By taking part, towns and cities can showcase the benefits of cleaner transport choices and make progress towards better mobility in Europe.

In action 

How to participate

Local authorities are strongly encouraged to use EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK to test new transport measures and get feedback on these from the public. It is also an excellent opportunity for local stakeholders to get together and discuss the different aspects of mobility, find innovative solutions to reduce car and other transport emissions, and test new technologies and planning measures.

This year, EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK runs from 16 to 22 September and, as with previous years, it will have a dedicated transport theme. For 2018, the theme is ‘multimodality’ – mixing transport modes in the same journey or for different trips. Commissioner Bulc released a two-minute video clip when she launched this year’s main Week in Ghent on Sunday 16 September during a multimodal tour with Mayor Daniel Termont. In 2018, with 2 620 towns and cities signed up from 51 countries, European Mobility Week participation has increased since the previous year – making it the third record-breaking year in a row.  More information about the 2018 EMW launch can be found in the official press release.

Any town or city, from Europe and further beyond, is invited to participate in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK. To take part, each town or city has to register and must commit to one or more of the following criteria:

• Week of activities:
  Organising activities that celebrate sustainable urban transport. The celebrations can take any form – from guided bike rides to street games to public lectures. As long as the activities promote public transport, cycling and walking, and other forms of sustainable mobility, they are valid.
• Permanent measures:
  Implementing permanent measures that support people to make sustainable transport choices. These measures do not need to be expensive – the aim is to show the commitment of the town or city to sustainable urban mobility.
• Car free day
  Cities organise a car-free day by closing one or more streets to traffic and instead opening it to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. This should preferably happen on 22 September to coincide with World Car-Free Day.

Only the official local authority of the town or city may register for EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK.

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards

Local authorities that commit to carrying out all three criteria will be designated as 'Golden Participants' and become eligible to apply for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards.

The Awards recognise local authorities judged to have done the most to raise awareness of sustainable mobility during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK. There are two award categories – one for municipalities with over 50 000 inhabitants and one for smaller municipalities. The application period for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards 2018 will open on 24 September and the winners will be announced in early 2019.

SUMP Award

In addition to the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards, the campaign also supports the European Commission's award for sustainable urban mobility planning (SUMP), which was established in 2012. In line with the 2018 dedicated transport theme, this year’s SUMP Award focuses on multimodality. Although separate to the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards, the SUMP Award complements the campaign by recognising SUMP excellence. The SUMP Award call for applications is open until 1 October 2018. Read the call for applications here and the evaluation criteria here

Results 

The increase in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK participation demonstrates the campaign’s ongoing success.. What started in 2002 with 1 742 participating towns and cities in 2002, reached a new record in 2017 with 2 526 participants from 50 countries undertaking some form of relevant activity. Austria, Spain and Hungary were the top three countries in terms of participation.

In 2017, 1,352 towns and cities closed a street(s) to traffic and held a car-free day.

During EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2017, 1 295 towns and cities declared that they had implemented at least one permanent measure. This equates to around 42 % of all participating cities. Overall, 7 993 permanent measures were implemented by participating cities, an increase of 607 from the previous year and averaging more than three measures per city.

Visit www.mobilityweek.eu/ to see the status of participation for 2018.

Challenges, opportunities and transferability 

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK provides the perfect opportunity for towns and cities to become involved in sustainable transport activities. The wide range of activities that can be carried out; the diversity of stakeholders that can be involved; and the abundant information, tools and guidance provided by the organisers ensures that all participating towns and cities can be fully involved and hold a successful week.

In Depth 

To discover more about how participating towns and cities have used the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign to enhance their sustainable transport policies, please visit the Campaign materials page. The page provides campaign information for 2018 including a communications toolkit, the 2018 manual and the campaign video – all in official EU languages. Furthermore, campaign material from previous years is also available.

At the very bottom of the registration site, there are details of permanent measures that have been implemented during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK in previous years. These measures include activities for pedestrians, bicycle use, traffic calming, public transport, new distribution of freight, accessibility etc. Please visit www.mobilityweek.eu/registration/ for more information.

For each country, a national supporting organisation has been appointed and national websites are available (see: www.mobilityweek.eu/national-websites/).

You can keep up to date with all the latest news from EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK by registering for the campaign’s e-Newsletter.

You can consult this year’s registrations in real time here, and click again to find out what each city is doing: http://www.mobilityweek.eu/2018-participants/

Campaign website: www.mobilityweek.eu/.

This case study has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication.