Commissioner Dimas to present European Mobility Week award on 13 February
European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas will present the European Mobility Week (EMW) award 2008 on Wednesday evening (13 February) at a ceremony at the Résidence Palace in Brussels.The three cities nominated for the award are Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Koprivnica (Croatia) and Arad (Romania).
The award is given for the best contribution to last year's EMW, held from 16 to 22 September under the slogan of 'Streets for People,' which encouraged local authorities to give over more road space to non-motorised forms of mobility.
European Mobility Week 2007 was celebrated by 2,016 participating cities with an estimated population of 215 million people in 35 countries.
The EMW award is given for the quality and comprehensiveness of the actions undertaken by a local authority, its strategic approach to communicating and promoting EMW to citizens and the media, and the innovativeness of the permanent measures implemented.
Forty-two municipalities put themselves forward for the award.
The entries were judged by an independent panel of six experts in sustainable mobility issues.
Besides selecting Koprivnica, Frankfurt and Arad as finalists, the jury also shortlisted Almeirim (Portugal), Bjelovar (Croatia), Ponferrada (Spain), Budapest (Hungary), Sheffield (UK), Ostersunds (Sweden) and Kromeriz (Czech Republic).
Achievements of the three finalists
Frankfurt organised a well-run information campaign whose various activities enabled people to learn about key transportation and environmental challenges and try out alternative means of transport such as bike taxis and solar powered vehicles.
During the week Frankfurt closed a main artery road into the centre for two days to prepare the public for the permanent closure of the road planned for this year.
It also presented a customer guarantee within the public transport system which will be introduced on a permanent basis this spring.
During Mobility Week Koprivnica launched a three-year "Streets for People" programme which aims to make all public buildings, pavements and road crossings accessible to the disabled, reallocate 1-1/2 kilometres of roads in the centre to non-motorised traffic and promote walking and public transport running on bio-diesel.
The jury was impressed by the city's comprehensive action plan for the week including activities on all key transport themes.
Having participated in Mobility Week for six successive years, Koprivnica has now achieved a number of its sustainable transport objectives and become an example which neighbouring cities are following.
Mobility Week in Arad was organised around educational activities on air quality, sustainable transport and protecting the environment.
Study visits were organised and air quality measurements carried out on roads to show local people the impacts of traffic emissions on air quality.
The city worked in close collaboration with local stakeholders to ensure the Week's success.
Arad also launched major projects to achieve lasting improvements in the local transport infrastructure and reallocated road space to pedestrians.
Practical information:
The award ceremony is open to the media. It will start at 19:00 in the Salle Polak of the Résidence Palace. Further information:European Mobility Week
http://www.mobilityweek-europe.org/index.php?lang=en
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