Autumn is approaching and so it's time for the 17th EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK organized all over Europe from 16th-22nd of September. The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK is a campaign promoting sustainable mobility options to the general population, the theme for 2019 is safe walking and cycling. The campaign is originally an initiative of the European Commission - Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport.
Cities and towns take part in the weeklong campaign by organizing events and actions related to clean mobility and sustainable urban mobility. The aim of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK is to improve public health and quality of life by introducing new mobility solutions, organizing permanent and temporary actions as well as informing citizens about sustainable mobility alternatives.
The cities.multimodal partner cities Tartu (Estonia), Karlskrona (Sweden), Rostock (Germany) and Gdansk (Poland) are part of the campaign this year. Tartu is celebrating the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK by generously offering free public transport for the whole week and organizing a concert that promotes walking. The people of Tartu will also be able to enjoy the reopening of the Ülikooli street in the center of the city which has been under reconstruction since June this year.
In Karlskrona the citizens will get the opportunity to watch the movie Bikes vs. Cars which is a Swedish documentary depicting how urban planning and traffic management traditionally has favored private cars instead of biking. People that for one reason or another haven’t familiarized themselves with biking as a part of an active lifestyle will have the chance to go for a bike ride.
If interested in experiencing an automated driverless electric minibus one must visit Gdansk as they will have demonstrations of the vehicle as a part of the campaign. A variety of workshops related to mobility are being organized along with a family-friendly picnic where one can experience retro city buses. Citizens also have the chance to get their bikes fixed as there is a temporary and free bike service point being set up.
All the four cities are taking part in the Car-Free Day on Sunday the 22nd which is the grande finale of the campaign. The Car-Free Day event involves temporarily prohibiting car traffic on one or multiple streets and turning them into public space for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Gdansk and Tartu are also organizing Living Street campaigns which’ purpose is to temporarily turn a street, usually located in a housing area, into public space that citizens can enjoy as a second living room.
In Rostock, September 22nd is not only a car-free day in the inner city center, the city is celebrating the annual climate action day! More than 60 actors organise activities in the usual car parking areas, ranging from music, dance and culinary delicacies, to discussions and informations on energy, zero-waste living, nature protection - all possible climate-related issues for citizens. Our lead partner, the Department for mobility management of the city of Rostock, invites citizens to discuss the plans for the living streets, planned within the project for 2020.
Picture: Preparartions for the Living Street in Gdansk, The City of Gdansk 2019
For more information visit the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK website here!
