European Commission announces sustainable mobility award nominees

The European Commission today revealed the finalists of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards and the Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP). The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards showcase local authorities that demonstrate significant efforts in promoting sustainable urban mobility, while the SUMP Award recognises outstanding sustainable urban mobility planning.

The finalists for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2018 for larger municipalities are:

• Gdynia (Poland)
• Lisbon (Portugal)
• Palma (Spain)

The jury was impressed by:

• Gdynia’s strong programme of activities promoting the use of public transport
• Lisbon's strong vision for a more sustainable mobility culture and effective communication efforts reaching both residents and visitors
• Palma's decision to hold two Car-Free Days to highlight the urban space that could be gained without vehicles.

The finalists for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2018 for smaller municipalities (less than 50,000 inhabitants) are:

• Karditsa (Greece)
• Lindau (Germany)
• Oliveira do Bairro (Portugal)

In addition to holding activities aimed at children and disabled people, Karditsa promoted the health and safety benefits of sustainable transport during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2018. Lindau was praised by the jury for its strong focus on multimodality, the 2018 annual theme, and for a clever mixture of educational and entertaining activities. Oliveira do Bairro’s wide range of permanent measures and strong partnerships with local stakeholders was appreciated by the jury.

The 7th SUMP Award focused on multimodality – the use of different modes of transport during the same journey or for different trips, for both goods and passengers.

The 7th SUMP Award finalists are:

• Basel (Switzerland)
• Dresden (Germany)
• Greater Manchester (United Kingdom)

The jury was impressed by

• Basel's excellence in the management of cross-border issues (closely located to both Germany and France), as well as Basel's approach to finance and investment
• Dresden's achievement – exceeded in some cases – of most its SUMP objectives including a decrease in the car modal share
• Manchester's excellent spatial approach, ambitious modal-share goals and integration of new technologies.

All shortlisted cities were selected by an independent panel of mobility and transport experts.

The three winners will be announced at a ceremony in Brussels (Belgium) on 21 March 2019. Commissioner Violeta Bulc, responsible for Transport, and Jürgen Müller, Head of Cabinet for Karmenu Vella, the Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, will present the awards to the winning towns and cities.

The juries

The jury for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards 2018 was comprised of:

• Cynthia Bonsignore, International Association Public Transport (UITP)
• Freya de Muynck, Traject mobility management
• Niccolò Panozzo, European Cyclists' Federation (ECF)
• Robert Pressl, FGM-AMOR

The jury for the 7th SUMP Award was comprised of:

• Dirk Engels, Transport & Mobility Leuven
• Siegfried Rupprecht, Rupprecht Consult
• Bronwen Thornton, Walk21

Background

The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign runs from 16-22 September each year, providing towns and cities with an opportunity to test out sustainable transport alternatives. By encouraging individuals to choose sustainable transport modes such as walking and cycling, we can lower our carbon emissions, improve our air quality, and make our urban areas more pleasant places to live and work.

2018 saw nearly 2,800 towns and cities participate in the campaign, marking it as the most successful year to date.

For more information on the campaign, visit http://www.mobilityweek.eu