In an awards ceremony hosted last night at the Théâtre de Vaudeville in the heart of the Belgian capital, Malmö (Sweden) and Brussels (Belgium) were recognised for their outstanding work in advancing sustainable urban mobility. Malmö was awarded the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award for its long-term focus on active transport modes such as cycling and walking. The 5th Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning was given to Brussels (Belgium) for its successful freight strategy.

The awards were presented by Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport, and Daniel Calleja, Director-General for Environment.

"I'm inviting cities to come on-board and work with us, to help Europe meet its ambitious climate objectives. I would like to congratulate this year's finalists who showed that greener and smarter urban mobility is already possible. I was particularly impressed by the long-term strategies developed by Malmö to encourage active travel and by Brussels on sustainable freight. I hope they can inspire many others," said Commissioner Bulc.

"We have great candidates and great role models for sustainable mobility at this award ceremony," said Director-General Calleja. "Shifting towards sustainable and shared modes of mobility is at the centre of great opportunities, particularly for improving quality of life and growing our economy sustainably."

The ceremony followed the first day of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Workshops, which kick off the preparations for the 2017 edition of the campaign under the theme of clean, shared and intelligent mobility, as encapsulated by the slogan “Sharing gets you further”.

Malmö overcame stiff competition from fellow finalists Lisbon (Portugal) and Skopje (former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), while Brussels edged out Budapest (Hungary) and Stockholm (Sweden).

For more information, read the press release.