Last month, we sat down with Vana Gkania, the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK National Coordinator for Cyprus, to hear her insights from the 2023 campaign, her thoughts on the 2024 theme ‘Shared Public Space’, and the potential for greater awareness around sustainable mobility in Cyprus.

What activities are you most proud of from the Cyprus EUROPEAN MOBILITY WEEK 2023?

Gkania: I am very proud of the achievements of our capital, Nicosia. The municipality organised many activities during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK, in particular to promote their latest permanent mobility measures. Many of these measures focussed on achieving a better modal share and promoting bike networks. One focus, for example, is on better connecting the Universities of Nicosia with the city centre with new cycle lanes. 

There was also a special race with people dressed to impress while riding bicycles, scooters or roller blades. The focus was on dressing fancy, with the winners chosen because of the fanciest costumes. The prize was an impressive e-scooter! It all ended with a big party. This event took place at the beginning of the week and served as a launch - or kick-start - for the rest of the week. Nicosia was a Golden Participant (meaning it registered activities during the main event week, installed at least one permanent measure, and organised a Car-Free Day) and later applied for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award. I am very proud because it is not easy to become a Golden Participant. 

How has participation developed in recent years? 

Gkania: It has increased. In 2023, not only was the participation greater in quantity, but also the quality. In previous years, the activities tended to repeat themselves but now, local coordinators and organisers are being more creative and doing more interesting things to stand out.

What impressed you the most?

Gkania: In Aglantzia (a suburb of Nicosia), the local coordinator organised an art installation outside the Athalassa park that represents the space occupied by a car, relative to bikes. Essentially it is a bike parking space in the shape of a car. It was the motivated new local EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK coordinator for Aglantzia, who made the difference here. 

Let’s talk about Shared Public Space – the 2024 theme. What does this theme mean to you? 

Gkania: I believe that Shared Public Space is about the humanisation of public space. It is about freeing up space that is normally used by car traffic to non-motorised mobility. Space is where you feel safe to move without having to follow specific signs or routes, regardless of how you choose to move. All should feel equal on the streets.

What Shared Public Space challenges have you faced in Cyprus?

Gkania: Cyprus doesn’t have big plazas like those in other European countries. Public space is therefore mostly about our streets. In Cyprus you cannot see many pedestrians; car drivers are not used to them. Car drivers still feel dominant; over 90% of all trips are made by car in Cyprus. We need to raise the visibility of pedestrians and balance out the streets. It is hard to imagine removing the traffic lanes or on-street parking. Political pressure is huge to not change; shopkeepers and traders are reluctant to embrace change. It is not easy to stimulate interest. The Ministry of Transport, Communication and Works and the municipalities try to promote sustainable travel, but the car is the dominant mode of transport in Cyprus and many people still use it, even for short distances. Our streets have been oriented for years around the needs of cars. They weren’t built like this in one night; so, we can’t fix them in one night either.

What Shared Public Space successes have you achieved?

Gkania: Over the last years Cyprus has introduced lower speed limits for shared streets. In the historic core areas, the limit is 30 km/h. But a new law is about to be implemented regarding Special Measures for the Reduction of Atmospheric Pollutants and Greenhouse Emissions from Road Transport that refers to low emissions zones, through which the movement of polluting vehicles will be prohibited, allowing exceptions only for residents. In recent years, SUMPs (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) have helped a lot. So, things are moving forward, despite resistance.

What potential is there for spreading more awareness around sustainable mobility?

Gkania: We continue to push for change; we have given free promotional materials to municipalities - for example stickers of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK mascots and colouring blocks for children. This helps. The front cover of the colouring block translates as ‘Imagine your city in whatever colours you want!’.  We also have local awards to encourage active participation. The public has increasingly participated in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK, so it is making a difference.

The potential lies with younger people; they want to see change. Older people aren’t willing to change as much or give up old habits. With the youth, change is progressing. The more people see mobility initiatives and new permanent measures, the more they support them and open up. 

Vana Gkania has been the National Coordinator for Cyprus for EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK since 2018. She is an Executive Engineer in Sustainable Mobility at the Public Works Department, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, Cyprus.

Learn more about EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK in Cyprus via the facebook page and the website.

On 14 March Budapest and Nudgd (Helsingborg) won the respective EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK and MOBILITYACTION Awards 2023 at a lively public ceremony in Brussels, attended by nearly 200 mobility practitioners, policy-makers and enthusiasts.

Budapest won the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award in recognition of its huge car-free days and awareness-raising activities, as well as the permanent mobility measures it implemented, ranging from new bicycle lanes to the introduction of speed limits (partly on the same roads) for greater space-sharing and safety. Deputy-Mayor of Budapest, Kata Tüttő, shared her enthusiasm for receiving this prestigious EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award on stage, highlighting the tough times her city had faced in 2023 due to rising energy prices. She explained that Budapest’s response was to ensure the extra costs of transport, public services and redesigning public space, were carried by the city.

“We are redesigning public space, as are many cities. We know that the citizens are happy if the public space is connected, not divided […]. Cities have a lot to do. It is up to cities in the next years to keep Europe, with its very ambitious goals, on track”: Deputy-Mayor of Budapest, Kata Tüttő

CTO / Co-Founder at Nudgd, Ola Rynge, collected the MOBILITYACTION Award on behalf of Nudgd's innovative behavioural change platform. This award places a spotlight on civil society organisations, businesses, citizen initiatives, educational institutions and municipalities promoting sustainable mobility throughout the year. Developed in Helsingborg, Sweden, Nudgd’s platform leverages behavioural science to encourage sustainable travel-to-school habits. Ola thanked the teams involved in the success and highlighted the need for further work on behavioural change for more active mobility:

“It is a great honour to be here receiving this prize. It was a team effort, not only for the team of Nudgd, but also for the City of Helsingborg of course […] I would also like to extend a thank you to all the MOBILITY ACTIONS that were made throughout Europe […] we need to work more to change our behaviour for more active transport”: CTO / Co-Founder at Nudgd, Ola Rynge

Speeches from Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission, Georges Gilkinet, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility of Belgium and Herald Ruijters, Deputy Director-General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission focussed not only on the winners but also on the success of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign as a whole, celebrating the huge efforts of all participants in the awareness-raising campaign to promote greener mobility and contribute to European climate goals.

“If we look back at all the numbers from when we started and see where are now, we can only be optimistic that so many people from all over the European Union and beyond, share the passion and share the commitment to do things together, to push urban mobility. Today we are celebrating achievements of every single person and entity who participated in the European Mobility Week last year”: Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission

“In the context of the climate emergency, we need to double up our efforts to develop active mobility; to deliver and follow a clear path based on the Paris Agreement. This aims for zero emissions by 2050, which won’t happen overnight, but we must start today […]. Tonight we are here to celebrate municipalities and companies that endorse greener change”: Georges Gilkinet, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mobility of Belgium

“We had again a record-breaking year with over 3,350 municipalities from 45 countries participating, which is enormous. I think this shows the importance of this campaign, because since the beginning we have been uniting people across so many countries”: Herald Ruijters, Deputy Director-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission

For those who couldn't attend or watch the livestream, view the recording of the ceremony.

Six finalists have been selected for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK and MOBILITYACTION awards. The awards place a spotlight on awareness-raising and mobility management in the area of sustainable urban mobility and are presented in recognition of activities conducted in 2023. Both winners will be announced at an award ceremony held in Brussels on 14 March.

The nominees for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2023 are:

Amadora (Portugal) for partnering with fellow local and regional authorities, including the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, with brands like IKEA and Decathlon, and with Europe-wide campaigns, such as Kidical Mass, to promote walking, cycling and public transport. Activities and the launch of permanent measures (such as the creation of an inter-city cycle network) were broadcast on local television and radio stations, in addition to being widely shared on social media platforms.

Budapest (Hungary) for an ambitious car-free weekend (16 – 17 September), counting 10,000 participants and featuring activities for children and adults, and a Car-Free Day (22 September) during which the Mayor of Budapest revealed plans for the construction of a new, pedestrian-friendly car-free zone on the Danube embankment. Events on how to 'Save Energy' in the transport sector were also held, alongside close cooperation with the City of Vienna (Austria) to promote best practices in walking and cycling policies.

Innsbruck (Austria) for tackling the 2023 theme 'Save Energy' from all angles. The city promoted energy savings by allowing public transport subscription holders to travel with up to three friends, by hosting an event on the practical aspects of e-mobility, and by offering free rental of city bikes on World Car-Free Day. Innsbruck also focused on shifting space from cars to people by opening parking spaces for pedestrian use in a central square; the action was so popular that it was extended for several weeks.

The nominees for the MOBILITYACTION Award 2023 are:

GSK (Wavre, Belgium) for its comprehensive approach to mobility management, which offered replicable examples for other large employers, including 13 activities on sustainable urban mobility and mobility-conscious commuting. Examples included a car-pool “speed-dating” session; a bicycle maintenance service to ensure that employees are not forced to handle maintenance issues in their free time; and discussions with a representative of the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB) on transport pass options for hybrid work.

Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg mbH (NVBW) (Germany) for empowering students across the entire state of Baden-Württemberg to travel to school safely and sustainably via the ‘MOVERS - Active to School’ programme. In 2023, MOVERS (which is supported by Baden-Württemberg’s Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and Ministry of the Interior) encouraged pupils to participate in a Germany-wide bike-to-school competition, in addition to supporting schools and municipalities with selected mobility measures.

Nudgd (Helsingborg, Sweden) for its innovative online platform leveraging behavioural science to encourage sustainable school travel habits in Helsingborg. Students, parents, and teachers were invited to join an online platform where they are gently “nudged” with messages, challenges, and quizzes to raise interest in - and show the benefits of - active travel. The platform supports the City of Helsingborg’s goals to enhance cycling, and promote safer, more sustainable travel by the parents/guardians of primary school students.

The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK award recognises municipalities that have excelled in promoting sustainable urban mobility during the campaign’s main week of 16 - 22 September. Meanwhile, the MOBILITYACTION award was launched by the European Commission in 2022 to acknowledge excellence in mobility management planning solutions submitted by businesses, civil society organisations, institutions, or local administrations throughout 2023. The annual theme for both awards is ‘Save Energy.’

The shortlisted candidates were selected by an independent panel of mobility and transport experts. The two winners will be announced at an award ceremony at La Bellone (Brussels, Belgium) on 14 March 2024. Register for the ceremony here.

Streets blocked by delivery vans and nowhere for cargo bikes to park: these are some of the daily reminders that European cities were not built for online shopping. Despite the heavy burden on logistics due to the increase in e-commerce, innovation in sustainable logistics is on the rise. According to leading sustainable logistics experts from the City of Bremen - a regular participant in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK and one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in Germany, where around a quarter of its 570,000 inhabitants are everyday cyclists - there is room for manoeuvre.

Cycling infrastructure is essential

As underscored by the European Cycling Declaration, attractive and inclusive cycling infrastructure is key to improving sustainable transport in cities. Through the recent Urban Logistics as an On-Demand Service (ULaaDS) project, the City of Bremen has showcased how cycle-friendliness is essential to enable the shift from delivery vans to cargo bikes. Additionally, it is necessary for all parties to play their role in implementing and enforcing the given regulations. Loading zones, for example, really need to be available for loading, which is not always the case.

Effective communications for greater acceptance

A key finding for Bremen in its mission to transition to a cargo bike-friendly city, is to ensure effective and transparent communication with all stakeholders. Through surveys, the city was able to learn from the experience of the different parties, as well as by establishing a communications forum for representatives of public authorities, logistics and service providers, retailers, experts and other relevant parties. This has led to greater acceptance and understanding of the needs of each stakeholder group for sustainable solutions. As explained by Michael Glotz-Richter, Sustainable Mobility, City of Bremen:

“We have to deal here with a highly competitive market; […] we have to ensure we have a fair treatment of all market players […]to try to understand each other.”

Cargo bikes for households

The potential of cargo bikes for logistics doesn’t stop at e-commerce. A huge number of individual car trips are for household shopping purposes, which are often short distances and, therefore, have the greatest potential to be replaced by cargo bikes. According to a pilot scheme conducted in Bremen to test the potential impact of cargo bikes at the household level, respondents claimed that 55% of their cargo bike trips replaced what would otherwise have been a car journey.

Get inspired by the activities implemented by Bremen and other towns and cities during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2023.

Learn more about the ULaaDS project here.

At the annual POLIS Conference hundreds of stakeholders gathered to discuss mobility solutions and initiatives with “active mobility for all” and the “reallocation of urban space” emerging as two key topics.

At the conference, which took place from 29 – 30 November in Leuven (Belgium), the need for a holistic approach to sustainable urban mobility was underlined. A presentation from Mobiel 21 highlighted active mobility’s key role in making mobility more inclusive: in the Flemish region of Belgium (Flanders), a network of “fiets scholen” or “bicycle schools” was created to offer people the opportunity to learn how to ride, repair, buy or rent a bike. Flanders is largely flat and quite densely populated, so cycling is often an inexpensive and effective solution to get from A to B. Not only is the bicycle an affordable solution for many, but by teaching people how to cycle safely the “fiets scholen” are able to include groups that might normally not feel comfortable cycling. In fact, of the over 1,000 people that the bike schools have taught to cycle, 90% of the participants were women and of these participants two-thirds belonged to lower income groups.

Cycling is a powerful tool to improve social inclusivity, especially among groups that have historically been sidelined in urban planning. The new EU Cycling Declaration highlights this point and lays out clear principles to make cycling infrastructure more inclusive and safer for everyone, including women, children and people with reduced mobility. The MOBILITYACTION Bicycle Heroes - Youth Voices for Active Mobility is another great example of active mobility offering a new perspective to urban mobility solutions. The initiative works with kids between the ages of 10 – 14 in Rome (Italy) to solve urban mobility challenges related to cycling. The action identifies barriers for cycling and smart design solutions to overcome these obstacles, which are then shared with the public.

Meanwhile, the reallocation of urban space surfaced as another important topic at the POLIS conference. Whether space is transferred from motor vehicles to cyclists through the creation of new bike paths or by increasing the pavement area, or the number of parking spaces are reduced to leave way for more greenery – every change has a direct impact on the mobility mix in towns and cities. A presentation from the German region of Baden-Württemberg proposed a new framework for inner cities with twenty towns and cities chosen as pilots. The participating cities were provided with a dedicated budget and expertise to support them in co-creating measures to restructure their centres. The reallocation of space in the centres was done using temporary street furniture and featured people-focused planning. Several of these plans are set to be permanently implemented in the near future.

Many cities and towns are taking the leap to reallocate urban space in favour of pedestrian use, road safety and ample greenery, including the prototype rearrangement of traffic at Miarki Street in Bytom (Poland), a recently registered MOBILITYACTION. The Polish city enhanced the space for pedestrians and cyclists while reducing the average speed of motor vehicles.

As 2023 comes to a close, the POLIS Conference spotlighted some of the most important mobility topics for 2024, including active mobility and shared urban space, among others. For more information on the conference click here.

For more information on MOBILITYACTIONS click here.