The CIVITAS2020 initiative on cleaner and better transport in cities launched its new peer-to-peer exchange programme at the CIVITAS Forum in Gdynia (Poland), which took place from 28-30 September 2016. The programme consists of study visits and work placements on innovative transport measures, and is open to practitioners and city representatives who are interested in learning from, and sharing their knowledge and experience with, peers in other European cities.

Work placements offer transport professionals a hands-on, three day learning opportunity in another European city focused on a topic area which responds to their local needs. Study visits offer the opportunity for a group of up to 10 city representatives to travel to another European city facing similar challenges in sustainable urban mobility to learn about possible solutions and best practices.

Financial bursaries are available to cover travel and accommodation. Exact dates of the visits will be decided in cooperation with the host and the visiting cities. Those interested in being either a host or visiting city should fill in the application form available online by 7 November.

For more information, visit the CIVITAS website.

2016 has seen the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign shatter its previous participation record, with an astounding 2424 cities from 51 countries celebrating the week. The previous record was set in 2011 when 2264 cities from 43 countries participated.

Cities and towns around the world held activities under this year’s theme of 'Smart and sustainable mobility - an investment for Europe', referring to the close ties between transport and economics. Many cities held a "Car Free Day", in which areas of the city were closed off to motorised vehicles and opened to citizens, while others held activities that showcased the benefits of opting for sustainable modes of travel. A sizeable portion of those participating also enacted permanent measures that encourage a shift to low-carbon forms of mobility.

Cities that carried out all three of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK criteria are eligible to apply for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award. Winners of the award receive a three-minute video in both English and their native language highlighting their achievements. The call for applications for the fifth edition of the SUMP Award is also open. This year's award will recognise the local or regional government that has done most to integrate urban freight with their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, or SUMP.

For more information, visit the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK website.

The European Commission today launches the 15th annual EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK, with activities taking place across Europe from 16 to 22 September. The theme of this year is 'Smart and sustainable mobility – an investment for Europe’.

The main aim is to promote awareness of the economic benefits of investing in safe, clean transport for people and companies. Making energy and transport more affordable and sustainable is also one of the priorities of the Juncker Commission. Action in cities is particularly important as urban transport is responsible for 23 percent of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions.

As in previous years, local authorities and individuals across the continent are encouraged to think about what they can do locally, to make an impact globally.

Speaking at the launch of EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2016, Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Transport said: "This week is about getting individuals and local authorities big and small - on board. We are moving towards smart mobility, by integrating technology into transport. Smart mobility can reduce traffic jams in European cities and help cut the €100 billion congestion price-tag, making our cities more liveable!"

Getting out of the car and walking, cycling or taking the bus can have benefits such as improving our health. But research shows that smarter mobility can also make the public finances healthier. The Commission estimates* that road congestion costs 1 percent of the EU’s GDP per year – that's €100 billion euro last year, this year and every year. Smarter mobility can reduce traffic jams in European cities and help cut that 100 billion euro congestion price-tag.

The culmination of the week is the Car-Free Day, during which designated areas of towns and cities are closed to car traffic and open only for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK is a highlight in a year-round drive for more sustainable mobility. The campaign serves to encourage and inspire those involved, to think about more long-term, permanent changes that could be made to improve transport.

For example, since April 2016 the University of Aveiro, Portugal has been recording large amounts of data on transport habits to help policy makers’ work towards a low carbon economy; in the Spanish city of Albacete a group of people have created a company called Urbanciclo to transport goods by cargo-bike; in the Italian town of Casalmaggiore, the NGO Slow Town presented in May 2016 a 2km children’s ring road along the bank of the river Po, creating a safe route closed to road traffic to get to school, the library, the gym and downtown; campaigners from Spain, Sweden and the UK joined forces to ride 2000km from Stockholm to Brussels last summer to advocate for safer cycling; between March and October 2016 Natuur & Milieu organised the ‘car sharing award for Dutch municipalities’ to stimulate the use of this transport method in the Netherlands.

These are but a few examples. All of the registered MOBILITYACTIONS are displayed on the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK website.

The call for applications to the fifth edition of the SUMP Award is now open. This year's award will recognise the local or regional government that has done most to integrate urban freight with their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, or SUMP.

The focus on urban freight ties into this year's EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK theme of how smart and sustainable mobility can support a stronger economy. Urban freight is a challenging topic for urban and transport planners, as businesses in urban centres need reliable access to goods delivery. However, the presence of delivery vehicles often worsens problems such as traffic congestion and pollution.

Urban freight can be made more sustainable in a number of ways. Consolidating freight in a logistics centre and using a smaller number of vehicles to deliver to more addresses is one example. Using vehicles powered by hybrid or electric engines is also a good way to cut emissions from delivery fleets. Even zero-emissions vehicles such as cargo bikes have been shown to be reliable for the last step in delivery for most goods.

The SUMP Award is presented together with the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK award, and honours local authorities that have developed a Mobility Plan that satisfies the diverse transport needs of people and businesses, whilst improving quality of life. Each year, the award highlights a different aspect of mobility planning. Past editions of the award have focused on successful territorial and policy integration, monitoring implementation, and providing for multimodality and intermodality.

For more information about this year's edition of the award and how to apply, click here.

The 2016 edition of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Best Practice Guide features the outstanding achievements of the ten shortlisted cities for the 2015 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award.

Murcia (Spain), the eventual winner of the Award, installed bike racks and allowed foldable bicycles on buses, and also placed a strong emphasis on developing electric mobility in the city in the form of electric bicycles and scooters. The other two finalists, Lisbon (Portugal) and Palma de Mallorca (Spain), also showed great initiative. Lisbon organised two separate Car-Free Day events in different locations, and implemented new infrastructure to increase accessibility and cycling. Palma de Mallorca implemented new cycling infrastructure and parking facilities, surveyed residents on their mobility practices and offered free public transport tickets.

The other seven shortlisted cities are also featured in the guide, and details of their excellent activities are given. They include Bacau (Romania), Larnaka (Cyprus), Miskolc (Hungary), Nottingham (United Kingdom), Sofia (Bulgaria), Trikala (Greece), and Vienna (Austria). A number of inspiring MOBILITYACTIONs are also included from countries such as Croatia, Monaco, Portugal and Sweden.

For the first time good examples of activities from small municipalities in Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Serbia are profiled, as well as best practice by the National Coordination teams in a number of countries. The guide also features activities from the South Korean cities of Busan, Seoul, and Wonju, the first time that activities outside of Europe have been profiled. Campaigners can consult the guide to take inspiration from others and ensure that they have exciting and innovative EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK celebrations in their own cities and communities.

To download and read the Best Practice Guide, visit the Campaign Materials page.