During the recent National Coordinator’s meeting in Bologna, EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK had the chance to meet with Chiara Girotti, Head of Urban Transformations & Cycling within the Sustainable Mobility & Infrastructure Department, part of Bologna’s Public Works, Green & Mobility Office. Chiara was part of the team whose efforts earned Bologna the 2024 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award.

In this interview, she shares insights into Bologna’s recent initiatives, the challenges of transforming urban public space, and what this year’s theme, ‘Mobility for Everyone’, means for the future of the city. 

 
Tell us about your role in the city and how you became involved with EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK. 
 
I work as an architect for the City of Bologna, focusing on urban mobility planning. Before that, I spent 20 years in the city’s Urban Planning Office. Over time, my expertise and interest shifted toward sustainable mobility. I eventually took on the coordination of the municipal cycling initiatives, such as Bike to School, and became more involved in shaping Bologna’s urban mobility strategy.

My involvement with EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK began in 2022. Cycling was becoming a key part of Bologna’s mobility policy, with participation growing year by year. That same year, we introduced our first official Bike Day to celebrate and promote cycling. Given the success of these efforts, I took on the responsibility of managing the city's EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK activities, and I’ve continued in that role ever since. 
 
Congratulations to Bologna for winning the 2024 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award. What does this recognition mean for the city?  
 
Thank you, we are incredibly proud! For us, this award is more than a prize; it’s a confirmation that Bologna is undergoing real change. People’s mindsets are shifting. They are asking for a city that prioritises people over cars, with more room for walking and cycling.

Making the award finalist video helped us envision that transformation and see the potential of a more liveable Bologna. Right now, we’re in the middle of major tramline construction, which is demanding and complex. In this way, winning the award feels like a much-needed energy boost during a very intense period. Ultimately, it reminds us that the effort is worth it. 
 
What do you think made the city stand out? Were there any specific activities or initiatives that played a key role? 
 
I wouldn’t say Bologna excels in one single area. We are not aiming to be “the best” at any one thing. What sets us apart is our ability to collaborate across sectors. We find that having such a multi-sectoral approach, taking into account the diverse needs of people living, working and visiting the city, can make a real difference.

To support this, we’ve created strong partnerships between the municipality and the metropolitan area, and also between departments internally. For example, I work closely with the education sector to develop school mobility programmes. It’s a more challenging way to work, but it enables us to engage a much wider range of people and build more meaningful change. 
 
One of the initiatives you introduced was Bologna Città 30 (City 30), reducing speed limits in many areas of the city to 30 km/h. How did residents respond? Were there challenges in implementing it? 
 
Of course, the loudest voices often came from those who opposed the measure, but I believe there were also many people in favour. When a public opinion poll was carried out, most respondents supported the traffic calming measures.

As I’ve already mentioned, there’s a growing demand for a more liveable, people-centred city. Bologna Città 30 is not just about speed limits. It’s part of a larger effort to rethink how the city functions and to create safer, healthier and more enjoyable spaces for everyone. 
 
Another important activity taking place in Bologna last year was the ‘Zone T’ initiative. What is this initiative, and what impact has it had on the city centre? 
   
Zone T refers to three major streets in Bologna’s city centre where all motor vehicles - including buses - are prohibited on weekends. Although the initiative was launched about ten years ago, it remains one of our most impactful policies.

At first, there was considerable resistance, particularly from local retailers who were concerned about access to their shops. But over time, it proved to be a great success. Today, the area is a thriving, pedestrian-friendly zone where people come to shop, stroll and enjoy the city in a much more relaxed and comfortable environment. 
 
This year’s theme is ‘Mobility for Everyone’. Has this theme inspired any activities or ideas in Bologna? 
 
While we don’t have all the details finalised yet, the municipality recently approved a plan aiming to remove physical and social barriers within the city. This plan will initially focus on a few key streets as pilot areas. What’s interesting is that we have a consulting team, led by a kind of diversity manager, who is helping us understand and visualise a universally designed city. We’re working closely with this team, and their input will likely help shape the activities for this year’s EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK. 

Find out more about Bologna’s award-winning activities on the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award page, here. 

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK recently sat down with Kathryn Bulanowski, project manager at the European Passengers’ Federation (EPF), to discuss this year’s campaign theme Mobility for Everyone and see how cities can ensure that their mobility solutions work for all.

The EPF is a nonprofit umbrella association of passenger organisations across Europe that advocates for the rights and interests of public transport users. The organisation was established over 20 years ago, working to tackle transport poverty and improve the quality, accessibility and sustainability of passenger transport. 
 

First of all, tell us about yourself and what you like about working at the European Passengers’ Federation?

I've been a project manager at EPF for four years. I was drawn to working at EPF because I wanted to do something useful, both with and for people. I like that it’s all about improving public transport, as I use public transport myself all the time. This is what drives me the most – that the role really relates to my own interests.  

What do you think is the best way to make sure that mobility services cater for everyone? 

At the EPF, we advocate for a universal design approach, so that a service or tool, like an app, for example, can cater for everyone’s needs. It can sometimes be difficult to balance the needs of different user groups, so universal design helps to accommodate as many people as possible rather than creating a specialised service that addresses the specific needs of a specific group only. Universal design is a win-win approach because operators potentially have more people using the service and, in turn, more people benefit from the service.

I heard of an example recently from one of our members. She pointed out that you must consider how a design affects all groups - because a solution that might meet the needs of one group could actually affect another group negatively. She gave a specific example of UK zebra crossings being replaced with more colourful designs, with the goal of preventing pedestrian casualties. Many organisations, however, raised safety concerns because of their impact on people with, for example, a visual or sensory impairment. As a result, they had to change the zebra crossings back to black-and-white. This is why universal design is so beneficial, because then you avoid this type of challenge. 

What does the 2025 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign theme, ‘Mobility for Everyone’, mean to you?

For me, very simply, it means that anyone can travel without barriers, regardless of their personal circumstances. This includes when they wish to travel and where they want to go, and how they wish to get there. 
I'm glad that this is the topic of this year's campaign, because it’s such a very important topic. I am curious to see what participating cities will come up with because previous annual themes have been quite creative and fun. I think this year will be no different.

 
During your presentation (at the European Mobility Week annual workshops) you spoke about Mobility as a Right. How does this fit in? 

I really like the idea behind Mobility as a Right (MaaR). This concept, from the EU Horizon project UPPER, states that everyone should be able to go wherever they want, whenever they wish to travel. Everyone needs affordable, reliable public transport that allows them to access work, education, healthcare and other essential services. EPF fully supports the MaaR concept, because a lack of access to public transport can mean that people are excluded from fully participating in society. 

For cities or organisations that are unsure where to start with the theme of Mobility for Everyone, what would you recommend as some easy first steps? 

Reach out to citizens and actively engage with them! For example, you can ask people on the street, ‘how did you travel here today?’ or ‘what mode did you take and why?’ Like this, you are essentially finding out directly what kind of challenges they face and then building solutions around these challenges. In general, our transport system needs to place a greater focus on end-users – including vulnerable groups who may be at risk of transport poverty. Therefore, it’s important to listen to and understand the barriers people face and the needs they have, as this can help create more meaningful services. 

It could also be interesting to select a specific factor that contributes towards transport poverty and then brainstorm on how to tackle it. Transport adequacy, for example, where it’s important to improve unsafe travel conditions and remove barriers like uneven paving, obstacles, steps, etc. Or think about affordability and try to eliminate the burden of high costs. Finally, I think it’s useful for cities to also check out what is happening in other cities. There are so many nice examples that others can learn from or replicate. 

 
Learn more about the European Passengers’ Federation on their website here or follow them on their LinkedIn page. 

#BikesForUkraine is an international campaign, initiated by six Ukrainian NGOs, providing bicycles for aid workers to deliver medication, food and humanitarian aid in Ukraine. To mark three years since the campaign began, we had the privilege of speaking with Svitlana Samikova from U-Cycle, who has been actively involved in organising the initiative.

Could you explain the origins of the initiative #BikesForUkraine, how it started and the overall aim?

#BikesForUkraine is an international humanitarian campaign that started in 2022, shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

I can tell you the story of how the campaign came into being. In the first month of the full-scale war, we had several online meetings with European partner organisations, such as the Berlin-based organisation ‘Changing Cities’. We held these meetings to spread information about the war in Ukraine, and they also became a source of emotional support. A feeling of being heard. In one of these meetings, we shared a request for bicycles from communities near the frontline area. ‘Changing Cities’ promised to look into it. From there, it just started to develop and expand. We very soon realised that bicycles could become a vital mobility solution for people in cities and villages throughout Ukraine who were suffering from the effects of disrupted public transport and fuel shortages. Together with other friendly NGOs we launched the campaign.

The aim of the campaign is to deliver bicycles to volunteers, social workers, doctors and people in need, helping them to be mobile. The bicycles help them to deliver humanitarian aid to places that are otherwise difficult to reach. The campaign has now been running for three years. Over 92 ambassadors have supported the campaign, donating funds and bicycles. We have delivered bicycles to more than 90 local communities in Ukraine, increasing social cohesion and serving as a truly important tool for psychological relief. For a lot of people on the frontline, there is also the important aspect of not being forgotten.

Could you talk about some of the challenges that #BikesForUkraine has faced so far?

There are of course many challenges that we need to cope with. I would firstly mention the difficulty of organising international logistics during wartime. It is quite complicated, because we need safe delivery routes using land transport only. We also need to handle customs formalities and report to different inspection bodies on the use of the humanitarian aid. And we need to do all this with the smallest team in the past 10 years at U-Cycle (Kyiv Cyclists’ Association), as most members of our permanent team are in the armed forces. We are very grateful to our ambassadors for helping us in handling the delivery processes before the bicycles reach the Ukrainian border.

Another challenge is maintaining communication with all the campaign stakeholders, particularly last year, when there were constant electricity and internet disruptions, not forgetting the missile and drone attacks. As you have experienced, these can affect some working processes [the interview was rescheduled due to an overnight attack on Kyiv]. Nonetheless, we Ukrainians continue to live, work and resist. The #BikesForUkraine campaign remains an important source of support and hope for a better future.

Could you give a couple of examples of how the donated bicycles have helped people?

Each bicycle we deliver makes a difference to ordinary people stuck on the frontlines and every story matters. They show how the humble bicycle is literally a lifeline. A good example is the volunteers who are currently in the Donetsk region, rescuing animals from dangerous areas and moving them to safer places, or just feeding them if they cannot get them out. Of course, there are also plenty of cases of medical workers helping individuals who could only be reached by bicycle.

Another story reflecting the important role that bicycles can play for Ukrainian communities relates to the time when the northern part of Kherson region was occupied. There were two towns separated by some agricultural fields. One of the villages was still Ukrainian and the other one was occupied. The occupiers stood at a checkpoint on the road between the two towns and they did not let cars through, no matter who was driving. Only bicycles or wheelchairs, for example, were allowed to pass by. Nowadays, the locals call this the ‘road of life’. It is a small stretch of road about three kilometres long and at that time it was dotted with bicycles, which were used to get through the checkpoint. The locals organised a bicycle shelter where people who evacuated by bicycle could leave them, so they could be used again by others for the same purpose. This is a story of the common bicycle becoming a symbol of the only route to salvation from the occupation. The local community is thinking about building a bicycle monument, to remember the lives that were saved by this simple form of transport.

How do you see the future for bicycles in Ukraine? Do you see cycling becoming a key part of the transport system in the future?

We believe that cycling will play a big role in Ukraine's transport future. In the short-term, bicycles are crucial in the de-occupied territories. Even after they have been liberated, these areas are often difficult to access or the infrastructure has been destroyed. The reconstruction process will take time. Receiving bicycles from our campaign is a big help for these communities in the process of recovery.

In the long term, we advocate for rebuilding cities with inclusive, sustainable mobility in mind. The war has shown how resilient bicycles are and that they are an especially effective response to the challenges we face. We hope the value of bicycles will be integrated within the ‘build back better’ principals of Ukraine's green post-war recovery. This is necessary for a greener, healthier and more resilient society. People tend to talk only about post-war recovery, but it’s also about recovery during the war. The war is still ongoing, but at the same time many places are recovering and rebuilding. We try to view this recovery, as well as further European integration, as a window of opportunity for implementing positive sustainable mobility changes in our lives and into our communities.

Is there anything you think the rest of Europe can learn from this experience, especially in relation to the mobility problems that you've had to face?

Our experience shows that even in the worst of times, communities can adapt and support each other with simple but effective tools like bicycles. They have played such an important role in strengthening solidarity and social cohesion within communities. This also proves that mobility is not a luxury; it is a basic human need. Access to transport underpins safety, dignity and resilience right now in Ukraine. I hope this can be somehow inspiring and empowering for other communities.

Lastly, is there any message you would like to send to people in Europe who may be wondering how they can help?

We see our campaign as a great opportunity for our ambassadors to show their solidarity with Ukraine, whether by donating bicycles or fundraising or simply raising awareness by amplifying our message. It all makes a huge difference and every act of support, no matter how big or small, brings us closer to building a stronger and more mobile Ukraine. Finally, it also gives us the feeling that we are not alone. I look forward to the day when #BikesForUkraine can invite everyone who has helped to come and visit us, and see a safe, peaceful and bicycle-friendly Ukraine. This thought keeps me going.

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Svitlana Samikova is an Administrative Specialist at ams OSRAM and has been a volunteer at U-Cycle, Kyiv Cyclists’ Association, since 2018.

To find out how you can support the #BikesForUkraine campaign, please visit the U-Cycle website page on the initiative, here.