This year, we received a record 1,028 MOBILITYACTIONs from businesses, schools, NGOs and other organisations across Europe. Five of those have been nominated for the title of Best MOBILITYACTION 2019, and now we need your help to choose our winner!

Every morning this week at 10.00AM CET, we will profile a nominee through our social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To win the competition, the nominee needs to get the highest number of points overall.

How to win points?
Each day we will promote one nominee through our social media accounts. The post will be online from 10.00 AM CET and voting stops the following day at 10.00 AM CET. Every like, retweet/share, and comment generated during this 24-hour period will count as one point. These points will account for 50 percent of the overall vote.

From 16 December-20 December, we will launch a poll through Facebook and Twitter, where followers will be invited to vote for their favourite entry. This will account for the remaining 50 percent of the vote. Polls will close on 20 December at 12.00 PM CET.

The points from the social media posts and the polls will be then added together and the nominee who secures the highest number of points overall will be declared the winner!

The winning MOBILITYACTION will be invited to join us in March 2019 for our sustainable mobility workshops.

Now for the nominees…

Literary Competition on the Theme "Walk to the end of the city" (Bulgaria)
The Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water in Plovdiv organised a literary competition under the theme "Walk to the end of the city." Participants of all ages with an interest in literature and the environment were invited to participate, submitting a piece of literature that focused on the theme. Submissions focused on walking, highlighting the health, environmental, social and emotional benefits associated with it, were particularly sought out.

Organiser: Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water - Plovdiv

Mobility café: Biciculture Friday (Portugal)
On 20 September 2019, the Parish Council of Olivais hosted the event “Biciculture Friday” at its Culture House. During the event, the Parish launched their "Cycling to work" guide and held a debate on EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK’s theme "Safe walking and cycling." At the end of the day, there was a night bike ride around the parish with the participants.

Organiser: Junta de Freguesia de Olivais

European Mobility Week: Going for Zero Traffic Victims (The Netherlands)
The mobility department of the Province of Zuid-Holland organised a road safety awareness week under the title of ‘Going for zero traffic victims’. During the week, a number of awareness raising events and activities were organised, including: courses on cycling safety and the safe use of e-bikes, a campaign encouraging children to walk to school, and several workshops on the importance of road safety.

Organiser: ROV-ZH

Parklet2go - Pedal-powered placemaking (Austria)

PARKLET 2 GO is an urbanistic tool for testing, evaluating and discussing the transformation of specific (parking) spaces in an effective and informal way. PARKLET 2 GO is used for the temporary installation in parking lots and public spaces in general. The aim of PARKLET 2 GO is to carry out various spatial experiments and activating interventions in public space.

Organiser: Smarter Than Car

A human chain to demand a optimal pedestrian crosswalk (Spain)

Volunteers from NGO Andando Burgos highlighted the need for a new, direct and shorter crosswalk at one of the main access points to the pedestrian zone in the city center, as a symbol of a new approach to the design of our crosswalks and streets. Thinking about pedestrians' needs, they did this by forming human chains on either side of the location of the new potential crosswalk.

Organiser: Andando Burgos

The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign enjoyed continued success this year, with participation rates in regions including the Western Balkans increasing. In 2018, a total of 58 towns and cities from the region participated in the campaign; this year that number increased to 75.

In addition, in 2018, 14 MOBILITYACTIONs from the Western Balkans were registered during the campaign. This year the figure more than doubled, with 33 actions registered.

A recent article produced by Balkan Green Energy News profiles this success and outlines some of the activities that took place as part of the week. For example, in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), the Minister of Transport of the Canton Sarajevo, Adnan Šteta, presented a road safety project in schools. In Priština (Kosovo) a walking campaign was organised, while in Skopje (Republic of North Macedonia), a cycling parade, a velo picnic, and several workshops on the use of electric vehicles were organised. And, Tirana (Albania) hosted a bike show, and launched a new public transport map, which details bicycle lanes, as well as street codes and rules in the city.

One of the activities held during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK was an online conference for Mayors from the region, which allowed them to share their urban mobility experiences and challenges.

Among the Mayors participating in the event was Milan Trivić, Deputy Mayor of Sarajevo, who said: “The City of Sarajevo wants to use EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK as an incentive to speed up achieving the goals that will, as soon as possible, define our city as a Smart City. The city is grateful to the individuals, enthusiasts and organisations who were the first to join in and initiate this campaign.”

To learn more about all the towns and cities who participated in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK and the activities they organised, click here.

On Thursday 5 December, 11:00-12:00 CET, the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK secretariat will hold a webinar for businesses, NGOs, schools and other actors, including cities, on how to draft a good MOBILITYACTION.

A MOBILITYACTION is any action that promotes the idea of sustainable urban mobility. It can be limited to a specific day or last for several weeks/months and can take place at any moment of the year, not just during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK.

MOBILITYACTION’s promote a behavioural shift towards a more sustainable urban mobility culture and are of a promotional rather than a technical nature (i.e. technical innovations themselves will not be recognised), with examples including cycling to work with your neighbours, or if you’re an employer, taking concrete action to encourage your employees to use public transport.

During the webinar, participants will gain the chance to explore some best practice examples of MOBILITYACTION’s carried out across Europe, and will gain tips on how to draft their own perfect MOBILITYACTION.

To register for the webinar, click here.

There is less than one month left for towns and cities to apply to the first EU Urban Road Safety Award.

The award, which is open for submissions until 16 December, rewards outstanding and innovative achievements by local authorities in the area of road safety and encourages the exchange of good practice across Europe.

In light of the fact that 38 percent of road fatalities and more than 50 percent of serious road injuries occur on urban roads, the award rewards local authorities for adopting holistic measures to improve road safety, within the spirit of the internationally recognised “Safe System” concept.

The EU Urban Road Safety Award will be presented in spring 2020 together with the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK and SUMP awards, and honours local authorities that have implemented innovative long-term safety improvements.

Applications will be accepted from European local authorities that have legal competence in developing and implementing road safety measures on their territory.

For more information about the award, the entrance criteria, and how to apply before the 16 December deadline, click here.

EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK has hit a new participation record, with over 3,100 towns and cities from 50 countries taking part in 2019. This impressive figure marks the fourth record-breaking year in a row for the campaign. A full list of participants can be viewed here.

Car-free day, in which towns and cities close one or more streets to traffic, was carried out by 1,375 participants and in total, 15,610 permanent measures were implemented by the 2019 participating towns and cities.

Car-free day often leads to a marked increase in air quality in the area in which it is implemented and is the perfect opportunity for local authorities to measure the impact of motorised vehicles on the air we breathe.

A recent study on Brussels’ car-free day found an 80 percent decrease in nitrogen dioxide and diesel soot, the main pollutants linked to car traffic, during the period in which cars were off the roads in the Belgian capital.

Towns and cities who carried out all three of the participation criteria (carry out a week of activities celebrating clean forms of mobility, implement at least one permanent measure that encourages sustainable transport, and hold a car-free day) and signed the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Charter, are eligible to apply for the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards. 

The Awards, which recognise local authorities judged to have done the most to raise awareness of sustainable mobility during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK, are given out in two categories: one for municipalities larger than 50,000 inhabitants, and one for smaller municipalities under this threshold. The deadline for applying is 25 October 2019.

For more information about the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards and how to apply, click here.