European mobility week

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Car-free day during EMW 2008 in Prague

The European Mobility Week - EMW for short - is an annual initiative of the European Commission for sustainable mobility in cities that has been taking place since 2002 . European cities and municipalities are called upon to devote a week to the topic of sustainable mobility. It starts on September 16 and ends with Car Free Day on September 22.

Colorful children's pictures instead of cars in Bielefeld at EMW 2007

Every year EMW has a specific motto such as clean air, multimodality or sharing economy .

history

The EMW has its origins in the Car-Free Day , which has been held sporadically since the oil crisis of the 1970s and since 2000 as a Europe-wide initiative of the European Commission. In 2002 the activities related to the car-free day were extended to a whole week and additional activities were added. The Parking Day , which takes place on the third Friday in September, is also integrated into the EMW almost every year.

In the first year, 1732 municipalities got involved with EMW. The EMW with the highest number of participants to date took place in 2016 with 2,427 municipalities from 51 countries. Municipalities from non-EU countries such as Canada, Argentina, Japan and Taiwan were also involved.

activities

Helpers give gifts to cyclists in Luxembourg

For official registration as a participating municipality, the city or municipality must participate in at least one of the following three categories:

  • Actions in the field of mobility:
The municipality organizes one or more activities on the subject of mobility , alone or in cooperation with local actors such as schools , associations, companies or clubs. This can be the temporary closure of a street in a residential area with painting and play activities, a bicycle scavenger hunt, an environmental festival, a school route check or a reading on the subject of mobility.
  • Permanent measures:
The second way to participate is to install a permanent measure that helps people to be sustainably mobile. These can be measures in favor of walking or cycling, public transport or accessibility. In addition to infrastructure measures such as new public transport or bicycle traffic systems, measures such as speed limits , new school route planning or the development of communication and educational materials are also included.
  • Car-free day:
As part of the organization of a car-free day, one or more areas in the municipality are reserved for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. According to the European Commission, this car-free day should preferably be set on the traditional date on September 22nd, but all other days during the EMW are also possible.

Registration is free of charge for the municipality. Independently of the participation of a municipality, individual associations, organizations, institutions and companies can also take part in the campaign with an action that is not tied to the campaign period.

National coordination office in Germany

Participating municipalities are supported by the European Commission and the respective national coordination offices. The EMW National Coordination Office in Germany, located at the Federal Environment Agency , acts as the central contact point for municipalities, associations, institutions and companies. The range of tasks of a national coordination office includes advice, the provision of information material, the organization of networking and information events and the exchange with the European level and other national coordinators.

Austria

City cycling takes place in Graz , a popular cycling event organized by the City of Graz's Department of Transport Planning several times in the warm half of the year through the city. For several years (as of 2017), the issue on the occasion of the EMW has been taken a short distance over the A2Z motorway feeder, symbolically cycling on a directional lane of the closed motorway. A group of inline skaters from the Inline Graz association , which carries out the weekly city ​​skating in summer, follows the cycling crowd for almost as long - only on this date .

Web links

Commons : European Mobility Week  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ EMW website of the EU Commission. Retrieved August 15, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Official European website of the EMW - Participating Cities 2002. European Commission, accessed on August 14, 2017 (English).
  3. ↑ Official website of the European Mobility Week. European Commission, accessed on August 11, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Guide for EMW Germany. (PDF) Umweltbundesamt, pp. 5-6 , accessed on August 14, 2017 .
  5. ↑ European Mobility Week at the Federal Environment Agency , accessed on August 13, 2017
  6. ↑ European Mobility Week website , accessed on August 14, 2017
  7. ↑ Official registration page for municipalities , accessed on August 13, 2017