European sustainable mobility awards nominees revealed

The four winners will be known in one month

Today, 22 March, the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK revealed the nominees for three awards, recognising remarkable sustainable urban mobility activities conducted in 2020. Now we know the names of the 12 finalists of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards, the Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP Award) and the EU Urban Road Safety Award, each united under the same theme: ‘Zero-emission mobility for all’.

Rewarding outstanding achievements in sustainable urban mobility

Whilst each of the three awards praises remarkable activities conducted in 2020, the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards showcase how smaller and larger municipalities manage to promote sustainable urban mobility, in particular during last year’s mobility week of 16-22 September. Here, there are two categories – for larger municipalities (over 100 thousand inhabitants) and for smaller municipalities.

Among larger cities, Granada (Spain) impressed the jury with communication activities, including social media, and online conferences to engage residents in discussions on sustainable mobility and by the wide range of permanent sustainable mobility measures implemented during the week.

Mönchengladbach (Germany) also demonstrated a broad and comprehensive programme of activities and events addressing people of all ages and abilities and by a strong citizen engagement, with people being able to suggest activities for Car-Free Day 2021.

Finally, the third finalists – Sofia - put the focus on road safety and active mobility. The Bulgarian capital performed diverse activities such as a national walking contest, and broad ranging permanent measures such as extending the city’s metro line.

In the category of cities below 100,000 inhabitants, Bruck an der Leitha (Austria) stood out. There, the mayor and the city councillors led by example, by giving up their cars during the weekdays, instead opting to travel by public transport.

Lilienthal (Germany) also made an impression with its Car-Free School Day, which was organised together with the City of Bremen (Germany) and saw 55 schools and more than 60,000 students participate.

Greece’s Nea Moudania gave visibility to many permanent sustainable mobility measures, among which the introduction of new bicycle paths, stands, and stations, and the improvement of footpaths and pedestrian crossings.

The SUMP Award rewards excellence in sustainable urban mobility planning. Here, we may see the only non-EU city Belgrade (Serbia), where the authorities showed a clear approach and strategy for achieving shared, integrated, and inclusive mobility, supported by ambitious targets.

Bilbao’s (Spain) approach addresses gender equality issues through a dedicated gender mobility action plan, while the one of the Greater Grenoble Area Mobility Authority (SMMAG) for Grenoble-Alpes (France), demonstrated an integrated and structured approach aiming to answer to the mobility needs of all public transport users, including socially vulnerable groups.

Finally, the Road Safety Award celebrates outstanding road safety measures. Here again, Bilbao demonstrated efforts to reduce the number of road traffic victims. These go through steps to reduce speed limits to 30km/h across the city, to reorganise streets, and to include the participation of residents in road safety discussions.

Similarly, another Spanish city nominated for the same award - Quart de Poblet – reduced speed near schools, prioritised pedestrians making traffic lights unnecessary. On the side of Greece’s Heraklion, a monitoring and evaluation work around the implementation of speed reduction programmes near schools led to other organisations, such as health care centres, asking for the introduction of similar measures.

The selection was made by an independent panel of mobility and transport experts. The names of the four winning cities will be announced during an online award ceremony on 19 April 2021. You can get a free ticket to attend it here.

Last year’s European Mobility Week saw the registration of some 2,900 cities and towns, which, despite the pandemic, made it the second-most successful to date.