EU Urban Mobility Days kick off, features 2,000 experts

The inaugural EU Urban Mobility Days are under way, offering a “firm reminder” of how sustainable mobility is becoming “central to the European psyche and way of life”.

The event, organised by the European Commission, runs until 2nd October under the theme of ‘zero-emission mobility for all’. The virtual conference will feature 2,000 experts in the field.

Europe – a carbon-neutral continent by 2050?
The European Green Deal wants to make the Old Continent the role model on sustainable life for the world to follow. To that end, the experts will discuss and debate possible solutions for transforming mobility within the urban environment increasingly more sustainable.

“This year has been special,” said a spokesperson. “The COVID-19 pandemic reminded societies that there can be unexpected challenges to development plans. If there is a positive side to it, it would be that it has taught us about the need for resilience. To that end, many cities had to adapt their transport plans, networks and logistics in order to keep people and goods moving.”

Adina Vălean, EU Transport Commissioner, added: “This has been a challenging year for our towns and cities. But the pandemic is also an opportunity to rethink how we can make mobility in urban areas safer, cleaner and accessible to all. As the first EU event gathering all urban mobility stakeholders, Urban Mobility Days 2020 is the right place to take stock of the challenges we face and discuss solutions to address them.”

The event will present measures for a carbon-neutral city environment with the main role given to the CIVITAS Living Labs projects. This initiative, launched in 2002, is a network between European cities which want to implement sustainable mobility experiments and present an integrated approach that improves the quality of life in the urban environment.

In that regard, there will be CIVITAS Awards, presented to cities that have made outstanding contributions and implementations to urban mobility. Calls for applications for the next European Mobility Week Awards and EU Urban Road Safety Award will also be launched during the event.