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In praise of Mobility Week |
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Wednesday, 22 September 2010 00:00 |
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It was eight years ago that European Mobility Week was created to raise awareness of various aspects of sustainable transport in European cities. The 2010 edition looked to be bigger than ever before.
One of the challenges for EU policy makers in recent years, as they have attempted to turn the tide on difficult environmental issues, has been to persuade Europeans to change. Pollution, congestion, recycling and – most of all – climate change are all concepts that are understandably unwelcome in our daily discourse, yet we have to address them sooner rather than later.
So how do we do it? One way is to simply deal with them from a top-down perspective, negotiating treaties and imposing the resulting rules on the people. But that risks tension and resistance as skeptical electorates are excluded from the process. Another approach is to build momentum from the bottom up, creating processes that involve everyone, willingly and enthusiastically. European Mobility Week, which takes place every year from September 16 to 22, is the latter.
Of course, it was the brainchild of the ultimate top-down institution, the European Commission: it was launched in 2002 by the-then EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström. But the idea was always to spur local initiatives. That first 2002 edition involved 418 cities in 23 European countries. By the 2008 edition, it had gathered 2,102 participating cities in 39 countries, including America and Asia, and this year is expected to be bigger still.
The local engagement has a reinforcing effect: the more people create their own initiatives, and learn more about the issues at hand, the more they will demand of their policy-makers, and they will hand over a stronger mandate when it comes to international negotiations.
The campaign emphasizes the role of individuals in devising personal responses to the problem, recognizing that no one size will fit all. It reflects the old adage that “all politics is local”, and creates the foundations for a more prosperous debate on solutions. While concrete actions to reduce the emissions of pollutants have already been taken at all governance levels, the campaign shows how more still needs to be done: it is our direct responsibility to cope with this problem, changing our day-to-day behaviour by taking small but efficient actions for our environment. Local authorities have a crucial role to play in the implementation of national and European legislations, but they need the help of all local stakeholders to meet the challenge of reducing harmful emissions.
European Mobility Week has a range of aims and issues. It’s overall objective is to promote more sustainable means of transport for European cities. Walking, cycling, public transport and car-sharing are obvious ways to take vehicles off the streets – and the climax is always the last day, September 22, which participating cities declare Car Free Day.
When it comes to pollution and greenhouse gases, Mobility Week promotes new, clean technologies, energy efficiency, noiseless engines, and intelligent measures to deal with road congestion. The theme for the 2008 edition was “Clean air for all", underlining that while actions have been taken to reduce harmful emissions from the transport sector and that vehicles have become cleaner, the beneficial effects of this technological advances are lost due to the exceptional growth in car use.
Health and mobility, under the title of “Travel Smarter, Live Better”, were the overall topics of the 2010 European Mobility Week, underlining congestion and safety as well as pollution. It emphasized how traffic limits opportunities to lead a physically-active life through cycling, walking or playing outdoors, and how regular physical activity is fundamental to our health and eases stress.
All this shows how the purpose of European Mobility Week is to make people think how they travel and their links to carbon dioxide emissions and congestions. These are ambitions that the European Transport Forum wholeheartedly endorses.
http://www.mobilityweek.eu/
http://www.CommuteGreener.com
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