Sustainable transport will be the focus of European Mobility Week, taking place September 16-22 across Europe.
Citizens throughout the continent will be encouraged to travel, for example, by bike or foot and cities and regions are asked to get behind the movement by facilitating such “active travel.”
While the benefits of cycling and walking – cleaner air, better health, more pleasant urban spaces - are well known, Mobility Week aims to encourage common actions and the sharing of inspiration and best practice.
Activities and actions under Mobility Week take place on a number of fronts.
So far more than 2,200 cities have registered for the 2019 campaign, some of them making use of the resources and a campaign toolkit available for all organisers of Mobility Actions. A very few examples of planned activities include:
Social Biking
On the day Mobility Week starts, the European Commission will launch its Social Biking challenge. Taking place over three weeks, the challenge aims to motivate more people to take up regular cycling. Those taking part in the challenge can download a tracking app to log their kilometres ridden and compete in the leaderboards in their local city - and against all the other participating cities!
Each week brings a fresh stage for the Challenge: an individual stage, a pair stage, and a group stage. Interested cities can also sign up to the challenge and promote the activity to their population.
EWoS
From one European Week, to another. A few days after Mobility Week ends, the European Week of Sport (EWoS) kicks off. And to connect these two dedicated weeks, Open Streets Day will be held on Sptember 22.
The fifth edition of the EWoS, it is organised to promote citizen participation in sport across Europe. Last year, 12 million participated in 48,500 events organised over the week. With an impact beyond the European Union, 42 participant countries are joining in with the 2019 edition.
Interested in organising a cycling event during the week, and encouraging people to #BeActive? Check out the resources available.