EMW 2010: Travel Smarter, Live Better!
European Mobility Week (EMW) is a campaign aimed to awareness citizens about the use of sustainable modes of transport, such as public transport, bicycle, and walking, while it encourages European cities to promote these modes of transport and invest in necessary infrastructure. It´s an annual campaign, from the 16th to the 22th of September, which implements activities dedicated to sustainable mobility.
Moreover, on the 22th of September it is celebrated the event: In Town Without My Car!, which aims to find new solutions to the problems related to traffic growth in cities. This initiative emerged in France in 1998 and since 2000 it has had the political and financial support of the European Commission, creating a significant extent at European level and following too closely in other continents.
The impact of the European Mobility Week has continued increasing across Europe, and even across the world since its starting in 2002. In 2009, a total of 2.181 cities where officially registered, involving more than 237 million Europeans, which was a record. In Spain, the participation has also increased every year, reaching a record turnout in 2009, both for Local Authorities and for other social sectors: 390 cities that have implemented a total of 3.806 permanent measures, 39 social organizations, 18 companies and 21 different institutions.
This edition of the EMW-2010, with the focal theme “Mobility, Health and Safety: Travel Smarter, Live Better”, tries to announce the detrimental effects that current urban transportation trends have on health, both for citizens and for the towns and cities in which they live
Document:EMW-2010 Leaflet (Spanish) [
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|Document:EMW-2010 Program (Spanish) [|
|The massive increase in motor vehicles in recent years, especially in our cities, has resulted in strong public reaction against the noise, air pollution and congestion. Vulnerable groups like children and elderly suffer the worst consequences. Traffic accidents directly affect hundreds of thousands of people in the European Union, and cause the deaths of tens of thousands of Europeans. Indirectly, motorized transport affects our cardiovascular and respiratory system and causes stress.
However, there are some aspects much more responsible for our welfare. Scientific studies clearly show that a regular physical activity is key to our health and decreases stress. Despite this, inactivity is becoming increasingly widespread in Europe. The increase of car use and worsening conditions for physical activity are the main reasons for bringing a more sedentary and inactive lifestyle, which is linked to obesity. Walking and cycling are sustainable modes of transport that can play an important role in the promotion of daily physical activity, as non-motorized mobility allows regular activity to be easily incorporated into your daily routine to a minimum cost.
For all this, the European Mobility Week 2010 aims to encourage European citizens living in urban areas to move "smarter": walking, cycling and in public transport. By choosing these more sustainable modes of transport instead of private cars, people can have a positive impact on their health and welfare, while also improving the environment and quality of life in cities to help others to live better.
You can find more information in the next Web: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino.
Conference : Mobility, Health, Safety
You can access here to the presentations (in spanish) of the Conference: Mobility, Health, Safety, which was held in the DGT venue on the 21th of Septiembre 2010.
