“MOVE TOGETHER DAY”
Moving together towards a new culture
for urban mobility
Brussels, Monday 7 December 2009
European Economic and Social Committee
Venue: European Economic and Social Committee
Rue Belliard 99 - Brussels
Active and passive interpretation will be provided for
English, French, Italian and Spanish
A large majority of European citizens live in an urban environment, with over 60% living in urban areas of
over 10.000 inhabitants. They live their daily lives in the same space, and for their mobility they share the
same infrastructure. Urban mobility accounts for 40% of all CO2 emissions of road transport and up to 70%
of other pollutants from transport.
Following the Green Paper “Towards a new culture for urban mobility”, adopted on 25 September 2007, the
European Commission adopted the Action Plan on urban mobility on 30 September 2009. The
responsibility for urban mobility policies lies primarily with local, regional and national authorities.
Nevertheless, decisions adopted at local level are not taken in isolation but within the framework provided by
national, regional and EU policy and legislation. A key message of the Action Plan is therefore “that much is
to be gained from working together in order to support action at local, regional and national levels and to
provide for a partnerships approach fully respecting the different competences and responsibilities of all
actors involved”.
Urban mobility is also of growing concern to citizens. The choices that people make in the way they travel
will affect not only their own well-being and health, but increasingly so that of the others and of the
environment. “Better mobility” is therefore not only a common goal of policies agreed at EU level, and of
actions taken by national, regional and local authorities, but also something on which the citizens should
have a say, as they can contribute by changing behaviour to create a new urban mobility culture. In this
context, it is particularly important to raise the citizens awareness and participation to the EU funded
research and demonstration projects on urban transport, which aim to develop better options to make urban
mobility easier, more healthy and green, smarter, and more accessible and safe for all.
This is the key message of the MOVE TOGETHER project, funded under the EU 7th Framework
Programme. The project involved a panel of 27 lay citizens selected randomly from all the EU Member
States to become informed on the EU urban transport research and give their appreciation of research efforts
and achievements. The panel produced a “Move Together Citizens Statement”, with an assessment of the EU
research and actions recommended to enhance citizens participation at EU level. The statement was
presented at a launching conference co-organized with the European Economic and Social Committee in
Brussels, on 16 June 2008. Then, a second panel of 25 citizens has been organized in the City of Rome, one
of the cities involved in the CIVITAS demonstration and research program for clean urban transport, and a
second citizens statement presented at a conference in Rome, on 27 November 2008. This second panel of
citizens recommends further actions to improve the implementation of sustainable mobility projects at local
level, stressing again that lay citizens could and should play a more pro-active and responsible role to help
solving urban mobility problems. Finally, based on the outcomes of the citizens’ assessment, a “Move
Together exhibition” has been produced and used in a number of cities across Europe – travelling through
Vienna, Rome, Malta, Budapest, Nice and Brussels, and held in a poster format during the EU Mobility
Week in several other cities1. The exhibition conveys to the general public the information on what EU
funded research and demonstration projects is doing to achieve better mobility in several cities of Europe,
and how raising the awareness of citizens matters to make the sustainable mobility policies successful. More
info on the exhibitions is available at www.move-together-exhibition.net.
All the actors of the Move Together project – i.e. representatives of the citizens, the cities hosting the
exhibitions, and EU and local authorities supporting the project – will convene now at the “Move Together
Day” conference, co-organised with the EESC in Brussels on next 7 December 2009.
The aim of the conference is to show-up the outcomes of working with the citizens and of the exhibitions,
and to discuss how to mobilise since now people to create a “move together” culture contributing to better
urban mobility in Europe.
The conference will establish a dialogue between lay citizens who represent the different cultures and urban
settings of Europe, local decision-makers in charge of transport policies in the cities which hosted the Move
Together exhibitions, and experienced stakeholders, including eminent EESC members. The conference will
also provide significant inputs for the EU Action Plan on Urban Mobility.
The programme of the 7 December conference is attached.
1
Including Corfu (Greece), Braganca (Portugal), Nivelles (Belgium), Plunge and Gardzai (Lithuania), Kalingrad
(Russia), Madrid, Donosta-San Sebastian, Girona and Almendralejo (Spain), Ferrara (Italy).
Provisional Programme
(Active and passive interpretation will be provided for English, French, Italian and Spanish)
09:00 – 9:30
9:30- 10:00
Registration of the participants
Welcome and introduction
Janos Toth, President of the EESC's section for Transport, Energy,
Infrastructure and Information Society
10:00
10:05- 13:00
10:05 – 12:20
10.05
Carlo Sessa, ISIS, Move Together Coordinator
Introduction of the Move Together concept and goal of the day
Move Together Movie
Morning Session - Better Mobility in our cities
The Move Together campaign in Europe
Moderator – Yves Mathieu – Missions Publiques
1) Key messages from the Citizens Declarations: the vision and research
assessment of the Move Together citizens (2 citizens)
2) Vision and experience of the cities organising Move Together exhibitions
(round tables)
10:20
10:30
11:10
-
Introduction to the round tables on moving together
urban mobility culture (Chantale Duchène – GART)
towards a new
-
First round table: questions related to the key messages of Move
Together (5 cities representatives + 2 citizens)
-
Second round table: questions on how to really mobilise citizens on
this issue (5 cities representatives + 2 citizens)
3) Testimonies of key note persons of “walking”, “cycling” and “eco-car” culture:
11:50
-
Dainius Kepenis, President of Lithuanian Health Union
12:00
-
Natalia Putselyk, Koenig Bicycle Team, Kaliningrad
12:10
-
Robert Stussi, WEVA – World Electric Vehicle Association
12.30 – 13.00
The Move Together experience in Rome
Moderator – Carlo Sessa - ISIS
Alessandro D’Armini, Director of the Rome Transport Policy and Mobility
Department
Testimonies of 2 citizens of the Rome Move Together panel
Visit to the exhibition hall and buffet lunch
Yves Mathieu and Chantale Duchène : Synthesis of the morning session
-
13:00 - 14:15
14:15 - 14.30
14.30 – 17:00
14:30
14:45
15:00
15:15
15:30
15:45
16:00
16:15
16:30
16:45-17.00
Afternoon session - Put the Move Together concept into action: feedback
from local authorities and EU institutions
Chairman – Emanuele Farnetani - AICCRE
 Silvia Zamboni - Federmobilità
 Municipality of Rome – Sergio Marchi, Councillor of Transport
 Girona Municipality – Isabel Salamana, Mobility Councillor
 Malta – Peter Bonello, Mayor of San Giljan Local Council
 Gustaf Landahl, City of Stockholm Environment and Health Administration
 European Commission, DG Research – Arnoldas Mikulas, Directorate Transport,
Head of Unit 1
 European Parliament – Brian Simpson, MEP, Chairman of the TRAN Committee
 Edgardo Iozia – EESC Group II Member, Italy
 Stephane Buffetaut, Group I-Employers, France, President of the EESC
Sustainable Development Observatory
Closing speech – On. Antonio Tajani, Vice-President and EU Commissioner
for Transport (t.b.c.)