For yet another year, FCC was involved in
promoting European Mobility Week 2014,
disseminating the commitments acquired
by administrations and local authorities
and the sustainable alternatives for Euro-
pean citizens. The aim of these proposals
is to encourage a change in behaviour and
to promote strategies for more sustainable
transport, improving mobility, health, and the
quality of life of citizens.
European Mobility Week 2014 was based on
an analysis of urban spaces and the relation-
ship between the use of streets and quality
of life. The slogan this year was “Our streets,
our choice” to encourage people to create
and participate in the model of the city where
European Mobility Week 2014
468 Spanish cities participated in the event.
they want to live, one which they can enjoy.
This year, 1,882 European cities participated
to a greater or lesser extent, from Austria
(with 532) and Spain, with 468 proposals.
The most widespread events were bicycle
rides, walks, sports events, and the celebra-
tion of a day without cars.
Urban trends: impact on health and the
urban environment
There is currently a growing trend to reco-
ver city spaces and make these available to
people instead of vehicles, reassigning and
redesigning streets and public spaces, such
as, for example, transforming parking areas
into small parks, offering other activities such
as sidewalk cafes, and adapting avenues
into pedestrian walks which, in the beginning
would be closed to traffic for a few specific
days and finally, transformed into permanent
pedestrian streets.
Besides adapting areas for pedestrians,
other recreational activities are carried out,
also facilitating sustainable means of low-im-
pact transport such as walking or bicycling,
all of which contribute to having more plea-
sant public spaces and cleaner air in the ci-
ties.
This transformation, in turn, increases the
trend towards adopting other forms of trans-
port since infrastructure for motor vehicles
are no longer a priority. By changing the ci-
ties, we change the negative impact of traffic
which affects the aesthetics of the city, safe-
ty, and the environment which makes it un-
pleasant to walk or to ride a bicycle. Rever-
sing this situation encourages the search for
motor transport alternatives that are more
satisfactory and agreeable, contributing to
healthier lifestyles.
Encouraging other types of transport which
are more active has a direct impact on the
health of the population. In the European
Union, two-thirds of the adult population
does not achieve the recommended levels
of physical activity, a factor that contributes
“Our streets,
our choice
”
