For the past decades, urban planning focused on crafting car-friendly cities. As a result, the number of inactive Europeans has risen to 235 million. The PACTE Project aims to reverse these trends by giving guidance to municipalities and cities on active mobility solutions.

On October 4th, 2019, the final workshop, organised by the European Cyclists’ Federation, connected over 50 city leaders, local representatives, and urban planners to discuss active cities and active mobility. 

“Cities and municipalities play a huge role in promoting active mobility and an active lifestyle. 80% of local decision makers are unaware of the situation in Europe” explained Maxime LeBlanc, Head of European Affairs of Sport and Citizenship. Thus, projects such as PACTE are key for providing decision-makers with the necessary tools and knowledge. 

Holger Haubold (ECF Director of Intellectual Property & Data Collection) moderated the opening panel, which welcomed Christophe Najdovski (Deputy Mayor of Paris for Mobility & ECF President), Heather Allen (Trustee Walk21) and Haya Douidri (Bird scooter).

Christophe Najdovski shared first-hand success stories form Paris:

The motto of the last century was: “Paris wants to drive, let’s help it“. In recent years, Paris reallocated 10 hectares to pedestrians. For example, the right bank of the River Seine. The once car-congested highway became a place for citizens to be active and now welcomes 10 000 cyclists every day.

Streets are not just places to go from point A to point B, but places to live. Active mobility means reshaping our streets to make them more liveable. Therefore, Active mobility should be at the core of public health policy. 

Active cities are inclusive cities! Heather Allen emphasised the importance of making public space truly accessible to everyone: 

If you have good walking infrastructure, kids can play, they can run around, everyone can use it and enjoy public space. Having public space that is walkable and safe for everyone is incredibly important. We need a real shift of focus. It's all about sharing and inclusion!

Haya Douidri shared her insights on one of the most recent urban mobility trends: e-scooters. The founding idea of Bird scooters was to get people out of cars:

Our streets cannot take any more cars. We need to move away from car ownership, especially since car-trips are extremely short. Most of them are less than 2km and could be easily replaced with more sustainable modes of transport.

Revitalising Public Space: The Role of Cities, Civil Society & Businesses 

The PACTE workshop was designed to be interactive and stimulate discussions. Participants had the opportunity to apply and share their knowledge in three different workshop sessions. Each session encouraged attendees to tackle real life issues and develop ideas of their own.

Dr Florinda Boschetti (Polis Network) and Laurent Dupont (Pro Velo) moderated an insightful session on the role of cities in promoting and enabling active mobility.  Low carbon and car-free areas were highlighted as one of the most effective active mobility solutions for cities. 

In a lively session co-moderated by Jesus Freire (ECF Director - Business Development) and Dieter Snauwaert (Fietsersbond Belgium), participants had the chance to share and learn best practices from the private sector. Bike to work competitions, cycling allowances and incentives were just a few successful examples that were mentioned during the workshop.

Marcio Deslandes' (ECF Director - Velo-city Series & Networks) and Michael Brennan's (UCI) interactive session on the role of civil society in promoting & enabling active mobility presented participants with the task of creating an ideal project for active mobility. Everyone had the opportunity to think about approaches, tools, and marketing strategies that could potentially turn into active mobility projects. 

After leading three successful workshops, the PACTE Project will now evaluate the gathered information in a matrix and share the outcomes with cities and decision-makers.