Mr Mirko Tutino (left), vice-mayor for infrastructure, mobility, environment and energy in Reggio Emilia and Alessandro Meggiato (right), head of the mobility department, received the price during the CIVITAS Forum in Ljubljana from 7 – 9 Oct 2015.

 

ECF is proud that our Cities for Cyclists member Reggio Emilia won this year’s CIVITAS City of the Year Award. The Italian city of 170,000 inhabitants developed a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) with integrated transport strategies including cycling. Accordingly, Reggio Emilia has the highest number of cycle lanes per capita in Italy. The modal share of cycling increased from 15% to 18% in the past four years and Reggio Emilia’s ambition for 2020 is to have a modal share target of 50% for cars (currently 60%) and 50% for sustainable modes including 20% to 25% for cycling. A combination of measures like a new parking plan, restriction of cars in the historic centre, Park and Ride facilities, free shuttle busses to the centre, and the introduction of a bike-share scheme made the modal shift away from the car possible. The two key reasons for Reggio Emilia’s good cycling grades are: first, substantial investments in cycling infrastructure, and second, the introduction of a bike-share scheme (currently with 16 stations). Another crucial point was the establishment of 30km/h zones, which means that a quarter of the inhabitants now lives in a calm traffic zone. Furthermore, the city focuses on the youngest road users: the mobility staff has regular meetings with 50 primary school mobility managers. The children of the schools are involved in educational games like the Traffic Snake Game, a local “pedibus or bicibus” and many other initiatives to stimulate a change of thinking. Congratulations with the well-deserved CIVITAS Award, Reggio Emilia! See a video about the objectives, actions and results that Reggio Emilia has reached in 10 years of mobility politics. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTK2ZuXUerw&list=PL66676D3E0293A90D&inde...