Save the date for next CIVITAS Forum Conference!
The 2011 Annual CIVITAS Forum Conference will be hosted by the city of Funchal, capital of Portugal’s Maderan archipelago, on 17-19 October 2011. The event will celebrate the CIVITAS Forum Network as well as identify key factors of success in realising sustainable urban mobility measures.
The Forum Conference is an opportunity for the exchange of dialogue and views between city and European politicians on the one hand, and experts in the field of urban mobility on the other. The 2011 conference will be the 9th such annual event, following fora previously hosted in various quarters of Europe including Malmö, Krakow, Bologna, Kaunas, Burgos and Rotterdam since the series started in 2003. The CIVITAS Forum Network currently includes 194 cities from 31 European countries, that have formally committed to clean and sustainable urban transport. As always, the Forum Conference will be a significant occasion for high level representatives of the European Commission to share news and information on its policy and programme initiatives, and to hear the views of local politicians, mobility practitioners, academics, and non-governmental organizations, particularly on the progress made within CIVITAS Plus, that will consider “Before” and “After.” Occasion will be offered for the exchange of experience and know-how among urban mobility practitioners from Europe and beyond, via eight “Technical Sessions” that will review the building blocks of CIVITAS - the eight categories that have structured the programme to date - and their key achievements. Eight “Roundtable” discussions will also explore and develop ideas important to the evolution of European urban transport and of the CIVITAS Initiative and Network. The city of Funchal is both an unusual and ideal location for the Forum, thanks to its specific geographical characteristics as one of the European Union’s outermost regions. Located 800km west of the coast of Morocco in the North Atlantic Ocean, it is deemed one of the most beautiful natural amphitheatres of the world. It thrives as a major tourist town yet is significantly challenged in offering viable transport solutions because of its hilly terrain. Funchal has worked hard to give the city ‘back’ to its citizens and tourists by promoting smart mobility options, constructing ring roads and pedestrianising the city centre. Many of these successes will be on display at Forum 2011 as it invites participants to discover urban mobility in a very different context from mainland EU cities - an outermost island context! At the same time, Funchal\'s contributions to CIVITAS MIMOSA (and its to Funchal) will be demonstrated through site visits to its limited traffic zones and innovative transport modes for tourists in hilly areas as well as introduce its green line bike transport and its electric clean bus fleet. The city of Funchal looks forward to welcoming participants of the Forum Conference and demonstrating and discussing its own and others’ successes in the field of urban transport policy. A more detailed programme is now available here and a list of block booked hotels with discounted rates for Forum 2011 will be made available in early July once registration will be launched online. For more information, visit the Forum Conference 2011 page.
Author: CIVITAS Secretariat
