SWOMM » Europe

European towns to go on foot

EleonoraC — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:27:10 +0000

Many European cities are creating car-unfriendly environments, for instance by increasing the costs for driving. Another way to tilt the drivers towards more environmental-friendly transport means is that of hampering them to park. In fact, while there is always room for new shopping malls and apartment buildings in cities like Vienna, Barcelona and London, the number of parking spaces are being restricted, and the on-street parking is vanishing.

In the last few years, even former car capitals like Munich have evolved into “walkers’ paradises”. Pedestrians and trams are given priority treatment in Zurich: red lights have been added in close proximity on roads into town, and pedestrian underpasses have been removed. Operators in the city’s ever expanding tram system can turn traffic lights in their favor as they approach, forcing cars to halt.

Europe’s cities generally have stronger incentives to act: public transportation is better in Europe than in the United States, and gas often costs more, over 8 dollars a gallon. What’s more, the need for a cut in the emissions from transport is being seriously taken into consideration.

However, it is not easy to get people out of their cars. While the first step is that of providing efficient public transport, the strategy, which is proving to pay off, is that of making harder and more costly to park.

Related articles

Across Europe, Irking Drivers Is Urban Policy (empressoftheglobaluniverse.wordpress.com)

A move back to cycling (and other alternatives) in cities (surfabike.wordpress.com)

Reclaiming Our Cities: Just Say No To Cars (underpaidgenius.com)

Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Mass Transit and Walking – NYTimes.com (mbcalyn.wordpress.com)

Mr. McGuire, Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas – 13 July 2010

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:59:48 +0000

On 13 July 2010, the Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Mr. Douglas McGuire will give a speech at 12:45 on “Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas”, at FAO Headquarters in Rome. The speech will introduce the Joint Session of the Partners Meetings of two European projects, TRANSITECTS and AlpCheck2.

Both the projects address transport issues and aim to improve sustainability within mountain areas. They have been co-financed with European funds in the framework of the Alpine Space Programme.

Agenda of the Joint Session of the TRANSITECTS & AlpCheck 2 Projects

Rome – Tuesday, 13 July 2010 – FAO Headquarters, Nigeria & Ethiopia Room

TRANSITECTS – Ethiopia Room AlpCheck 2 – Nigeria Room

09:00 – 9:15 Summary of the first day provided by LKZ 9:45 – 10:00 Opening of works

09:15 – 10:00 WP 5 Pilot activities by ALOT and PPs 10:00 – 11:00 Report on the advancing of the different WPs (WP4 – WP5 – WP6) activities with respect to the guidelines and outcomes achieved during the Venice meeting in anticipation of the October Mid Term Conference

10:00 – 11:00 Outlook WP 5 – Future activities until milestone 2 by ALOT and PPs 11:00– 11:15 Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break 11:15 –12:00 Analysis of difficulties and solutions

11:30 – 12:15 WP 7 Pilot activities by bmvit, Tyrol, RV 12:00 –12:30 Presentation by the Ministry for the Environment of a strategy on how to pursue possible synergies with other projects and related discussion

12:15 – 12:45 Outlook WP 7 – Future activities until milestone 2 by bmvit, Tyrol, RV 12:30 – 12:45 Transfer from the Nigeria to the Ethiopia Room

12:45 – 13:15 “Presentation on sustainable mobility in mountain areas” by Mr. Douglas McGuire, Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership.

13:15 – 14:30 Lunch break

14:30 – 17:00 Preparation of the WP7 cross-fertilization workshop by DV, LKZ, PPs, AlpCheck 2 experts and other guests

For further information on the meeting send an email to: sara.maulo@fao.org.

Fostering the institutional cooperation between Balkan countries structures and Member States in transports

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:16:18 +0000

The SEETAC (South East European Transport Axis Cooperation) project was officially approved in April 2009 and will last until March 2012. The project is funded under the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme and it involves 17 partners – Ministries for Transport and Infrastructure of Austria, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Sea and Land Protection, Serbian Office of the President, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, SEETO, Informest and EURAC, lead by the Central European Initiative (CEI) and 4 observers – Ministries for Transport of Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary and Ukraine.

The Project area is an important transit one within the European Transport Network and an essential region to link Europe with the Far East. Nevertheless, the level of services offered is below the EU standards and suffers from scarce investments and lack of transnational cooperation.

SEETAC aims at solving the cross-border bottlenecks and the lack of harmonization, becoming an instrument to solve both the administrative problems, such as missing institutional and legal transnational framework at border crossings, and the operational ones, such as lack of common safety, security and environmental standards, lack of harmonization of transport modes.

The overall project objective is the establishment and implementation of an effective and coordinated SETA framework, promoting and fostering the institutional cooperation between PEC structures and Member States in order to reach the EU’s objectives of transparency and information reliability, harmonized and efficient institutional framework and rapid implementation of the transport priority projects.

The project aims to offer significant advantages to all the partners in terms of spatial planning and regional cooperation and integration, contributing to solve the existing problems in the traffic sector. A close cooperation among the main actors will facilitate to match investments, plan cross-border projects and agree on measures for the elimination of non-physical barriers (for freight and passengers/tourists) thus raising awareness of political decision makers and public opinion on the aims and priorities along the regional axes.

Related articles by Zemanta

Inside Europe: Bosnia’s Economic Shackles (nytimes.com)

The Balkans deserve this | Hillary Clinton, Catherine Ashton and Miguel Angel Moratinos (guardian.co.uk)

Croatian president apologizes to Bosnia about war (cbc.ca)

Serbia and Kosovo: good neighbours? | Ian Bancroft (guardian.co.uk)

E.U. Offers Visa-Free Travel to 2 Balkan Nations (nytimes.com)

Balkan hopefuls meet EU leaders (news.bbc.co.uk)

AEBIOM European Bioenergy Conference & RENEXPO® Bioenergy EUROPE June 30th – July 1st, 2010 Albert Hall, Brussels/Belgium

SaraM — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:32:16 +0000

The first co-organized bioenergy conference and trade fair will be held in Brussels on the 30th June and 1st June. Being at the very heart of Europe and focusing on the newest developments and innovations in the bioenergy market and EU legislations it will be an important occasion for the EU decisions makers, leading companies and research & development.

The official website

TRANSITECTS – Ethiopia Room		AlpCheck 2 – Nigeria Room
09:00 – 9:15	Summary of the first day provided by LKZ	9:45 – 10:00	Opening of works
09:15 – 10:00	WP 5 Pilot activities by ALOT and PPs	10:00 – 11:00	Report on the advancing of the different WPs (WP4 – WP5 – WP6) activities with respect to the guidelines and outcomes achieved during the Venice meeting in anticipation of the October Mid Term Conference
10:00 – 11:00	Outlook WP 5 – Future activities until milestone 2 by ALOT and PPs	11:00– 11:15	Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:30	Coffee break	11:15 –12:00	Analysis of difficulties and solutions
11:30 – 12:15	WP 7 Pilot activities by bmvit, Tyrol, RV	12:00 –12:30	Presentation by the Ministry for the Environment of a strategy on how to pursue possible synergies with other projects and related discussion
12:15 – 12:45	Outlook WP 7 – Future activities until milestone 2 by bmvit, Tyrol, RV	12:30 – 12:45	Transfer from the Nigeria to the Ethiopia Room
12:45 – 13:15	“Presentation on sustainable mobility in mountain areas” by Mr. Douglas McGuire, Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership.
13:15 – 14:30	Lunch break
14:30 – 17:00	Preparation of the WP7 cross-fertilization workshop by DV, LKZ, PPs, AlpCheck 2 experts and other guests