At the conference "MOVING TOGETHER TOWARDS A NEW CULTURE FOR URBAN MOBILITY: Citizens' views on EU research for sustainable urban transport" held on the 16th June 2008 at the European Economic and Social Committee, citizens from the 27 EU member states dialogued with EESC members, experienced stakeholders and decision-makers in the urban transport sector. The Citizens, representing the different cultures and urban settings of Europe, emphasised the need to stop the excessive use of cars and to boost walking, cycling, public transport use and information services to obtain more liveable cities. They also called for stronger involvement of citizens in EU transport research to make it more applicable and bring it closer to the needs of all transport users.

At the launching conference of the research project “MOVE TOGETHER", financed under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme for RTD, citizens from the 27 EU member states presented their assessment of EU sustainable transport research to high-level EU policy makers and stakeholders. The conference, co-organised by the European Economic and Social Committee and the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS, Italy), highlighted the results of two focus groups of 27 lay citizens selected randomly from all the EU Member States, in which these assessed the results of urban transport research.

What is MOVE TOGETHER?

The MOVE TOGETHER project focuses on raising citizens awareness and appreciation of EU research on sustainable transport in the urban environment. The aim is to make people aware of what EU transport research is doing and how the research results can help – if implemented in our cities – to make urban transport more sustainable, i.e. safer, more secure, more efficient and better for the environment, and to improve the quality of life.