Ljubljana pays a lot of attention to facilitating sustainable mobility, which can be seen in the city’s transport policy. One of the ways to strengthen these endeavours is also to exchange good practices with cities of a similar character.

On 17 and 18 September, Slovenia’s capital thus hosted the heads of the city administrations of Ljubljana, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest, whereas Prague this year excused itself from the meeting. These cities do not see mobility merely as a challenge but as a binding task and the meeting titled Mobility in Cities – How to Facilitate Sustainable Mobility presented an excellent opportunity for representatives of city administrations to adopt decisions on future actions aimed at creating a better quality of life in cities.

Following the initial welcome by Mayor Zoran Janković and the address by the Director of the City Administration of Ljubljana Jožka Hegler, Deputy Mayors Prof Janez Koželj and Jelka Žekar presented to visitors some of the activities and achievements from this field. Professor Koželj focused on one of the most important measures, the Transport Policy of the City Municipality of Ljubljana (MOL), which represents the foundations of developing sustainable mobility in MOL by 2020. Deputy Mayor Žekar continued by answering the question of how to facilitate the use of sustainable means of transport, whereby she mostly focused on the activities being implemented within the framework of the traditional international campaign for facilitating sustainable transport habits, European Mobility Week, which takes place from 16 to 22 September every year, this year coinciding with this meeting. The event continued with a presentation of achievements in other cities and a discussion on how cities can improve their endeavours in this field.

Joint principles for a better future

The directors of the city administrations agreed that even though the cities all follow the same goal, their individual diversities have to be considered and spatial, historical, cultural and economic characteristics taken into account. Their common ground lies in the fact that they will continue striving for the principles described below that apply to different areas of our lives. Mobility, which represents freedom of movement, must thus be available not only to all citizens but it must also be fair, which means that it follows the needs of all groups. The dangers of air, water and environmental pollution as well as noise are threatening the already sensitive city organism and the health and well-being of citizens and care for the environment thus requires a broad range of measures, which continually need to be provided by city administrations. Spatial management has to limit the expansion of the road network for motor vehicle traffic while aiming to ensure equal opportunities for all, financing mechanisms need to be developed that provide a pleasant environment for hiking, the development of cycling and high-quality public transport. They also support a well thought out coordination of transport and goods delivery, which follows innovations and a smart goods management strategy, thus reducing environmental pressures. We however cannot neglect the public, as the role of various stakeholders is of key importance since it contributes to better solutions. It is of crucial importance that the public is included in all phases of planning and managing mobility in the city and for that efficient, and not only short-term but strategic, mechanisms are needed. Regular, extensive and systematic notification and consultations with the public are needed, as this is not only a matter of transport policy but the provision of quality of life for all citizens.

The history of the meeting

The meeting of directors of the city administrations of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy – Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Vienna and Ljubljana – has been organised since 2005. Parallel and broader connections with Paris, Dublin and Tallinn were established later. The aim of these meetings is to exchange experiences, plan joint cooperation in pursuing the interests of local and regional authorities within the framework of the European Union and to outline cooperation in various projects that are available in individual cities.

The first meeting was held in May 2005 in Prague, where the directors of the city administrations of Ljubljana, Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Vienna signed a joint declaration. The next year, the meeting was held in Ljubljana and meetings have and are held annually in one of the cities ever since then. This meeting has thus become a tradition paving the way to a greener future for everyone.