Under the initiative "environMENTALISE – co-creating safe, friendly and green neighbourhoods", Urban Pathways is supporting several actions happening during the Mobility Week, the Car-free Day and the Day of Walking and Cycling to School in cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia that contribute to raising awareness about the environmental, health, social and economic benefits of non-motorised transport, as well as of waste reduction.
With the aim of monitoring the impacts of the implemented actions and collecting relevant data, Urban Pathways provided some of the participating cities with a low-cost air quality and noise-monitoring device, a ‘Smart Citizen Kit’. The devices have been installed in selected areas in the participating cities.
environMENTALISE started in August with a series of webinars related to active mobility and waste management with a strong bottom-up focus.
During the Mobility Week (16 – 22 September), the environMENTALISE initiative was led by Belo Horizonte, one of the four UP’s pilot cities, which used the tools of tactical urbanism to implement a Zone 30 in the surroundings of the Municipal School Anne Frank in the low-income Confisco neighbourhood. For this purpose an Agreement of Cooperation under Urban Pathways between UN-Habitat and WRI Brasil was signed, so that the latter was able to support BHTRANS, the local transport and transit agency, in the implementation activities. The Zone 30, which was designed together with the students of the school, was launched On Friday September 20th. During the weekend, one of the intervened streets was closed to cars in order to commemorate the Car-Free Day, allowing the use and appropriation of the street as a public space. It opened with a music show for children with songs highlighting the importance of active mobility, had games for children available during the whole weekend and closed with an open air screening. Moreover, the intervention was able to integrate awareness raising activities on the topic of waste through a recycling contest that turned hundreds of plastic bottles into a colorful roof over the intervened street and dozens of tires into appealing plant pots. The temporary intervention will stay until October 4th, day in which a group of students will ride to school the Day of Walking and Cycling to School, The 3 weeks will also serve as an evaluation period in which not only the Smart Citizen Kit will measure the impact, but also the community will assess the intervention, through surveys and focal groups, including a gender audit, to compare the perceptions of people before and after. This intervention counted with the support of the Municipal Waste Management Agency (SLU) and support from a group of students of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. In short, this has been a great example of participatory design and interinstitutional cooperation.
Other interesting activities during the Mobility Week supported by the environMENTALISE initiative:
- Cuenca (Ecuador): an intersection was intervened using tactical urbanism in order to increase the safety of cyclists and pedestrians in the city center
- Quito (Ecuador): a campaign to promote cycling as a transportation mode in big companies was launched
Still to come:
- Santiago (Chile): On the occasion of the COP25 that this year will be in Santiago, a shared street will be launched by Ciudad Emergente during the Car-free Day that in Chile takes place on September, 27th.
- Valparaiso (Chile): a shared street in the city centre will be followed by a ride to commemorate the Car-free Day
- Aguascalientes (México): the Day of Walking and Cycling to school will be conducted together with the Escuela Secundaria Técnica No.1 during the second week of October
- With the support of ITDP Mexico, the Day of Walking and Cycling to School will be carried out in Mexico City, Puebla and Monterrey
The environMENTALISE initiative counted with the cooperation of several partners that contributed with their knowledge, shared their experiences on similar topics and helped recruit more cities and disseminate the initiative at a broader scale. These partners are:
- ITDP Mexico
- FabLab Barcelona / IAAC
- Ciudad Emergente
- WRI Brasil and India
And we also counted with the collaboration of initiatives such as:
- Waste Wise Cities Campaign from UN-Habitat
- African Mobility Month