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UN-Habitat and ICLEI unveil the EcoMobility World Festival
an article by ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
UN-Habitat and ICLEI presented today (April 19)
the EcoMobility World Festival taking place in
September 2013 in the city of Suwon, South Korea,
within the walls of Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO
World Heritage site which contains some of the
oldest neighborhoods in the city.
click on photo to enlarge
At a press conference, held during the on-going
24th Governing Council of UN-Habitat, Dr. Joan
Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat was
accompanied by ICLEI’s Secretary General, Mr. Gino
Van Begin, H.E. Mr. Chan-Woo Kim, Republic of
Korea’s Ambassador to Kenya and Permanent
Representative to UN-Habitat, and Dr. Se-chang
Ahn, Director of Environmental Transportation
Division of the Korean Ministry of Environment.
ICLEI’s Gino Van Begin and H.E. Mr. Chan-Woo Ki,
extended a warm invitation to delegates to the
city of Suwon to participate in the Festival and
promised them an experience that would last a
life-time. Citizens, Governmental and non-
governmental organizations, elected city
representatives, educational institutions,
transport associations and operators, the private
sector and Media from all over the world are
expected to attend the Festival.
Remarking on the Festival, Dr. Clos, stressed the
importance of planning cities at the human scale
and the need to give attention to adequate
streets, street-connectivity and public spaces for
ensuring that fast-growing cities become vibrant
“engines” of economic and social development in
countries.
Mr. Van Begin added that: "The Festival will set a
global precedent of how a car-dependent city can
transform itself to an ecomobile city of the
future, where eco-friendly transport innovations
and technologies combine with people's livelihoods
and optimizes the use of urban and natural
resources.
EcoMobility is travel through integrated, socially
inclusive, and environmentally-friendly transport
options, including and integrating walking,
cycling, wheeling. By enabling citizens and
organizations to access goods, services and
information in a sustainable manner, EcoMobility
supports citizens’ quality of life, increases
travel choices and promotes social cohesion.
Organized though collaboration between the city of
Suwon, ICLEI and UN-Habitat, the EcoMobility World
Festival 2013 is taking place in a real city, with
real inhabitants, in real life. The residents of
Haenggung-dong neighborhood in Suwon, South Korea
will temporarily adopt an ecomobile lifestyle to
experience how EcoMobility can influence their
lives positively. The Festival will show how
EcoMobility provides innovative environmentally
friendly transport options within a city to all
citizens irrespective of age, gender or physical
capability.
The Festival will showcase the latest ecomobile
technologies, applying them to a real city
environment and is expected to bring together,
policy makers, city-planners and experts across
the world and will show how one neighborhood can
make the change from using private cars to
ecomobile modes of transport.
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
Can cities take the lead for sustainable development?,
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