At a grand ceremony on the Atlantic coast, the CIVITAS Awards 2017 were given out in front of a large audience. The occasion served as a fitting conclusion to the second day of the CIVITAS Forum 2017, which took place from 27-29 September in Torres Vedras, Portugal.

The awards were given out in two categories:

CIVITAS Award: “Bold Measure Award”
This is given to a city that adopts a daring and innovative approach that has not been widely implemented yet, and positions the city as a pioneer in certain thematic categories.

2017 Winner: Bologna, Italy
“Bella Mossa” rewards the positive behaviours of citizens by giving discounts and prizes every time they complete a sustainable trip, namely using environmentally friendly transport modes or even walking, acquiring healthy habits. Sustainable trips are tracked through the BetterPoints platform, which includes a tracking GPS-based app. The scheme is a a public-private partnership, with 50 shops (small to very large) giving discounts/prizes.

CIVITAS ‘Transformations’ Award for significant transformation and progress towards a liveable and smarter city through an integrated set of mobility measures

2017 Winner: Murcia, Spain
Murcia’s winning entry focused on implementing a whole range of creative measures as part of its ‘Action Plan for the bicycle 2017-2019’. These include: 20km of cycle lanes across the city under the “Murcia Cycle lane project”; the launch of a public bike sharing system called MUyBICI (link is external), with 60 stations providing 600 bikes; the launch of the “Moon bike” initiative where cycling tours are organised on full moon evenings; and the launch of “Cycling workshops in parks” to improve citizens’ cycling skills and teach them how to cycle safely in Murcia. At the same time a maximum speed of 30km/h in 100km of streets in the centre of Murcia has been implemented, electric vehicle charging stations have been installed. and 50 car park places have been created and reserved for electric vehicles only. These measures have been met positively by citizens with 8,500 users of the MUyBICI and 82,200 moves per month.

The aim of the Awards is to showcase efforts by cities that turn policy into reality. Winners were selected by the CIVITAS, the members of the Award jury, and the Political Advisory Committee. Given out as part of the CIVITAS Forum 2017 conference in Torres Vedras, Portugal, this year marked the 14th edition of the awards.

Photo credit: Eltis – The urban mobility observatory