The City of Rijeka will again this year join the initiative of the European Mobility Week, which is organized in the framework of the European Commission Campaign, as well as national and local (regional, city) authorities, with the purpose of sharpening the awareness about the sustainable city traffic. The central subject of the European Mobility Week 2010 “Travel Smarter, Live Better” focuses on health and mobility. So, every day of the week is dedicated to a subject on sustainable city traffic: public transport, cycling, movement and health, responsible use of cars, city squares as centers of gathering and happenings, green areas, or planning and implementing measures of sustainable traffic, while the final day of the week, 22nd September, is the Day Without Cars, when parts of the city are closed to traffic. However, this will not happen this year, as the emphasis will be on the education of the citizens.
Scientific research shows that regular physical activity is essential for our health and stress reduction, while sitting and inactive way of life is connected to obesity. Walking and cycling as sustainable modes of transportation may play an important role in promoting physical activity, and can be included in everyday routine easily and with minimum costs.

The European Mobility Week is held every year between the 16th and the 22nd September. Last year, as many as 2178 cities celebrated the Mobility Week. This year, in the framework of the subject “Travel Smarter, Live Better”, the member cities should promote active travelling in order to try to solve the issue of physical inactivity, overweightness and obesity, and at the same time, improve the physical and mental health of citizens. Thus, we can all contribute to the reduction of air pollution and noise pollution and ensure more room for living, and less for riding.
The program of celebrating the European Mobility Week is extremely rich and includes workshops for elementary school students of art sections, marking Rijeka promenades, promoting electrical bikes, illustrating bus stations, counting motor vehicles and passengers in cars, measuring blood pressure and sugar, illustrating old and adapted waste containers for planting trees, 50-meter sprint from the City of Rijeka offices to the City Clock, open aerobics classes and the demonstration of artificial rock climbing.

The information on activities and realization of the European Mobility Week 2010 in Rijeka will be available only in Croatian on the City of Rijeka web page.

Detailed information on the European Mobility Week, instructions and help can be found on the web page: www.mobilityweek.eu.
(I.N.)