Active Travel & Health Working Group webinar: Active travel for all ages

Walking, wheeling, and cycling offer key benefits, especially for kids, teenagers, and older adults, to promote mobility without relying on motor vehicles. As part of Urban October, the Active Travel & Health Working Group will host an interactive webinar to explore how these active travel modes can be made safer and more accessible for all age groups.

With well-known benefits, walking, wheeling, and cycling are great ways to move around in our cities. However, for kids, teenagers, and older adults, being able to travel actively might be a key determinant of their mobility and participation in public and social life. In addition to sustainable mobility advantages, walking, wheeling, and cycling can bring independence, social interactions, access to education, work and leisure activities, and a healthy and active lifestyle that does not rely on motor vehicles or, in some cases, even public transport.

For this year's Urban October, the Active Travel & Health Working Group is organising an interactive webinar delving into the relevance of walking, wheeling and cycling for kids, teenagers, and older adults. We will explore the central aspects that are specific to these age groups and what is being done and still to be done to enable and foster safe, comfortable and desirable active travel choices. Join us to learn, discuss, and exchange examples of programs, solutions and studies that focus on active travel for all ages.

Draft agenda

In this webinar, we will be featuring POLIS members such as Sustrans in sharing their studies and findings on how active travel is essential for kids, teenagers and older adults, or Turku’s measures and experiences supporting kids' active mobility, and more!

Find out more in the draft agenda listed below.

11h00: Welcome and Intro – POLIS
11h10: Sustrans and active travel for all ages in the UK – Andy Cope, Sustrans
11h20: Promoting active travel for kids in Turku, FI – Anna-Kaisa Montonen, City of Turku
11h30: Bicicultura changing the cycling culture of Lisbon, PT – Ana Pereira, Bicicultura
11h40: Community-based projects to promote safe and healthy walking to school: Good practices and success stories – Sandra Nascimento, APSI Portugal
11h50: Promoting active travel in a time of population ageing: the case of urban cycling – Dr Wilbert den Hoed, Delft University of Technology / Faculty of Geography - Universitat Rovira i Virgili
12h00-12h30: Panel discussion and Q&A

About Urban October

Urban October aims to raise awareness, foster participation, and engage the global community in shaping a better urban future. Organised by UN-Habitat and its partners, the month-long initiative features activities, events, and discussions focused on urban sustainability. It prompts people worldwide to discuss the challenges and opportunities of rapidly changing cities and towns.

POLIS' Active Travel & Health Working Group joins fellow urban stakeholders this month by organising an event surrounding one of the month's key themes, namely the role of youth as architects of our urban future, and the importance of building our mobility systems to ensure they meet their needs.

Interested in joining the discussion? Make sure to register at this link.

For questions, please contact Andréia Lopes Azevedo at alopes@polisnetwork.eu.