About the Project

Citizen Group

The heart of Move Together is a transnational focus group of 27 randomly selected European citizens, one from each EU Member State, as well as a panel of 25 local citizens in Rome. These two groups provided their advice and appreciation of EU research on sustainable urban transport. They did so after a number of workshops where they learned what types of project the EU is working on and how exactly these project impact the quality of life for European, urban citizens. They compiled their findings and recommendations into a Citizens’ Statement and presented this to the European Commission in Brussels.

Project Overview

The Move Together project focuses on raising citizens’ awareness and appreciation of EU research on sustainable transport in the urban environment. The aim is to make people aware of what EU transport research is doing and how the research results can help – if implemented in our cities – to improve our quality of life and make urban transport more sustainable, that is safer, more secure, more efficient and better for the environment.

A select group of EU member state representatives have already participated and received new appreciation for this relevant research, but it is time to illustrate the results to a wider audience and raise the awareness of citizens throughout the EU.

This project is funded by the European Commission, under the 7th Framework Programme, transport research area.

:: For more information on the Move Together project please visit www.move-together.net

For an overview of the Move Together Project please see this 90-second film, created by Parachute Productions.

Project Methodology

The project is based on the methodology described in the Move Together Guidelines for Local Authorities, which aims to increase public awareness and to test the acceptance and usability of the results achieved by recently closed or ongoing EU research projects on urban sustainability.

In a first step, a citizens’ conference process was arranged, involving 27 citizens, one from each EU Member State. Participants were selected from those who applied to participate using the questionnaire posted online.

The citizens were then asked to formulate their views on the acceptance and use of selected urban sustainability approaches, technologies and solutions coming from EU research findings in a sequence of three preparatory meetings.

Finally, those results were presented at a launching conference in Brussels, involving stakeholder representatives and members of the European Commission.

Participants in the group of 27 continue to be involved in the current process of Move Together, namely the exhibition created to showcase the project and spread awareness throughout other European urban centres.

In a second step, a local citizens’ conference process was arranged in Rome, involving 25 citizens, one from each district of the city and some hinterland municipalities. The citizens were asked to formulate their views – based on the everyday life experience of urban mobility problems – on the goals and implementation of the EU funded research and demonstration projects realised in the Rome area.

Participants of the group of 25 local citizens continue to be involved in a local awareness campaign, which aims to trigger a new urban mobility culture based on the concepts summarised in a “Move Together Manifesto”.

Downloads

The following relevant documents are available to download here (documents are only available in English):