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Description
The starting point of the project is the unsatisfactory state of sustainable mobility in Slovakia, especially in some specific regions, caused by insufficient support for the development of sustainable mobility, especially pedestrian and bicycle transport. The project aims to defend public interests in the field of sustainable mobility, the aim will be achieved by advocacy at national and local level in combination with educational and awareness-raising activities. The Cyclo-Coalition project has many years of experience with all the above-mentioned activities. Advocacy at national level will be conducted within the project and will have a significant impact on improving the situation. In the near future, it is possible to expect the preparation of a new National Strategy for the Development of Bicycle Transport and Cycling, as the one adopted by the government in 2013 works with the period until 2020. As it is an important strategic document, Cycloation will be playing active role by initiating its preparation in a set or more modern form (a more comprehensive strategy for urban or active mobility). Equally important, however, is advocacy at the local level, in which the Cyclo-Coalition will continue its long-term activities in commenting on local strategic documents, commenting on specific projects through involvement in EIA, construction or territorial proceedings, while secondarily emphasis will be placed on in the performance of its duties in relation to civil society. Several educational and awareness rainisng activities will be organised. The biggest event will be the conference Cyklomestá. The Conference has become the largest event of its kind in our country, supplemented by another professional seminar, which will bring space for sharing the best examples of good practice from home and abroad. The role of the project partner, the experts of the city of Reykjavík, is especially important here.
Summary of project results
With the project we tried to respond to the lagging development of sustainable mobility in Slovakia, especially pedestrian and bicycle transport. At the national level, the most significant results were changes in the traffic sign decree, initiated through a collective comment, as well as comments on the National Climate and Energy Plan. Other policies were also affected, such as the Air Protection Strategy, the Road Safety Strategy and the government''s program statement. The arrival of the new government was an opportunity to which we responded with more than 20 meetings at the premises of 6 ministries, which brought an improved perception and stronger support for the topic from the state.
We have influenced a number of decisions at the local level in several cities. In Bratislava, the most significant were, for example, participation in the competition for Living Square, the creation of the Panenská Zone or meetings with the mayor with suggestions for improvement. In Piešťany, we achieved a reduction in speed on the Krajský bridge during the closure of the footbridge, which significantly increased the safety of cyclists. In Martin, they managed to reject the VZN on the ban on cycling in the historic part, etc.
A significant activity of the project is the court proceedings for construction on the Bratislava embankment in order to directly improve the situation for pedestrians and cyclists, but also to set a precedent for the defense of the environment in the processes with the Ministry of the Environment and the District Office. Other legal acts concerned the right of access to information.
In several cities, civic initiatives continued to strive to improve sustainable mobility have penetrated. We have provided the SledejEIA tools and a map of cycle routes with the possibility of adding suggestions, extended by Zvolen and Košice. The importance of the project is also emphasized by the fact that our activities were relatively unique in Slovakia. Thanks to the increase in public involvement, our capacities, knowledge of the professional public and media attention, we expect a significant long-term impact.
Summary of bilateral results
From our point of view, cooperation with a partner has greatly increased the quality of the entire project, both by presenting experiences and examples of good practice to the professional public, by building our organization''s capacity in internal training and online consultations, but also by increasing professional and lay interest in the topic. public. Unfortunately, the expectations from the cooperation were not fully met due to the coronavirus pandemic, which prevented the planned joint activities in Slovakia and in the donor country, and communication could only take place online. Without a pandemic, cooperation would bring significantly better results.Nevertheless, the cooperation was beneficial for the project and our organization. From the feedback provided by the partner, we conclude that the cooperation was also beneficial for the partner, who gained new expertise and also contacts to organizations or individuals in Slovakia. In terms of continuation, bilateral cooperation can be assessed as extremely successful. Thanks to our project, the partner organization became a partner of two Slovak schools in two other projects focused on school mobility within the ClimaEd call, which will be launched in early 2021. Our organization communicates with the partner after the project and cooperation in the future is likely.