40 Czech experts gathered in the village of Javoříčko on 25 and 26 September to discuss the topic of New Urban Agenda and Cycling. The main organizer was the Ministry of Transport which is planning to prepare a new governmental strategy for regional and local mobility in 2019-2020, and is gaining now the first incentives and suggestions. The seminar was organized in cooperation with the Czech Association of Cities for Cyclists, the Transport Faculty of the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Embassy of the Netherlands.
The discussion on the first day resulted in 11 general principles that could be fundamental for further development of the strategy.
The second day was focused on the first steps to prepare the new strategy, with the aim of intensive public involvement.
For this purpose MasterCard has prepared a communication strategy and visualization of the City Changers campaign to motivate local citizens to actively participate in the process of changing mobility in their towns and cities (see the enclosed presentation MasterCard_Kampan_City_Changers).
If we want the campaign works properly, we need to find and interconnect active citizens in all towns and cities. The aim is to establish a community of so-called "satisfied" people who prefer to be silent in moments that are decisive for their cities, and they are usually routed by the "loud minority"; a community of City Changers that communicates via social networks and the website.
At the beginning, every active city or town gets their own website to have a space for communication with its citizens, sharing their ideas and views, and bringing incentives for various areas in urban mobility. And this is the important piece of news - offering citizens a chance of a two-way communication. The guarantor of correctness will be the Transport Faculty of the Czech Technical University in Prague and the Association of Cities for Cyclists. These institutions together with the city or town will provide the website with necessary information on urban mobility and will guide and mediate the citizens through a factual and proper discussion. Until now, such a discussion often fails.
The communication form during the City Changers campaign was presented in Javoříčko as a Dutch experience by Ruben Loendersloot of the Dutch Cycling Embassy, and also as the Czech examples of two Czech cities - Uničov (see the pilot website www.unicov.dobramesta.cz).
Here are some examples of the future admins: the website in Hranice will go to the pupils of the Drahotuše Primary School and to their parents, since this is the active group of people who participated in the transport seminar in the Castle Garden; in Třinec - students; in Hradec Králové and Kroměříž - active citizens.
And what are the subjects to discuss? Here are some examples from the website of Uničov:
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