News archive

Latest news ( 1 - 10 from 39 )

13 March 2017  

PASTA at the 6th International Congress of the Bicycle

Join the PASTA Team at Catalonia’s 6th International Congress of the Bicycle, taking place in Reus on 18-19 May 2017. This congress is the main forum in Catalonia addressing all novelties related to the world of the bicycle as well as serves as an exchange platform for public administrations, professionals in the sector, entities and users.

The sixth edition will address the promotion, design and security of the use of the bicycle in both city and inter-city areas, in daily journeys, sport, tourism and leisure related activities. Other aspects, such as the impacts of the use of the bicycle on the economy, health and environment will be addressed, as well as innovation and the role of new information and communication technologies.

For more information, please click here.
3 March 2017  

How E-mobile is your city?

The Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI) and the urban mobility SOLUTIONS Network are calling for cities from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to become involved as leading city, take-up city or training participants.

This is part of a new partnership with the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) and the European Green Vehicles Initiative (EGVI) as part of the EU-funded project FUTURE-RADAR.

As part of an effort to deliver on the New Urban Agenda the team invites cities to help assess the opportunities for sustainable mobility concepts in their wider context of sustainable urban development. The mission of the SOLUTIONS and UEMI partnerships is to support the take-up of sustainable urban mobility solutions in cities across the world and foster the integration of urban electric mobility solutions into sustainable transport strategies.

All activities within the context of the initiative will take place between May 2017 and May 2020.

The call is open until 30 April 2017. For more details on the process and the application form, visit the UEMI website.
16 February 2017  

PASTA project helps understanding air pollution

The European Commission has recently given Barcelona an ultimatum of two months to stop the constant breach of the limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a toxic gas produced by diesel vehicles that has been linked to respiratory and heart problems. Barcelona residents like Luca, Marcos and Charlotte know first hand how high air pollution is affecting their day-to-day life. They are part of the 40 volunteers recruited in the City of Barcelona by the PASTA project to measure air quality by using specific sensors during three weeks. Two other PASTA cities, London and Antwerp, have carried out the same exercise. Most of them were negatively surprised by the results that show why Barcelona is one of the most polluted cities in Europe, and they all come to one conclusion; why do they have to pay the price, when according to them, cars are the real responsible source for the high amount of NO2 emitted in the city?

The results obtained from these measurements will be soon scientifically analysed, but these 40 personal stories should serve as a wake-up call. Cities belong to citizens who don't want to stay confined to their homes. They want to walk and cycle through their cities without risking their health. Regulation cannot longer look the other way and measures to combat motor vehicle air pollution need to be soon implemented.
8 February 2017  

Stockholm County saves +449 years of life annually by commuting from car to bicycle

The recently launched study 'Impacts on air pollution and health by changing commuting from car to bicycle' concluded that reduced air pollution exposure among the population saves +449 years of life annually in Stockholm County. This is more than double the effect estimated in connection with the introduction of the congestion tax in Stockholm.

This study also indicates that around 111,000 car commuters in the Stockholm region have the physical capacity and enough short travel distance to potentially switch to commuting by cycling within a duration of 30 minutes. The reduced number of car travels result in lower emissions of vehicle generated air pollutants and thereby lower exposures of the general population. The health benefits as indicated by premature mortality of reduced exposure are estimated to be twice as large as the benefits associated with reduced emissions when the congestion tax system around the Inner City of Stockholm was installed.

Read the full paper here
30 January 2017  

New PASTA Paper on Wearable Sensors for Personal Monitoring and Estimation of Inhaled Traffic-Related Air Pollution

The scientific panel of the Health Effects Institute (HEI) concluded in 2010 that sufficient evidence is available to support the statement of a causal relationship between traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and exacerbation of asthma. However, in large-scale epidemiological studies on which these statements are based, exposure assessment at an individual level is often nonspecific because it relies on measurements at fixed-site monitoring stations or estimates of ambient air pollution at the home location. Determining exposure more accurately is the best way to enhance our understanding of exposure−response relationships, and it will help in quantifying effect sizes more precisely.

The new PASTA Study on “Wearable Sensors for Personal Monitoring and Estimation of Inhaled Traffic-Related Air Pollution” evaluates methods of estimating the inhaled dose of air pollution, not to determine the best method but to better understand the variability among different methods. Among the 16 methods analysed, we can find the Health economic assessment tool (HEAT) for cycling and walking, an online tool developed by PASTA partner WHO, in collaboration with experts, that estimates the value of reduced mortality that results from regular walking or cycling.

Read the full paper here here
21 October 2016  

Adopted New Urban Agenda focuses on safe and sustainable urban mobility

United Nations Member States have adopted the New Urban Agenda, recognising the role safe and sustainable mobility has to play in meeting the global challenges posed by rapidly growing cities.

The New Urban Agenda is a framework document that will guide how countries, city and regional leaders, international development funders, UN programmes and civil society will address urbanisation over the next 20 years.

Adopted yesterday at the Habitat III conference in Quito (Ecuador), it includes a strong focus on mobility and envisages cities and human settlements that promote age- and gender-responsive planning and investment for sustainable, safe and accessible urban mobility for all.

The document emphasises integrating transport and mobility plans into overall urban and territorial plans. It also encourages developing sustainable urban transport and mobility policies, expanding financing instruments and urban-rural interactions and connectivity to strengthen sustainable transport and mobility.

Reflected in the New Urban Agenda is also the importance of improving road safety and integrating safety elements into sustainable mobility and transport infrastructure planning and design. As part of this, member states committed to promoting a safe system approach called for in the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety.

National governments also agreed to adopt, implement, and enforce policies and measures to actively protect and promote pedestrian and cyclist safety – and to prioritise promoting safe and healthy journeys to school for children. This approach will improve the health of citizens, and prevent injuries and non-communicable diseases.

For more information, visit the UN News centre
10 March 2016  

EC Public health research workshop in Glasgow

The PASTA project joined other FP7 & H2020 research projects on physical activity today for a combined meeting.

Elizabeth Raser (Project coordinator from BOKU) gave a presentation on the PASTA project & the importance of everyday walking & cycling & public transport, highlighting the challenges related to promoting active mobility including the fear of shifting away from cars.

For more on the story, follow us on .
7 March 2016  

Which PASTA city is leading on recruitment?

As part of our research for the PASTA project, we will be running a two-year survey starting in autumn 2014, which looks at the travel patterns of up to 14,000 people in seven cities across Europe.

Here are some of the activities we have carried out to reach our 2000 participant mark in each of the case study cities: Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Örebro, Rome, Vienna, Zürich.

Click here to see the slideshow in full.

26 May 2015  

Is your city promoting #walking & #cycling?

The EU-funded PASTA project is inviting local authorities from across Europe to share good examples of walking and cycling initiatives to promote physical activity, and to join a pioneering community connecting transport and health agendas.

Project partner and coordinator of the good practice collection, Florinda Boschetti from Polis said: “A key output of PASTA will be a collection of good practice examples and recommendations; we are interested to find out from cities which measures promoting active mobility have worked well for them.

We are also looking at examples of successful institutional cooperation among diverse sectors and city departments in charge of health, urban planning and transport to understand how and in what way we can work better together.”

Preliminary results and a chance to find out more about the findings of the PASTA project will be shared at a mid-term workshop at the end of 2015 in Brussels. The top five most representative examples will be selected by a board of experts and published as part of a handbook in 2017.

Does your city promote healthier lifestyles for citizens through walking and cycling? Do you want to share your experience with other towns and cities?
Then visit: www.pastaproject.eu/friends
4 May 2015  

Paris launches ambitious new cycling plan

Paris has launched its 2015 - 2020 cycling strategy, which aims to double the length of the city's cycle network and triple the number of Parisians cycling every day.

Click here to read the article