SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 21 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The municipality of La Laguna has adhered to the Active Mobility Manifesto, prepared by the ‘El Futuro de la Movilidad’ Innovation and Public-Private Collaboration Alliance, in whose preparation it has participated through the Network of Walking Cities and the Network of Cities for the Bicycle, organizations of which La Laguna has been a part since 2021.
This document, designed in collaboration with various ministries, town halls, associations, companies and startups in the sector, aims to raise awareness among the population and all social and economic sectors about the importance of a healthier and less polluting mobility model, as well as guide and promote new policies and lines of action that allow progress towards safer, more sustainable and resilient cities.
The main objective of this manifesto shared by the public and private sectors, which was presented a few days ago at the Madrid International Lab, is to create a useful reference for the sector that accelerates the deployment of an urban mobility model in which displacements are not motorized are protagonists.
The Councilor for Sustainable Mobility and Social Well-being, Rubens Ascanio, maintains that prioritizing pedestrians, non-polluting means, such as bicycles, and public transport “opens the way for a small and necessary revolution, which involves returning the streets and public spaces to people and create more passable cities, neighborhoods and towns, with greener and more sustainable environments. With the pedestrianization of the historic center, we have been a test place in the Canary Islands for this inevitable transformation, and with very good results”.
The mayor wanted to remember that La Laguna has taken a new leap in these years and indicated that various projects are being developed aimed at inviting citizens to recover their environment and to promote sustainable mobility, universal accessibility, road safety, environmental quality urban environment and child autonomy. “In addition, we believe that it is time to attract knowledge and technology, and to commit ourselves to extend this great change in a rational and sustainable way,” he added.
In fact, the municipality is preparing for a major boost to mobility management with the first Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS), which is currently in the public exposure phase and which will mean a change in local policies and in the design of public spaces to promote a less polluting and safer, more efficient and shared model.
HEALTH PROMOTION
In addition, Ascanio highlighted the fact that the municipal areas of Social Welfare, Drug Addiction and Health have come together to “place health in a prominent place on the municipality’s social, economic and political agenda thanks to the new local strategy La Laguna Saludable, a great framework program in which active mobility plays a prominent role”.
In fact, La Laguna wants to involve all municipal areas, mobilize all local assets and encourage participation to, from a comprehensive and community perspective, foster consensus in decisions that condition or determine the quality of life of citizens.
With these objectives, the municipality has adhered to the National Strategy for Health Promotion and Prevention in the National Health System of the Ministry of Health, as well as to the Canary Island Network of Islands and Municipalities that Promote Health.
And in addition to all the actions that La Laguna is developing in these areas, it will now add the support of the aforementioned Manifesto for Active Mobility, a shared vision regarding the present and future of active and healthy mobility, and which is considered an interesting informative tool to promote urban transformation, mobilize citizens and increase their awareness of the benefits of this model.
In addition to the Alianza El Futuro de la Movilidad, the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda; the Ministry of Health, the Network of Cities for the Bicycle, the Network of Walking Cities, various town halls, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, EMT of Madrid, Decathlon, Livall, Bird, Aire Mobility, Wifly, Gocleer, Ciclosfera, Foro Andando , the Bicycle Defense Coordinator (CONBICI) and the Association of Brands and Bicycles of Spain (AMBE).
The document can be downloaded in its entirety at https://ciudadesquecaminan.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Ma…
