Within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Fundació Catalunya Europa organised a debate on mobility with a European and feminist perspective on Thursday, 5 October, with the collaboration of the Barcelona City Council.
With the title "Moving is a woman’s thing. A European and feminist look at mobility", the event was held at the Ca l'Alier centre in the Poblenou district of Barcelona, with several local and European speakers to learn about good European practices.
- Laia Bonet, Deputy Mayor of the Barcelona City Council of Urbanism, Mobility and Housing.
- Carme Miralles-Guasch, mobility expert and professor at the Department of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
- Marta Serrano, consultant at the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) and founder of "Women in Movement".
- Núria Pérez Sans, vice president of the Association for the Promotion of Public Transport (PTP). .
- Rosa Thoneick, expert in social innovation and urbanism, and associate researcher at the City Science Lab in Hamburg (Germany)
The director of the Fundació Catalunya Europa, Dolors Camats, presented the debate moderated by Júlia Mumany, project manager of the foundation.
The debate served to learn about some good European practices, such as the "Connected Urban Twin" project of the German city of Hamburg, explained Rosa Thoneick, associate researcher at the Heinrich Böll Foundation and expert in digital transformation and urbanism. This initiative has made it possible to identify differences in the mobility of men and women in order to incorporate a gender perspective in the design of transport networks and urban policy planning. For more information on this case, you can watch this video about the project.
The debate followed two important events in the field of mobility: the European Transport Ministerial Meeting in Barcelona on 22 September and the European Mobility Week from 16 to 22 September.
One of the points of the 'Barcelona Declaration' signed by the 27 EU countries states that "the gender and equality perspective should be incorporated into the design of transport and mobility policies". An area that has traditionally been designed with androcentric patterns that have not sufficiently taken into account the needs of women.
A mobility model is needed to facilitate the reconciliation of working time with family, domestic and care. In addition, the perception of fear and insecurity continues to be a factor conditioning women’s mobility and displacement.
