In a European competition created to promote clean and sustainable urban transportation solutions, Ghent took home the award in the Public Participation category, and was honoured for its citizen engagement efforts in most of its public transport activities.

Now in its 8th edition, the CIVITAS Awards are given to cities that demonstrate ambitious urban transport activities, programmes or policies supporting cleaner and better city transportation. The Awards Ceremony took place in Funchal, on the opening day of the CIVITAS Forum Conference. Since 2002 the CIVITAS (City-VITAlity-Sustainability) EU initiative has actively facilitated the sharing of best practice among more than 24 European cities.

In the Public Participation category, Ghent was the winner for the "sheer breadth of its actions to engage stakeholders on sustainable urban transport policy," said Sonja Van Renssen, jury member. "From questionnaires and face-to-face interviews to a weekly citizens working group and dialogue cafes, to hearings, letters, social media alerts, public visits and Q&A opportunities, this city has done everything it can on public engagement."

Burgos (Spain) and Brighton & Hove (UK) were the two runners-up in the Public Participation category, decided for their interesting approaches to involve citizens and stakeholders in mobility actions and decisions.

Utrecht was named City of the Year, and also took honours in the Technical Innovation category thanks to its wide range of measures combined with its a progressive programme for freight delivery. Stockholm’s activities to advance its electric charging infrastructure made it a runner-up for City of the Year.

Two runner-ups were named in the Technical Innovation category: Stockholm and Treviso. Stockholm has made impressive efforts to populate its fleet of electric vehicles with a programme involving the private and public sectors, EV manufacturers, national authorities and experts. Judges remarked that Treviso (Italy) warranted a mention as a runner-up because of its positive attitude toward mobility strategy and implementation of innovative solutions.

A re-cap of 2011 Winners and Runners-Up in each category:

City of the Year

Winner: Utrecht

Runner-up: Stockholm

Technical Innovation

Winner: Utrecht

Runners-up: Stockholm, Treviso

Public Participation

Winner: Ghent

Runners-up: Burgos, Brighton & Hove

CIVITAS (City-VITAlity-Sustainability) is an EU initiative designed to support cleaner and better transport in cities. Launched in 2002, it facilitates the sharing of best practice and receives European Commission funding for collaborative transnational projects.

Each city that entered the awards competition is a member of the CIVITAS Forum Network, a community of more than 209 cities committed to introducing ambitious and forward-thinking transport policies.

The CIVITAS Forum Conference is an annual gathering for the exchange of views between politicians and urban transport experts. The 2011 conference is the 9th edition of the conference. Previous meetings have been held in Bologna, Kaunas, Burgos, Nantes, Rotterdam, Graz, Krakow and Malmö.