The five-day festival which will be held at the IDC Conference Centre in Sandton during October will give the people of Johannesburg and beyond an important preview of what the streets of the future city will look like with decongested traffic and preference given to public transport, bicycles, pedestrians and non-motorised activities.
Tau’s focus will be on traffic and transport arrangements that will be made to create an ecomobile environment within Sandton and enable people to walk, cycle and use public transport in and around the Sandton CBD during and beyond the festival. He will also release the latest details about festival events which are the EcoMobility Dialogues and the EcoMobility World Exhibition.
More than 300 people, including representatives of the City of Johannesburg’s leadership, business experts, thought leaders, practitioners and academics are expected to participate in the five-day EcoMobility Dialogues.
The participants are set to discuss new forms of mobility and urban planning to address the growing mobility needs in developing cities and to support behavioural change regarding transport and climate change. The dialogues will focus on topics including transport and climate change, transport demand management, clean bus fleets, behavioural change and parking management. They will also foster exchange, discussion and debate.
Tau described the dialogues as the City’s way of demonstrating its commitment to involve all relevant stakeholders on decision-making about EcoMobility in the metropolitan area.
“The dialogues will also help stakeholders to communicate, celebrate and visualise a low-carbon future through the lens of EcoMobility,” Tau said.
He stated that the dialogues will create a platform for participants to share implementable actions and policies that will help stakeholders and decision-makers to take urban mobility to the next level. Participants will also have specific opportunities to raise their concerns and queries directly with the mayor and the participating experts.
Various side events are planned in collaboration with local and international partners of the dialogues. The dialogues will also allow city leaders to present their efforts in implementing EcoMobility and to demonstrate their commitment to fight climate change through supporting the Cities Declaration on Low Carbon Transport. This declaration will be carried to the Conference of Parties, or COP21 in Paris in December.
Details: www.ecomobilityfestival.org
