The project aimed to improve urban air quality, quality of life, health, safety and security through the promotion of bio-fuels, clean vehicles and intelligent door-to-door travel choices. The objective was to halt the current trend towards increased car use, promote sustainable alternatives and stimulate the efficient and clean distribution of goods in the cities. The CIVITAS SMILE cities illustrated some of the typical problems facing historic medium-sized cities in the European Union and accession countries, indicating a high level of transferability of the project results.
CIVITAS SMILE involved 27 partners, who implemented 51 demonstration measures all aimed at lowering hazardous emissions from city traffic. With impacts stretching well after the project’s conclusion, the project fostered a modal shift towards public transport, cycling and car sharing.
CIVITAS focuses primarily on urban transport. However, it is often very difficult to consider urban transportation in isolation from the wider regional perspective. This is reflected both in the formation of the SMILE partnership, which included a range of regional authorities and one regional transport authority; and also in the measures, many of which had a regional rather than purely urban perspective.