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Nairobi, 30 September 2013: Three lucky international students have won sponsored trips to the EcoMobility Festival in Suwon, South Korea, for their blogs about non-motorised transport in their home towns.
Organised by UN-Habitat, the social media and blogging competition called for young bloggers from the Cities and Climate Change Initiative’s network of more than 40 cities to write about their experiences.
The competition organisers were impressed by the range of entries from urban youth that were engaging, original, interesting and passionate. The blog entries provided individual perspectives and stories highlighting the competition eco-mobility concept. A selection panel made up of UN-Habitat staff and volunteers from UNKLESA - a Kenya-based organization for spouses of UN staff - selected the top three bloggers according to set criteria including the standard and quality of writing, originality of approach to the theme and commitment to the principles of eco-mobility.Also considered werethe number of page views, comments, likes and re-tweets the entry had.
The competition prize is an opportunity to attend the EcoMobility World Festival taking place in Suwon, Republic of Korea in September 2013. The bloggers were required to blog on the concept of ecomobility; the integrated promotion of walking, cycling, electric cars and other alternatives to vehicles that run on fossil fuels that can provide innovative, environmentally friendly transport options to all of a neighbourhood’s residents irrespective of age, gender or physical capability.
The three finalists who have won a fully sponsored trip to attend the festival between 1 and 5 September 2013 are as follows:
Mr. ObreinTelly, a law student at the University of Nairobi and environmental writer wrote about his dream of a Bicycle City in his hometown of Mombasa, Kenya. His blog entry can be found at: http://tellobreiny10.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/the-bicycle-city-2/
Ms. RatnaKusumaningrum an urban and regional planningstudent at the Diponegoro University blogged on reviving the bicycle track in her home city of Semarang City, Indonesia. Her blog entry can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/notes/ratna-kusumaningrum/reviving-bicycle-track-in-semarang-city-good-or-bad-choices/587426794634823
Mr. BenardAcellam, who is studying architecture at Makerere University blogged about the challenges faced by non-motorized transport users in in Kampala, Uganda. His blog entry can be found at: http://talk2acellamben.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/just-wheels/
The EcoMobility World Festival is organized though collaboration between the City of Suwon, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability - and UN-Habitat. For one month during September 2013 the residents of Haenggungdong neighborhood in Suwon will adopt an eco-mobile lifestyle to experience how eco-mobility can influence their lives positively. At a press conference held during the 24th UN-Habitat Governing Council in April 2013, Dr. Joan Clos, UN-Habitat Executive Director, said of the festival: “This is a natural experiment where people can see one of the possible alternatives to urban life in the future”.
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