The BASES project organizes the event “Dones en Moviment: Rethinking Active Mobility” on the eve of International Women’s Day at the School of Civil Engineering (Escola de Camins).
Mar 17, 2026
MCTS students take part in the event “Dones en Moviment: Rethinking Active Mobility”, held at the School of Civil Engineering, a meeting dedicated to placing a gender perspective at the center of the debate on active mobility. The event was organized as a lead-up to International Women’s Day in the BarcelonaBases research project, funded by the Barcelona City Council, and co-sponsored by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya.
The event was promoted by professors Margarita Martínez and Elisabet Roca (ISST), who brought together representatives from academic, institutional, and social fields to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of advancing towards a more inclusive, safe, and equitable mobility system.
The day opened with the keynote lecture by Natalie Mueller, researcher at ISGlobal, entitled “Promoting Healthy and Sustainable Urban Mobility: Perspectives from Women-Led Research”. During her intervention, Mueller highlighted the fundamental role of scientific evidence and female leadership in transforming cities towards healthier and more sustainable mobility models.
This was followed by the roundtable “Women and active mobility today: barriers and incentives”, featuring Noelia Garberí (Ecom), Marta Casar (Bicicleta Club de Catalunya – BACC), Monika Maciejewska (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – UAB), Emeka Okpala (Catalunya Camina), Sara Ortiz(Col·lectiu Punt 6) and Dimitrios Karamanis (Alumni Camins UPC and researcher at CENIT).
The second roundtable, entitled “Towards gender-responsive active mobility: policies, innovation and future”, brought together Carles Casas (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya), Silvia Casorrán (Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona, Red de Ciudades por la Bicicleta and European Cyclists’ Federation), Ruth Lamas (AMB Bicycle Office), Rosa López Olmos (Barcelona City Council), Mercè Taberna (Barcelona Provincial Council) and Sergi Martínez-Abarca (Metropolitan Transport Authority – ATM). Both sessions addressed current challenges and opportunities for innovation towards more inclusive mobility systems.
The event also included co-creation spaces facilitated by the UPC Innovation and Community Office, Pulmons de Barri —represented by Giulia Sonetti— and the School of Sustainable Mobility, where participants shared experiences, ideas and proposals.
Among the main conclusions of the day, several key messages stood out: mobility must be understood as a right and an essential element of everyday life; policies must be designed around diversity, overcoming seemingly neutral approaches that do not always reflect social realities; and gender perspective must be integrated as a structural axis in public mobility policies.
The importance of strengthening collaboration among administrations, operators, companies, organizations and citizens was also emphasized, as well as addressing the persistent underrepresentation of women in decision-making spaces within the sector. The potential of data to improve mobility planning was also highlighted, while always ensuring privacy protection.
The event concluded with a call to share experiences and good practices among institutions and territories, with the aim of accelerating the transition towards a more efficient, healthy, sustainable and fair mobility model.
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