The Stars Zaragoza Project stands out for its high level of community involvement, its adaptability to each educational centre, and for its promotion of children's autonomy.  

It is based on three strategic lines: the way students move; the introduction of mobility in educational programmes within schools; and the improvement of the environment around schools and institutes.  

The overall objective is to promote sustainable, active and autonomous mobility among primary and secondary school students, involving the entire educational community and focusing especially on the use of bicycles. 

One of the great strengths of the Stars Zaragoza Project is the creation of networks. All Stars centres in Zaragoza form a network enabling collaboration and the exchange of ideas. 

The Stars project is a programme for sustainable, active and autonomous mobility aimed at primary and secondary school students, involving the entire educational community and focusing on the use of bicycles as a regular means of transport.  

Established in Zaragoza, this is a project of alliances between local, regional and state administrations. It is promoted by the Ministry of the Interior through the Directorate General of Traffic, and supported by the Government of Aragon. 

At the local level it is aligned with the Zaragoza Climate Change, Air Quality and Health Strategy ECAZ 3.0 26, in the Urban Design and Sustainable Mobility axis of action.  

It addresses a range of challenges: a lack of child autonomy; unfriendly school environments; a need for children to appropriate space; and a need to create participatory spaces to improve school environments. 

The project enables the autonomy of children from the fifth grade of primary school (10-11 years), the creation of stable networks of teachers, the involvement of secondary school students and the use of bicycles in their daily commute. 

All the Stars centres in the city of Zaragoza form a network, which has gradually grown every school year since its creation. This promotes and favours the exchange of good practices and the sharing of common problems and solutions. 

The network is currently made up of 31 educational centres – 19 primary schools and 12 secondary schools – reaching 12 000 students. 

Stars Zaragoza is a transversal project. The main objective of the project is the promotion of sustainable, active and autonomous mobility among primary and secondary school students, involving the entire educational community. From this, other secondary objectives are derived, such as improving air quality, reducing noise pollution, promoting healthy habits, improving the autonomy of students, pacifying public roads, promoting the appropriation of space, and creating a social fabric in the neighbourhood. 

The project has been implemented using an integrated approach, both horizontally and vertically. This means coordinating actions in different areas (environmental, social and economic) and with multiple agents (school management team, teachers, students, families, businesses). It requires coordinated work between different areas of the local administration and with other administrations to carry out the transformation and adaptation of urban space.   

It is promoted by the City Council of Zaragoza and the Ministry of the Interior through the state’s General Directorate of Traffic, and has the support and recognition of the regional Government of Aragon. 

The Stars Project is based on participation. It is aimed at the entire educational community and other agents in the school environment: 

Students: They are the driving force of the project and the activities are aimed at them. In primary school, they share their concerns about moving around, and they participate in the design of the school routes. In secondary school, a specific “ambassador” group of students is in charge of promoting sustainable mobility among their classmates. In addition, they carry out a mapping and diagnosis of their school environments to propose improvements.  

Family: This is an immediate area of participation for children. On the one hand, they receive specific training to help them in the process of letting their children move independently, and on the other hand, they actively participate in the collection of proposals for improvement of school environments. 

Educational team: Stars Teachers represent the project in each centre. The project proposes a series of activities to them, which they then carry out. In addition, a Teachers' Seminar, held during the school year, provides a point of exchange of ideas, problems and solutions. 

Businesses: The establishments in the area around the school form a network of "Friendly Shops", identified with a sticker, where students can go in case of need on their way to school. Beforehand, students are introduced to the staff and trust is established between them. 

Throughout 11 years of the project (School Pathways 2012-2017 and Stars Project 2017) 52 educational centres have participated. Currently, the Stars Network includes 31 centres – 19 primary and 12 secondary schools – reaching 12 000 students. 

It addresses the lack of child autonomy, unfriendly school environments, the need for appropriation of space by children and  to create participatory spaces to improve school environments. 

It has helped improve children's autonomy from the fifth grade of primary school, create stable teacher networks, involve secondary school students and encourage the use of bicycles in their daily commute. 

In primary schools, the great strength of Stars Zaragoza and its hallmark compared to other sustainable mobility projects is the work done in the promotion of children's autonomy. After many years of work we have been able to identify which aspects to address in order to achieve this and we carry out activities that have given very surprising results in a very short time. 

In secondary schools: The students, through the Ambassador Stars Group, are in charge of influencing the behaviour of their classmates through the design and development of activities, giving special importance to the use of bicycles as a usual means of transportation. The work with secondary schools has been very gratifying, achieving a real modal shift in terms of the use of bicycles for extracurricular trips. 

The Stars Zaragoza project is relevant for other European cities as its objectives, achievements and systemic methodology fully contribute to the 5 objectives of the EU Cohesion Policy 2021-2027. 

It also contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals, especially 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities and 17, Partnerships for the Achievement of the Goals, and to SDGs 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 13. 

Likewise, through the Zaragoza Urban Agenda Action Plan, the project is aligned with the Urban Agenda for the EU by contributing to the strategic objectives of the Spanish Urban Agenda O2, O3, O5 "To favor proximity and sustainable mobility", O6 link. 

It is also in line with the city’s commitments to: the Climate City Contract, which has been awarded the label of the European Mission of Cities; the Green City Accord; the Paris Agreement; the European Green Deal; and The New Leipzig Charter for its integrated approach to sustainable urban development. 

The project’s methodology has been tested for more than 10 years, showing it works well and can be easily adapted to other scenarios. 

In order to be transferred to other cities it is important to make prior diagnoses: type of urban planning, location of schools with respect to children’s homes, potential points of conflict, etc.  

It is also vital to work with families and students in order to know their reality: where they live, how they move around, how they would like to move around, what they need to do so. Subsequently, methodologies and activities are easily adaptable and with a high probability of success. 

This practice has already been shared widely. It is represented annually in the Mobility and Childhood Seminar of the National Centre for Environmental Education. It was also represented in the International Congress of Educating Cities 2024 (Brazil). The project was featured in the 2024 publication "Environmental education for sustainability at the heart of public policies. Historical review, good practices and recommendations for its mainstreaming", by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.