CIRCLES - Connected Integrated Cycling Networks for Low-Emission Cities

Alba Iulia Municipality is preparing an URBACT Action Planning Network focused on transforming cycling strategies into real, connected, and scalable urban mobility solutions.

Like many medium-sized European cities, Alba Iulia and its metropolitan area face increasing pressure to develop sustainable and low-carbon transport alternatives. Although cycling infrastructure has expanded through local investments and EU-funded projects, the network remains fragmented, with limited connectivity between the city and surrounding municipalities, insufficient multimodal integration, and uneven accessibility for daily users. Similar challenges are faced by many functional urban areas where cycling strategies exist, but implementation remains slow and disconnected.

The project builds on existing policy frameworks, including the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), local climate objectives, metropolitan mobility priorities, and ongoing investments in active mobility infrastructure. The network will support cities in moving from strategic planning to coordinated implementation by identifying governance mechanisms, investment priorities, and practical tools for integrated cycling systems.

The ambition of the network is to help cities create safe, continuous, and citizen-centred cycling corridors connecting urban cores with surrounding communities and public services. Through transnational exchange, stakeholder involvement, and pilot actions, partners will co-develop transferable solutions for integrated cycling infrastructure, multimodal mobility, governance cooperation, behavioural change towards active transport, and climate-neutral urban mobility systems.

The network particularly aims to support medium-sized cities and functional urban areas with strong sustainability ambitions but limited implementation capacity, helping them turn cycling into a practical and widely used mobility solution.