EISENSTADT PARADE TO KICK OFF FUSS- UND RADVERKEHRSGIPFEL 2026

To kick off the 2026 edition of the Ministry for Innovation, Mobility & Infrastructure's annual conference on walking and cycling, we make a demonstration parade through the middle of Eisenstadt, Austria's 38th largest city, and the capital of Burgenland. Eugene was approached by the Ministry, Energie Agentur and Land Burgenland to make a colourful, distinctive opening for three days of ideas and networking, and came up with the concept of making a positive demonstration of what walking means. So we will have loud songs about walking - Walk on the Wild Side, Radetzky Marsch, These Boots are made for Walking - and we invited a local dance school along, so that youth in the city can show us their silliest, most original walks. We will have banners and chants, just like on all these walks we see on protests in bigger cities. But this time, the parade will be for something, for a cause which we all can believe in, sustainable mobility which makes us feel good.

Walking is free medicine, good for your soul and body, for building community, for supporting your local economy, for meeting new people, and getting a sense of your neighbourhood and support networks. While drivers get angry with each other, we stroll by and don't need to look for parking spaces or fill up our tanks with dirty petrol. The conference is an opportunity to share best practice and get inspired by successful actions across Europe. Let's save the world, but creatively and with fun along the way. Eisenstadt is a city of courtly splendour, Josef Haydn, wine and iron.