EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Car-free areas and pedestrianisation for traffic management: the experience of five Italian towns

Car-free areas and pedestrianisation for traffic management: the experience of five Italian towns

Introduction

This paper analyses the use of “car-free areas” (Zone a Traffico Limitato, ZTL) made by five main Italian cities - Turin, Milan, Padova, Bologna and Florence – to limit car traffic in the most congested areas of the town - in particular in the historical centres.

Description

Car-free areas (since 1992 named Zone a Traffico Limitato, ZTL) have been introduced in the historical centres of several Italian towns in the second half of the eighties. This measure was mainly meant to contrast the impressive growth in traffic congestion that was particularly damaging these neighbourhoods due to their ancient structure and the small dimension of their streets.

In this research the following issues are addressed:

the context of Italian town structures and of their mobility evolution;
the main goals and expectations of local Councils when introducing car-free areas;
the practical difficulties encountered by the municipalities considered;
the real results achieved by the implemented measures;
the evolution of the attitude towards ZTL, and the future plans for their use.

The report ends with a description of the specific problems and policies adopted by each of the towns researched.

Background information

This paper has been prepared for the ECMT/OECD workshop on managing car use for sustainable urban travel, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, on 1–2 December 1999.

Conclusions

The regulation gave undoubtedly - at least in the short run - a substantial reduction in congestion in these areas, but it did not work as hoped, and recently it has been subject to major criticisms. There are various reasons why the system did not work as expected:

The measure was probably too ambitious. Traffic bans in areas so large, and so important for most of the social and economic activities, cannot realistically be implemented successfully.
The local Councils relied almost only on the ban to discourage car use in the city centres. No other co-ordinated measures were undertaken to achieve the goals wished. Some price mechanisms to discourage car use and access to city centres could have reinforced the effects of the introduction of car-free areas.

Contact info

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Phone: +33 1 45248200
news.contact@oecd.org

Publication date

01/12/1999

Researcher

Michele Fontana

Links

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development European Conference of Ministers of Transport

Car-free areas and pedestrianisation for traffic management: the experience of five Italian towns (PDF, Eng, 460 KB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Transport and infrastructure > Roads and road transport

Keywords

Traffic management