Cities are filling up more and more. Of people, cars, deliveries, late buses, scooters stuck everywhere, vans, signs, cameras, narrow sidewalks and air that in too many areas remains heavy even when the traffic seems to flow. Today 58% of the world’s population lives in urban areas and, according to United Nations projections, by 2050 almost 70% of humanity will be concentrated in cities. Within this enormous movement, over 70% of the world’s vehicle fleet already circulates steadily in metropolitan areas.
This is where the more concrete question arises: how do we make cities more liveable without turning every ban into a labyrinth? The study “Cars and Cities, beyond the ban”created by the Auto and Mobility Observatory of the Luiss Business School, starts from the relationship between cars and urban space and looks at the measures used in Europe to reduce traffic, smog and pressure on the most delicate areas.
The Italian figure is enormous: out of approximately 500 ZTLs active in Europe, 446 are located in our country. It means that 89% of European Limited Traffic Zones are concentrated in Italy. If low-emission areas and urban tolls are also considered, Italy reaches 485 measures out of 863, i.e. 56.2% of the European total.
The Italian primacy
At first glance it looks like a green medal. Many Italian cities soon began to limit car access, especially in historic centers, where traffic weighs on monuments, ancient streets, narrow squares and already saturated neighborhoods. ZTLs in Italy were often created to protect urban heritage, rather than to directly reduce emissions.
Here lies an important difference. A ZTL can limit entry into a certain area based on permits, times, categories of users or residence. A Low Emission Zone, on the other hand, focuses above all on vehicle emissions and tends to block the most polluting ones. The European Commission includes both in the UVARs, i.e. the rules for vehicle access to urban areas, tools that can help cities comply with air quality standards, limit congestion and traffic emissions and increase safety.
When we move to low-emission zones, Italy’s primacy diminishes. In Europe there are 338: in the lead are Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Italy comes next, with 37 zones, and above all with a very practical problem: each city tends to move on its own.
Rules in pieces
Comparison with other countries makes the situation clearer. France and Spain use more recognizable systems, with environmental stickers, national criteria and more uniform signage. Germany maintains local management, but within common technical standards. In Italy, however, rules, exemptions, calendars and methods change from Municipality to Municipality.
Roberto Pietrantonio, president of Unrae, spoke of the “balkanisation of mobility”. The formula clearly illustrates a problem that anyone who has tried to understand if they can enter a certain area, on a certain day, with a certain car, knows. The result is more confusing mobility, especially for commuters, artisans, shift workers, delivery companies and families living between suburbs and cities.
The study indicates a rather concrete path: homogeneous criteria for low-emission areas, coherent signage and a single national digital portal that collects all the local rules. Fabio Orecchini, director of the Car and Mobility Observatory, explained that a single platform would help even the most modern cars, now increasingly connected, to receive updated information on the rules in force in individual cities.
When bans help
Traffic restrictions, if constructed well, work. The Observatory analyzed 25 international studies and in the vast majority of cases low-emission zones and urban tolls reduce traffic, improve air quality and can even increase the real estate value of protected areas. Only two studies have detected the effects of traffic displacement and smog in areas outside the bans, with an overall positive environmental balance for the city.
An old fear also falls on Zone 30 and pedestrian areas: reducing car speed and access can make neighborhoods more attractive, more liveable and also more interesting for local commerce. A street where you walk better, breathe better and stop without the sensation of being in a traffic lane becomes a real urban space, not just an obligatory passage between car park and shop window.
The problem comes when the ban stands alone. A ZTL, a LEZ or a pedestrian zone make sense if there are reliable buses, trams, subways, continuous cycle paths, interchange car parks, legible information and real alternatives around. Otherwise the clean city risks becoming a privilege for those who can afford to circumvent the obstacle.
Who pays the bill
The most delicate part of the study concerns social equity. Driving bans can turn into a hidden tax for those with fewer economic opportunities. Those who own an old car often keep it because it costs too much to replace it. When lockdowns and restrictions arrive, that vehicle loses value and becomes less usable, while buying a new or less polluting model remains out of reach.
This is where sustainable mobility stops being a road sign issue and becomes a question of urban justice. A person who lives far from the center, works at inconvenient hours or lives in an area poorly served by public transport needs real alternatives, not just an additional ban. To make cities cleaner, we need incentives aimed at renewing the car fleet, stronger local public transport and understandable rules.
Italy already has many ZTLs. It has gates, cameras, ordinances, exemptions and municipal maps. It lacks something less flashy and much more useful: clear direction. Because clean air cannot come together with confusion. And a more liveable city is not only measured by how many cars it leaves outside, but by how many people it still manages to move.
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