ecoresearchers

Several cities in northern Italy banned automobile traffic today for anywhere from six to 12 hours. Not a bad idea, and great for joggers and cyclists. Doing this on a Sunday must be pretty easy to do, politically. It would be infinitely more interesting to see what would happen if they tried to do this on a weekday. The economic effect on a weekday would be harmful but what about declaring entire weekends, maybe once a month, to be car-free? Businesses may slow down at first, but people may find it liberating to take back the cities for pedestrians and decide to spend more time in the city.