Our streets, our choice was the slogan of last year’s European Sustainable Mobility Week. A slogan that implies a desire to take back the streets of one’s country, rid them of smog and pollution, make them as livable as possible. This is the fundamental sentiment that animates the principle of Sustainable Mobility and all the initiatives inspired by it: we are talking precisely about those modes of travel capable of reducing the environmental, social and economic impact of the use of private vehicles: “reducing the impact” means reducing all kinds of pollution, reducing accidents, urban and land degradation, attempting to improve, in short, the level of quality of life of every citizen. Precisely through initiatives such as bike-sharing, it is possible to achieve remarkable results without giving up the ability to move around in a healthy yet fast and comfortable manner. Until, however, municipalities decide to invest in this sector, we could not say that we have really achieved the goal: Istat data remind us, however, that something good is happening in our country, in 2012 the offer of Bike Sharing is expanding, 66 cities activate this service and 36 capitals have at least 34 km of bike lanes and from the eighth report prepared by Euromobility, under the Patronage of the Ministry of the Environment and Land and Sea Protection, titled “Sustainable Mobility in Italy: survey of the top 50 cities,” two contrasting realities emerge: in the north, Bologna is the most environmentally sustainable city, followed by Parma and Milan, and in the south, Syracuse, Reggio Calabria and Potenza, turn out to be the worst in Italy.
The issue of social mobility is one of fundamental importance in our time and society, which has become accustomed to the pursuit of convenience at all costs and forgets the consequences that can result from such unconditional and uncontrolled exploitation of means.
