Designing public spaces and transportation planning: a multilevel approach towards slow and sustainable cities

Mobility is a primary human need, and the reasons are many. We move for work, study, entertainment, and other regular activities. The pandemic situation that cities faced from 2020 has raised new questions and promoted new drives for change towards more sustainable scenarios in the management of their mobility systems. There are many expressions that describe the emerging models (“city of neighbourhoods”, “city of 15 minutes”, “multicentric cities” and so on) but they all refer to the general aim of freeing urban spaces from fast-moving vehicular traffic to promote a slow, alternative form of mobility and safer, quieter use by pedestrians. The adoption of strategies towards slow mobility is recognized as crucial for sustainable development of the quality of life in the cities: the change towards global sustainability is strongly linked to the change of lifestyles by individuals or groups of individuals; this expression includes all the actions/concepts related to living, moving and producing. Moreover, slow mobility improves at least two essential elements: the quality of the environment (air pollution, noise pollution and CO2 production) and the residents’ quality of life. In this context, two disciplines play important and complementary roles: transportation planning and design for public spaces. The first is aimed at defining plans and programmes for the regulation and management of transport modes for people and goods; the second is oriented to provide solutions to of the requirements of comfort, liveability, and attractiveness of public spaces. From this point of view, the text will focus on the two complementary approaches and their relationships to the common goal of achieving sustainable cities. Starting from contemporary urban transformation in the mobility sector, the text will explore the main trends of the two disciplines, attempting to highlight the possible elements of convergence – of processes, tools, intervention scales and methods. The text will explore three main trends where an effective cooperation between the two disciplines for a more effective action is visible: slow mobility and public space reappropriation; smart mobilities and smart cities; accessibility and proximity.