Bologna is to install children’s streets outside the city centre

The Italian city of Bologna is about to start an urban mobility revolution project called 'Plan for Emergency Pedestrianism'. The city will begin experimenting from the beginning of the next school year by pedestrianizing Milano Street, in the peripheral district of Savena. The idea is to set up the street as space where children can play and socialize.

This street is partially already closed to traffic but it is currently a “non-place”. The project foresees the installation of new furniture and soft interventions that create spaces for socialization. It includes games designed on the ground for play and interaction, sensory pathways, benches in a circle, and an area for a didactic garden. There will also be a ping pong table and an area with platforms and tree-lined pools for the free gathering of people or for the organisation of small events. 

The set up of these furnishings and structures will have the function of welcoming people of different ages, motor possibilities and potential interests, encouraging them to explore new possible uses of the space.

The set up will last for approximately 18 months. During that period,  its use by residents will be observed, starting with children and young people who attend nearby schools. If the impact of the temporary intervention is successful, the Plan for Emergency Pedestrianism provides for the possibility of designing, through a competition, and carrying out a definitive transformation of the area.

The grand idea behind the overall plan is to provide residents with proximate public spaces to be used for recreational functions, be they unconventional, sporting or cultural.

Original article published by themayor.eu on 16 July 2021