I grew up in one of the Italian cities that adopted the "limited traffic zone" approach many years ago (Bologna). The fact is that many Italian cities were desi

I grew up in one of the Italian cities that adopted the "limited traffic zone" approach many years ago (Bologna). The fact is that many Italian cities were designed basically in the middle age and they have not changed much since then, hence they have very narrow streets, crossings, and sometimes wide sidewalks. They are simply not made for cars. Anyway, in the last years, the new administration additionally decided to completely "ban" cars from the main streets during weekends and public holidays: no cars of no type, no taxis, bus routes changed to only reach the beginning of the closed roads but they did introduce a small bus line that goes around the closed down zone. The idea was highly criticized at the beginning mainly by the business owners located there, who were afraid of seeing a sharp decline of customers. Instead, after a first period, those "T days" became a success: people re-discovered the pleasure of just walking everywhere on the streets, more and more events were organized, and also shops saw an increase in revenue, and in fact now they are asking to extend this ban to more days. Personally, I think we should start realizing that cars have put high cost on society in terms of pollution, safety, low efficiency in the use of resources (fuel), stress related to jams (which is a clear alienating experience). Maybe banning them from everywhere is not the solution, but at least the idea that every family must own (at least) a car should be publicly questioned.