Firenze (pilot city)

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and is the most populous city in Tuscany. Florence is famous for its history and attracts millions of tourists each year. Florence is also an important national economic centre, being a tourist and industrial hub.

The Municipality of Florence is involved in many projects regarding policy making on mobility, social welfare, economic development, tourism, environment, education and others.

The Municipality of Florence is member of EUROCITIES, the network of major European cities and of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), which represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage.

Urban mobility is one of the most relevant problem in Florence, this is due to the particularity of the town, which is one of the most important touristic sites in Italy. This effect is particularly relevant in the city centre, characterised by a medieval and Italian renaissance structure with a relevant concentration of shops, restaurants, hotels and coffees.

On the other side, outside the historical centre, Florence is a modern city with commercial centres, industrial plants and factories, which generates relevant goods demand and related traffic flows.

The traffic and the pollution is heavily impacting on this particularly delicate tissue, which should theoretically be reserved to pedestrian and public mobility.

To reduce these impacts, Municipality of Florence has signed the Covenant of Mayors, joining the other local governments to achieve the declared objective of reducing CO2 emissions at least 20% no later than 2020 on its territory. For the Covenant implementation, the City of Florence has prepared and approved the Action Plan for Sustainable Energy (SEAP) which contains several measures to promote electric mobility.

Moreover, Firenze has decided to bid over the electrical mobility to become a reference point at a national and international level in the diffusion of electrical mobility not only in quantitative terms, but above all in qualitative terms, exploring all the possible applications and developing suitable models for that (like a new tram system and a renewed network of charging stations for electric vehicles). To cope with this process Florence adopted the Master Plan of electric mobility, a document which outlines the development of electric mobility for the city with specific programs, operational and implementation plan and individual pilot projects.

ELE.C.TRA. project is part of this frame and has helped Municipality to raise awareness among citizens and tourists of changing daily behaviours to promote sustainable user-friendly activities. Thanks to the agreements between Municipality and stakeholders a new urban sustainable mobility model has been promoted.

This model is increasing the electric scooters use in its urban area and therefore reducing pollution and improving quality of life.

Municipality of Florence has modernized its fleet replacing old gasoline vehicles with 53 electric quadricycles and 17 e-vehicles for goods freight transport.

Moreover the project aims to define and test an innovative model for the development of sustainable mobility, to give consistent solutions to accessibility needs of citizens.