Comments for still sustainable city blog: ROME

Comment on Next mayor for Rome? Might as well keep the current one. by testaccina

testaccina — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:43:54 +0000

Great blog – and hope you enjoy Critical Mass this weekend!

Comment on Next mayor for Rome? Might as well keep the current one. by Che può fare un sindaco? What can a mayor do? | Roma Sostenibile (Sustainable Rome)

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:04:55 +0000

[…] text below is a variation on what I wrote last week on my personal blog sustainablerome.net. Il testo qui sotto é tratto dal blog personale […]

Comment on Next mayor for Rome? Might as well keep the current one. by William graebner

William graebner — Sat, 25 May 2013 10:41:01 +0000

Good candidate summaries, but conclusion is too cynical

Comment on Next mayor for Rome? Might as well keep the current one. by Linda @thebeehiverome

Linda @thebeehiverome — Sat, 25 May 2013 08:07:26 +0000

Awesome post, Tom! Couldn’t agree more.

Comment on Next mayor for Rome? Might as well keep the current one. by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 25 May 2013 07:19:36 +0000

This is the best summing up of the current situation in Rome that I’ve read, in Italian or English.

Comment on The Upside-Down News by Angelina

Angelina — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:47:09 +0000

I know! I also wonder about how it would feel like if people just leave their cars and motorcycles at home and walk or take the bicycle instead. I bet the streets would be so quite. I wonder, and I continue wonder…

Comment on Rivers of the World by Greening of Rome | Roma Sostenibile (Sustainable Rome)

Greening of Rome | Roma Sostenibile (Sustainable Rome) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:14:20 +0000

[...] for East RSier Greenway” makes me think about our own river. Rome is blessed with the Tiber River which could make a beautiful escape for pedestrians and bikers. It’s right there, in the middle of [...]

Comment on The Least Green Campus by Greening of Rome | Roma Sostenibile (Sustainable Rome)

Greening of Rome | Roma Sostenibile (Sustainable Rome) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:13:45 +0000

[...] they are not integrated in the city and there is still an absence of green thinking. Just like this post from the blog Still Sustainable Rome, highlighting the absence of green thinking and spaces in the University of Rome, I want to address [...]

Comment on Springtime in Rome by Tom Rankin

Tom Rankin — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:26:55 +0000

Thanks Allan, imagine if we could clear away most of those “empty metal boxes” how much nicer Rome would be. Will be.

Comment on Springtime in Rome by Allan Ceen

Allan Ceen — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:21:31 +0000

I concur with all you wrote about the problems of the cyclist in Rome. Rather than a valued presence that does not clutter the city with empty metal boxes (i.e. parked cars) and aggressively driven motorini, the cyclists is considered a nuisance drivers.

Comment on The Elephant in the Rome by Saving Rome | Roma Sostenibile (Sustainable Rome)

Saving Rome | Roma Sostenibile (Sustainable Rome) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 09:24:33 +0000

[...] exactly this is something that this blog, in good company of others, has been writing about for some time. The main problem regarding Rome’s traffic seems obvious, and it’s no [...]

Comment on Bridging the Tiber by On the road « still sustainable city blog: ROME

On the road « still sustainable city blog: ROME — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 17:56:48 +0000

[...] design by London-based firm Buro Happold in collaboration with Powell-Williams Architects which I have written about previously. The parking garage at the end of Via Guido Reni seems open, although cars are still piled up on [...]

Comment on The Upside-Down News by Jim Flege

Jim Flege — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 04:48:45 +0000

Great! For the first time since WWII, more bikes than cars were sold in Italy. But as Tom notes, it’s tough to distinguish good/bad news.Here in our small town north of Rome (Tuscania), I’m forced to get on the treadmill at a local gym rather than bike because the roads around here are perilous … We’ve tried to convince the City Council to add a modest bike lane along a few crucial routes that would enable people to get outside the “centro abitato” and into the countryside. But they simply don’t grasp the concept.

Comment on Bridging the Gap between Cultural Heritage and Environmental Sustainability by Dan Price

Dan Price — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:25:59 +0000

I don’t think they are subsidized directly – except to the extent that they do not have to pay a ‘rent’ to the municipality for the space they use for the stations and that the municipality gave the winner of the tender a 5 year monopoly.

Comment on Bridging the Gap between Cultural Heritage and Environmental Sustainability by Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:02:07 +0000

Good to know. At that price it’s clearly subsidized by the government which makes it even harder to get through the political hurdles. As you point out, maintenance is key and Rome doesn’t have a good record for maintaining technological innovations (count the “guasto” (out of order) signs on ticket machines, etc.).

Comment on Bridging the Gap between Cultural Heritage and Environmental Sustainability by Dan Price

Dan Price — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:54:59 +0000

In Tel Aviv the bike sharing has been very successful without advertising at all (fortunately). The company which won the tender offers an annual/weekly/daily subscription. It is inexpensive (50 EU for a year) entitles you to take a bike for half and hour as often as you like. Between half hour uses you need a ten minute break. They have developed a smart phone app which tells you the nearest drop-off point and how many bikes are waiting and available. The one problem and complaint is that the bikes are not always in perfect condition. So you may arrive to take a bike and find that the light is broken..a user group has set up a website for complaints to bring the issue to public attention

Comment on Bridging the Gap between Cultural Heritage and Environmental Sustainability by Tom Rankin

Tom Rankin — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:14:11 +0000

Dan, Why doesn’t bike sharing work in Rome? The principle reason is the lack of political will; the powers that govern Rome are part of the automotive culture and seem happy to live in the city with one of the highest auto ownership rates and traffic mortality rates in Europe. Various management agreements have been made over the years but they are never allowed to function to their fullest potential, even when the same models work well in other cities.
Most recently, one of the largest advertising firms, responsible for blanketing Rome in billboards, legal and otherwise, brought a law suit against the city claiming that the bidding process for the future bike-sharing system was illegitimate.
What’s the connection? Bike-sharing in most countries derives its income from carefully regulated advertising; in Rome where illegal advertising is ubiquitous and unpunished (and therefore cheap) there is little incentive to invest in a costly project until the advertising market is brought into line. In short, a successful bike-sharing plan in Rome will require two things: enforcing traffic laws to make cycling more pleasant and less dangerous and enforcing advertising laws to allow a decent profit for those who provide a public service while respecting the environment.
Here’s a link (Italian) for more info; http://www.bikesharingroma.com/2012/07/il-bike-sharing-roma-non-si-riesce-fare.html

Comment on Bridging the Gap between Cultural Heritage and Environmental Sustainability by Dan Price

Dan Price — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 07:35:57 +0000

Thomas -
I am still trying to understand why bike sharing is not succeeding in Rome. We must be missing something fundamental and with the Ecoweek project planned for next week, I seriously want to get to the bottom of this mystery. What are we missing?

Comment on The Upside-Down News by Helen Free

Helen Free — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:00:54 +0000

Calories were burning in Rome today as residents and tourists ……

Comment on If you don’t like it…(part 2) by Enrico Dressler

Enrico Dressler — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:35:41 +0000

Bravo Tom! You’ve expressed my feelings exactly. Talking to a friend earlier today, I was trying to explain why I feel as I do about Rome, and “beauty” was central to my reasoning. I know of no other place where the look of things, where comportment and style and pleasure, have such preeminence in the values of a society.