Irish Examiner view: Milan decides to ban cars

Pigeons take posses of empty Duomo square in Milan, Italy, Sunday, April 5, 2020. Photo: Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP

Uncertainty is a defining characteristic of this and every pandemic.

Its exact source is contested, an antidote remains undiscovered, its duration a frightening matter of speculation.

Not even the bravest epidemiologist would estimate the final death toll.

Many would not even hazard a guess at the first digit in that figure much less how many other digits might follow it.

Those details are from the grim end of the equation but, as ever, there are positives too.

Northern Italy, one of Europe’s most polluted regions, was especially hard hit. This seems to have provoked a re-evaluation, a re-ordering of priorities.

At the peak of Italy’s lockdown city traffic fell by up to 75% in Milan so levels of air pollution fell dramatically.

The Milanese saw what might be if cars were constrained and have acted quickly, reallocating street space to cycling or walking.

The city has announced that 35km of streets will be transformed this summer, with a rapid, experimental citywide expansion of cycling or walking space to protect residents once restrictions are eased.

Marco Granelli, a deputy mayor of Milan, said: “We worked for years to reduce car use... there is no space for people... we want to reopen the economy, but we think we should do it on a different basis from before.”

This issue is in play right across the world and the people of Milan, now breathing cleaner air than they have in generations, have taken the first steps in an inevitable journey.