Sustainable mobility in the city of Larissa

Abstract

This paper on sustainable mobility in the city of Larissa, Greece, is from the proceedings of 14th international Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment in the 21st Century, which was held in Malta in 2008. Larissa is a dynamic industrial, agricultural and cultural centre in the mainland of Greece with around 200,000 inhabitants. The author first briefly reviews the history of urban planning in Larissa, which began in the 1970s and since then has included a series of plans and studies that have been elaborated and implemented, all aiming at sustainable development, urban renaissance and sustainable mobility in the city center. Larissa uses a wide pedestrian network, as well as a less extended bike network, as an integral part of an infrastructure that connects the administrative center to the traditional, older part of the city and to the river shores zone. The author stresses that this infrastructure and framework has improved the quality of life and have had a direct positive impact on the physiognomy of the city. The author concludes with proposals of further sustainable mobility and urban transport policy for Larissa, discussing how these could be applied in towns of similar scale in the wider European area.