Disability and sustainable mobility: what Italy will be like in 2060
Research by the Unipolis Foundation, in association with ANGLAT, reveals
- Our country will be less crowded (55 million inhabitants compared to the current number of 60 million, -10%) with a more elderly population (there will be a 70% increase in the over-74s).
- There is expected to be a 25% increase in the number of people with disabilities (increasing to 4 million) and the percentage of people with disabilities compared to the entire population will increase from 5.2% to 7.2%. The number of over-64s with disabilities will increase by 51% (from 2 to 3 million), and in this group, the number of over-74s with disabilities will increase from 1.5 to 2.5 million.
- With regard to mobility, over 2 million people with disabilities will regularly use means of transport, with one out of two of these driving cars.
- Interconnected, intelligent roads, self-driving cars and a public/private ecosystem could be the way forward in creating a sustainable development model that promotes the right to mobility for people with disabilities.
There will be a 25% increase in people with disabilities in the older, less populated Italy of 2060. With regard to mobility, there will be 2 million people with disabilities who will use means of transport, 50% of whom will drive cars as they will not give up their right to drive. In this scenario, and regarding the issue of how local public transport systems will be able to respond to the requirements of these people, the right denied to people with disabilities to sustainable mobility will worsen in 2060 unless Italy takes decisive action to improve sustainable development.
This is what emerged from the research “Il paradosso della mobilità (The paradox of mobility)” carried out by the Unipolis Foundation in association with ANGLAT (Associazione Nazionale Guida Legislazioni Andicappati Trasporti, National Association of Guidelines on Legislation for Transport for Disabled Persons) which compares today’s Italy with the Italy of the future in the 2020 European Mobility Week and as part of the AsviS Sustainable Development Festival.
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