Question: What does sustainable mobility mean in the solarpunk city?
Answer: In the solarpunk city, private cars have become an exception rather than the rule, and their numbers no longer justify the spaces they had taken. The citizens transform parking lots, junctions and roads into spaces for nature and community. In Milan, the people re-open the Navigli and the other canals which had made the city prosper in the Middle Ages and which had been covered in the 50s and 60s to make space for cars.
Emys Orbicularis is a solar-powered water bus. She is named after one of the species of freshwater turtles that can be found in Italy, with which she shares a certain resemblance because of its shell, made of solar panels. Water buses like this ply the waters, bringing travellers, workers and students across the city. With a little bit of patience, one can get to Pavia, the Lakes and the Po, on a boat or along the long-distance cycle paths, fully equipped to welcome all travellers.
People travel without haste, and without emissions.