Figure 19. Rome location and statistics

3.1.4. Rome, Italy

Rome is part of Southern Europe (CIA, 2022), located in the mid-western part of Italy (Figure 19), being the most populous city in the country and the third-largest in the EU (Clark, 2022). Moreover, the Italian capital is considered the cradle of western civilization, developing along the Tiber River, and being widely researched with Athens for their ancient urban development achievements. Although the as usually it is called has been considered unplanned at the beginning, over time, it has evolved, bringing many innovations to society, for instance, aqueduct creation, central and underfloor heating inventions, among others (Hall, 1998; Mumford, 1968). Likewise, the roman road network built during ancient times played a crucial role in all its conquers since it connected Rome to the colonies easier. Thus, this distinguished engineering innovation has helped the Empire establish its hegemony through the territories that have been beaten and are still an outstanding feat in the present (Eldridge, 2018; Garcia-López, 2019).

Figure 19. Rome location and statistics. Source: Author based on data from Istat (2021) at least 2700 years, making the city nowadays a live museum, with emblematic historical monuments and landmarks reinforcing its legibility. Without mentioning its huge religious influence worldwide for

hosting Vaticano inside its territory. Under the considerations expressed so far, Rome has been an example of a resilient city (Simone et al., 2021), reinventing itself countless times over the centuries.

Although the Italian capital has demonstrated many innovations throughout its history, under the policies sectors, and more specifically in mobility, on the other hand, its urban development has been rooted in criminality. In the past years, the municipality of Rome has been investigated through many corruption inquiries related to urban policies. A criminal organization called has been able to illegally profit from public and private sectors and influence how public decisions have been made, affecting policy designs and creating a systemic impact through its entire multilevel governance (Chiodelli & Gentili, 2021; Sergi, 2019). Furthermore, the corruption history extends also to the public transport bodies. ATAC the leading PT provider in Rome, a subsidiary of Roma Capitale, belonging to the municipal administration has two executives recently indicted for paying bribes, apart from being accused of public tender bidding disruption (De Santis, 2022a, 2022b; Sarzanini, 2015). Thus, illegally entrenched municipality jeopardizes public transport systems since they cannot regulate them properly. Despite all these corruption scenarios, the Rome transport network (Figure 20) offers many different mobility options. ATAC is responsible for 259 overground tram and bus lines (including trolley bus and the BRT), and Roma TPL is responsible for 103 bus lines, which together cover 362 lines along 2,285km (ACoS Roma Capitale, 2022a; Roma Mobilità, 2021). In addition, three metro lines are also under the responsibility of ATAC, equivalent to 60km. Thus, all PT modes are in charge of moving 1.75 million passengers per day (Di Stefano, 2018), which is vital to keep the capital running. It is relevant to mention that the PT tickets work the same way as in the previous case cities, with single options and passes that could be valid for up to one year (ATAC, 2022).

Moreover, in recent years, shared mobility services have increased fast in Italy (Vergnani, 2018). Nowadays, in Rome, twenty companies operate different shared options, most of which are private, except for managed by Agenzia Roma Servizi per la Mobilità, a subsidiary of Roma Capitale. Thus, the capital of Italy has been increasing the range of options for trips in the city, which could be seen as suitable sustainable measures for its urban mobility network. In summary, there are four car-sharing enterprises, three