Florence in 2030: less open to tourism, but more convenient to locals

The new Structural and Municipal Operational Plans aim to launch a fairer and more forthcoming city

At the start of the week, Mayor Dario Nardella held a press conference to present the new structural and municipal operational plans for the city of Florence. The document will guide urban planning policy for the Tuscan capital until 2030. One of the most notable takeaways from it is the ambition to decouple Florence from its reliance on tourism as a main income source.

According to the mayor, de-touristifying the popular city will happen by banning the construction of any new hotels in the historic UNESCO-listed old centre. Likewise, the ambition is the tune the legislation so that it will curb the possibility of offering private short-term rentals.

Housing rather than tourists

Mayor Dario Nardella described the urban development plan the following way: “A courageous and innovative operational plan - said the mayor Dario Nardella - to build a Florence of living through measures that help families and young couples find housing solutions in the city, also encouraging the creation of student accommodation with controlled rents and therefore accessible, a series of productive and logistic functions and reducing the use of the city all crushed on tourist functions.” 

The City Council sees excessive tourism accommodation driven by external demand as the root of the problem - a situation that has been plaguing other popular European destinations. A major part of the policy to block the creation of new hotels in the historic area will be the prohibition of selling abandoned public buildings to private actors.

On the question of Airbnbs, Mayor Nardella pointed out that there is no legislation yet that forbids the operation of such facilities, however, the issue will be tackled indirectly.

“To curb the phenomenon of short-term rentals we have introduced the rule of no new bathrooms in rooms under 30 square meters and we reduced the possibility of fragmentation of large apartments,” he explained, as quoted by Corriere Fiorentino.

The municipal authorities also expressed a vision of a pluricentric city where there will be available services within 15 minutes of walking for all residents.