Administration's Role in Managing Urban Pedestrian Accessibility

Romanian cities are facing pressure from an increasing number of vehicles, leading to an overall degradation of urban quality of life. As sustainable transportation is a key issue in European legislation, this paper seeks to underline the importance of the pedestrian environment by analyzing its past and present evolution. As the key factor in determining city shape and functionality is the administration, we will be looking at the role it plays in shaping the pedestrian environment of Romanian cities. The conclusions present common principles of managing pedestrian accessibility, drawn from the historical review, and offer guidelines for future management. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Lumen Research Center in Social and Humanistic Sciences, Asociatia Lumen.