{"id":4023,"date":"2024-07-22T17:54:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T15:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/datamobility.it\/magazine\/data-does-not-speak-for-itself\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T12:48:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:48:18","slug":"data-does-not-speak-for-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/datamobility.it\/en\/magazine\/data-does-not-speak-for-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Data does not speak for itself<\/strong>

"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Elena Colli (GO-Mobility)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Data does not speak for itself<\/h1>\n

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We are the ones who make them speak and decide what to say. The case of MIT data<\/h3>\n

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The case of the MIT Senseable City Lab<\/b> study, which was widely reported by the media, which for days repeated the slogan: \u201c30 km\/h speed limit = more pollution\u201d<\/b>, gives pause for thought. As is increasingly the case, we are faced with a simplification and distortion of scientific results to suit the needs and communication styles of contemporary media, which would suggest that a 30 km\/h speed limit leads to an increase in climate-changing gas and particulate emissions. But what does this story really teach us (apart from the fact that no, the 30 km\/h limit does not cause any significant increase in pollution)?<\/p>\n

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What are we talking about?<\/h2>\n

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On July 8, starting with an article in Rai News<\/a>, headlines and proclamations began circulating online, on social media, and in other national and popular newspapers, proclaiming that \u201c30 km\/h causes more pollution.\u201d The articles refer to a study by the renowned MIT Senseable City Lab on the effects that reducing speed limits from 50 km\/h to 30 km\/h could have on urban traffic in Milan.<\/p>\n

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The case itself arises not so much from the results of the study but from how the media’s dissemination of <\/b>these results was partial and misleading<\/b>. The much-touted conclusion (30 limit = more pollution) was never even mentioned during the presentation of the study at the Urban Mobility Council Forum by Prof. Carlo Ratti himself (who, on the contrary, highlights the benefits of the intervention). However, in the days that followed, it led to the need for further <\/b>press releases<\/b><\/a> and <\/b>statements<\/b><\/a> from Senseable City Lab representatives to clarify what had been inappropriately and hastily reported by the media: \u201cIn the twenty years that I have been directing the MIT Senseable City Lab, nothing like this has ever happened<\/b>\u201d (Carlo Ratti).<\/p>\n

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Misunderstandings, allusions, omissions<\/h2>\n

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The article in Rai News, which was then picked up by newspapers such as Corriere della Sera, TGCom24, Il Giorno, and many others, states that \u201cIf the 30 km\/h speed limit were applied throughout the entire municipality of Milan, CO2 emissions would increase by 1.5%, while PM emissions, which are particularly harmful to human health, would increase by 2.7%.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There are three issues here:<\/p>\n

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