SHARED SPACE – Where there are no rules, people are more careful...

This precept is the basis of a new way of looking at street design.  Taking away pavements, traffic lights and barriers can make it safer for all users, not more dangerous.   Surprisingly, there is evidence that the removal of traffic lights can enable traffic to flow more quickly through junctions. 

This open approach has many advantages for town centres.  By building on the experience of passing through the space, whether to drive through or to move between shops and other services on foot, the perceptions of a nice place to visit can also be enhanced.

In the Netherlands, the area around a busy road junction used by 22,000 vehicles a day in the centre of the large market town of Drachten, has started to be regenerated now vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians share the space.  Major traffic accidents (those involving death) are now down and the number of minor accidents has remained steady.  The nearbye bus station reports that the time required for busses to cross the junction has reduced from 55 to 9 seconds since the new scheme was introduced.

A special briefing note has been published by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. Click here to download it.

An article by Ben Hamilton-Baillie describing case studies of shared space in Groningen and Fryslân, The Netherlands is also available. Click here to download it.

Shared Space is a European project with the purpose of developing new policies for the planning of public space. The project has a website at: Shared Space

See Ben Hamilton-Baillie’s web site for more info and pictures.  Click here for a collection of Dutch pictures of shared space.

The case against traffic lights, BBC Two newsnight report can be viewed by clicking here.

There is a short article from the Daily Telegraph by Hamilton Baillie referring to some UK examples.Click here to download it.