Briefing presenting a future that is about removing the dominance of the car – creating civilised streets that work for all.
A fundamental shift is under way in the way that streets are thought about and designed. For the last 60 years, most streets have been designed with the needs of drivers and motor traffic put first. According to this way of thinking, a ‘good’ street is one that helps make driving easier and vehicle journey times shorter. The needs of people who want to use streets in other ways – for instance for walking, shopping, cycling, pushing prams, using wheelchairs, playing, or sitting and watching the world go by – have been given relatively little consideration.
Now, however, this is changing. In countries all over the world, policymakers recognise that this traffic-centred conception of streets has led to the creation of dysfunctional places. The social and economic value of the pre-20th century role of streets, as places of community interaction, shared by all members of society – as well as conduits for traffic – is being rediscovered. New ways of designing streets are being tried out; new terms such as ‘shared space’ are becoming popular.
This briefing is designed to stimulate the debate on new street design. It looks at different design approaches and at notions of street safety. It presents a common agenda for the future that is about removing the dominance of the car – creating civilised streets that work for all.