"The greater the number of prescriptions," he was known to say, "the more people’s sense of personal responsibility dwindles.” Monderman saw Shared Space as one way to increase our social responsibility. The Shared Space concept was pioneered by the late Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman, who noted that we’re losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior. Doing so, says Leyzerovsky makes a safer environment because people become more tuned in to everything around them. In Shared Space, bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists all make eye contact and communicate non-verbally with each other. This traffic environment forces everyone to pay attention and it forces you to go at a much slower rate than you normally would.” “Most accidents happen because of speed and because of not paying attention. “It works because, ultimately, no one wants to hurt anyone,” says David Leyzerovsky, project associate at the Project for Public Spaces (PPS), explaining that Shared Space creates a more polite area where everyone is in cohesion with each other. Unlike traditional thoroughfares, where motorists, pedestrians and cyclists have separate paths and somewhat mindlessly follow what signs tell them to do, Shared Space forces everyone to become hyper-aware of those around them. Shared Space, as such streets are called, is an urban planning alternative that puts everyone in the same space and makes them communicate with each other. It sounds like a dangerous mess, right?Ĭounterintuitively, just the opposite is true. Now strip away the traffic signals, crosswalks, curbs, bike lanes, and signage that tell people what they should be doing.
Imagine a thriving street with cars, bicyclists and pedestrians.
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