Under the label of ‘shared space’, a radically different approach to street design, traffic flow and road safety is rapidly emerging. Combining a greater understanding of behavioural psychology with a changing perception of risk and safety, shared space offers a set of principles that suggest new radically different possibilities for successfully combining movement with the other civic function of streets and urban spaces.

Shared space has evolved most rapidly in the Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the northern part of Holland. However there is a growing range of examples in France, Spain, the UK and other European countries. The paper considers the potential for shared space principles to prompt a new approach to the design, management and maintenance of streets and public spaces in cities, towns and villages. Drawing on well-established examples from a variety of countries, the author examines the outcomes of schemes that deliberately integrate traffic into the social and cultural protocols that govern the rest of public life. The findings raise important implications for governments and local authorities, for professionals, for communities and for citizens. 

The author, Ben Hamilton Baillie, is an architect and urban designer, specializing in the design and development of mixed-use streets and public spaces.

The lack of a formal theoretical framework or a coherent body of research examining alternative philosophies of traffi c engineering limits the extent to which fi rm conclusions can be drawn. Nevertheless, extensive observations in practice by the author and many other practitioners, combined with case studies and monitoring reports from innovative schemes, suggest that a number of long-standing assumptions about the role of governments in regulating and controlling traffic movement might be beneficially reconsidered in the light of such experience.

Many of the case studies are drawn from the work of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), whose work is increasingly focused on improvingthe quality of streets and spaces in the UK. The author has contributed to the research for a number of these case studies (CABE, 2007a), and draws on other findings from mainland Europe, especially Sweden and The Netherlands.

The paper was published in the journal Built Environment; Vol 34, no. 2.

The ideas, concepts and practice illustrated by the examples from Britain and mainland Europe demand a fundamental reconsideration of many long-standing assumptions about traffic in towns, and represent a seachange in our approach to street design, traffic planning and the opportunities for a public realm. It is an approach that is still in its infancy, and there remain many barriers to overcome, observations to be made, evaluations to be conducted and experience to be gained.  Questions remain as to what extent shared space can help resolve busier streets and intersections. Creativity and development is required to improve perceptions of safety and navigational aids for the visually impaired. The relationship between visual clues (such as apparent road widths, signs, kerbs and road markings) and driver behaviour remains little understood. Nevertheless shared space opens up a whole new vocabulary and design framework for the built environment, bringing together a number of strands of current thinking.

The end to separation of traffic movement from the public realm and the move towards shared space has important implications for the training and professional development of all the disparate disciplines involved. Integration of engineering with urban design implies a broadening of awareness and knowledge amongst professionals and technicians who, until recently, have shared only a sketchy understanding of each other’s roles. It is encouraging to see the Public Realm Information Advice Network (PRIAN), supported by the Institute of Highway Engineers and English Heritage, amongst others, extending and developing training in the comprehensive design and management of the public realm.

Shared space raises the potential for a radically different vision for the streets of towns and cities for the future. With sufficient professional support and political determination, it could hold the key to reversing the long-lamented decline in the quality of streets, both in Britain and across the rest of the world, where cars and traffic are likely to remain an inevitable component of our social and economic structures. If the findings from the increasing number of shared space schemes continue to demonstrate the positive outcomes from treating drivers as intelligent citizens, governed by the same social protocols that underpin civility in other public places, there is a hope that the segregated world of post-war urban planning will no longer need to blight the coherence and quality of the built environment.

//2008

Ben Hamilton-Baillie

research

Urban Policy

Transport and infrastructure