angielski1 bmp

STREETS FOR PEOPLE - NOT TRAFFIC in countries aii over the world there is stili a dangerous view that a good¹ Street is one that helps make driving easier and vehicie joumey times shorter. Dangerous, yet pervasive.

The ug!y by-products of this thinking are all around us. Ring roads that cut across the historie Street patterns of towns and rancid underpasses. Not to mention “safety” raiis which force people into convo!uted detours and which result in some of us taking much greater risks to avoid.

How curious that streets are the one public service we ai! have to use, all the limę, yet so tittłe thought has been given to their design, Imagine negotiating your way through a public building which had ]ust “happened” overthe years. It would feel confusing and unwelcoming, littered with instructions, signs and obstructions, the product of false starts and dead ends. Now, however, change is around the corner.. Morę and morę policymakers recognize that this traffic-centered 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’ between pedestrians, cyclists and vehic!es are becoming popular Shared surfaces, increasingly found in residentia! areas remove the physical distinctions, like kerbs or different materials, which keep traffic in one place and the rest of us in another They include seating and planting - they could go further, with seesaws and swings. Alt these are visual prompts, showing that the Street belongs to people who use it for morę than just driving and parking. Streets become piay spaces once again instead of rat-runs.

There is stili work to do to get shared space right for everyone, of course. Guide dogs are trained to stop at kerbs, so removing them can be confusing. Eye-contact between pedestrians and motorists is key, but this is obviously of little use to the visua!!y impaired. So the design Solutions of shared space need morę attention.

What we most want is civiiised streets. Places where the needs of people are prioritised over cars. Places rooted in an assumption that everyone wili use common sense and courtesy. When streets are slower and safer, they start to become morę social and civiiised. People are happier walking and cycling in them - helping the waistline and the environment They are safer for chiidren, who should be able to play in the space outside their homes. There is a morę serious risk of injury from straying from the pavement in a 30mph zonę than in a Street deliberately designed to create uncertainty.

The Street also becomes a destination in its own right. Most people find it hard to meet their neighbours: streets should be a comfortabie setting for the first tentative hellos. A recent survey of new housing developments found that a third of residents be!ieved the streets