Hans Monderman, Livable Streets Traffic Engineer, 1947-2008

9 January 2008 - 12:00pm

Hans Monderman, the Dutch traffic engineer renowned for his innovative "shared space" plans emphasizing human interaction over mechanical traffic control devices, died this week.

New Mobility Agenda's Eric Britton sends along sad news that Hans Monderman has died. Britton writes:

"I learned this morning of the sad news that our dear friend and colleague Hans Monderman has passed away. It is a great loss."

"Hans was an exceptionally creative, energetic and original thinker and doer, right up the middle of the New Mobility Agenda at its best. His specialty was not to write lots of fat reports or go to conferences, but rather to get out onto the street and show people and policy makers what can be done if we apply our minds to it."

"His approach has been called "Designing for Negotiation", which he in his usual modesty admitted works better in some places than others. At busy urban intersections with slow traffic, he found that it is often safer and more effective to get road users to focus on looking at one another instead of traffic control devices."

Source: Streetsblog, January 8, 2008
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Beyond Brasilia is a Herculean compilation of historical and contemporary examples of the ways planning and politics have shaped major urban areas.