Want to prevent crime and keep people safe in traffic? Jan Gehl says the solution is to mix up pedestrians, bikes and cars into "shared spaces."
Famed architect Jan Gehl presents excerpts from his book Cities for People over at Streetsblog. This time, he's focusing on street types and traffic solutions, and (of course) taking a human-oriented approach:
"A number of recent urban planning ideologies deriving from accident statistics contend that the risk of accident can be reduced by physically mixing types of traffic in the same street under the heading of 'shared space.'
The underlying idea of these so-called shared streets is that they will give trucks, cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians of all ages the opportunity to travel quietly, side by side and with good eye contact. Serious accidents will rarely occur under such conditions, or so it is thought, because pedestrians and bicyclists need to be extra vigilant at all times."
FULL STORY: Danish Architect Jan Gehl on Cities for People: The Safe City
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