Sharing Space, Creating Place: Studying the Impact of Shared Streets on Human Behavior and the Capacity to Create Public Space

shared street;shared space;urban streets;public space;Natural Resources and Environment

Hanzel, HillaryDeYoung, Raymond ;

University of Michigan

关键词: shared street;    shared space;    urban streets;    public space;    Natural Resources and Environment;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/136593/Hanzel_Hillary_Sharing%20Space-Creating%20Place_Rev%201.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Streets represent the majority of the publicly owned space in our cities, but most ofthe street space is dominated by the movement of motor vehicles with little attentionpaid to other street users or functions. An alternative approach to vehicle-dominatedstreets are Shared Streets that intentionally mix vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles inone continuous street surface, without any curb separation. This design approach hasemerged to revitalize the broader social and play functions of our streets, as well asto democratize the allocation of space to allow for greater non-motorized safety andaccess. This thesis investigates how people behave in shared spaces to learn whetherthey improve access for non-motorized users and whether they expand the use ofthe street as a public space. This study had a multifaceted approach to analyzingshared streets including an extensive literature review of current research and studies,as well as site visits to observe and record behavior at two recent shared streetprojects in Europe: Exhibition Road in London, England and the Mariahilferstrasse inVienna, Austria. Results show that shared spaces are successful in promoting sharingbetween different users and creating a sense of public space, but only under theright conditions. Vehicular speed and traffic volumes have the greatest effect on thesuccess of a shared street, but pedestrian volumes, the surrounding building use, andthe streetscape design all affect human behavior. However, if the critical qualities andconditions aren’t present, shared streets will not function as shared or public spacesand will instead perform as conventional streets.