Comments on: People and streets http://www.williemiller.co.uk/people-and-streets.htm conceptual, strategic and development work in urban design, town making, city planning, urbanism and place-making Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:25:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: nick wright planning » Blog Archive » Hans Monderman - safer traffic management http://www.williemiller.co.uk/people-and-streets.htm/comment-page-1#comment-88 nick wright planning » Blog Archive » Hans Monderman - safer traffic management Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:22:44 +0000 http://www.williemiller.co.uk/people-and-streets.htm#comment-88 [...] 4 British examples as well as robust arguments for why this approach should be used more, whilst Willie Miller Urban Design has more information about how Hans’ ideas have been progressed in the [...] [...] 4 British examples as well as robust arguments for why this approach should be used more, whilst Willie Miller Urban Design has more information about how Hans’ ideas have been progressed in the [...]

]]> By: ibling http://www.williemiller.co.uk/people-and-streets.htm/comment-page-1#comment-31 ibling Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:22:17 +0000 http://www.williemiller.co.uk/people-and-streets.htm#comment-31 If you want to see how Hans Monderman's woonerf streets in Drachten really are an integral part of the local road network, take a look at google maps and switch on the satellite imagery. The woonerfed streets are red. You can see how they fit into the bigger scheme of things - and it's interesting to note that they are on through-routes in the town centre, not just on quiet streets that have parallel heavily trafficked alternatives. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sourceid=Mozilla-search&q=drachten+nl If you want to see how Hans Monderman’s woonerf streets in Drachten really are an integral part of the local road network, take a look at google maps and switch on the satellite imagery.

The woonerfed streets are red. You can see how they fit into the bigger scheme of things – and it’s interesting to note that they are on through-routes in the town centre, not just on quiet streets that have parallel heavily trafficked alternatives.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?sourceid=Mozilla-search&q=drachten+nl

]]> By: Nick Wright http://www.williemiller.co.uk/people-and-streets.htm/comment-page-1#comment-30 Nick Wright Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:12:50 +0000 http://www.williemiller.co.uk/people-and-streets.htm#comment-30 Good to hear that these ideas are being promoted in the UK - unfortunately it's still just the wise few who are willing to take the (perceived) risk of de-regulating. To convince more public officials to take the plunge, I believe each of us needs to chip away whenever we get the opportunity. To help that process, we need to give them positive examples where change has already happened - and has resulted in an improvement to road safety, because it's the dreaded safety audit that often scuppers these schemes. Kensington High Street is often cited as an example. Good though it is, many officials will think "That's one of the busiest streets in London, it's completely different from my town." But there are more examples out there. A good starting point is an EU publication from a couple of years ago, "Reclaiming city streets for people - Chaos or Quality of LIFE?". It uses case studies from a selection of European cities, including a cross-section from the UK : Wolverhampton, Vauxhall Cross in London, Oxford and Cambridge. It's available as a free PDF download from http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/Transport_and_infrastructure/Roads_and_road_transport/Traffic_management/reclaiming-city-streets_1000.html PS - Willie - the link to the most recent Der Spiegel article goes to last year's article - it should be http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,505246,00.html Good to hear that these ideas are being promoted in the UK – unfortunately it’s still just the wise few who are willing to take the (perceived) risk of de-regulating.

To convince more public officials to take the plunge, I believe each of us needs to chip away whenever we get the opportunity. To help that process, we need to give them positive examples where change has already happened – and has resulted in an improvement to road safety, because it’s the dreaded safety audit that often scuppers these schemes.

Kensington High Street is often cited as an example. Good though it is, many officials will think “That’s one of the busiest streets in London, it’s completely different from my town.” But there are more examples out there.

A good starting point is an EU publication from a couple of years ago, “Reclaiming city streets for people – Chaos or Quality of LIFE?”. It uses case studies from a selection of European cities, including a cross-section from the UK : Wolverhampton, Vauxhall Cross in London, Oxford and Cambridge. It’s available as a free PDF download from http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/UrbanPolicy/Transportandinfrastructure/Roadsandroadtransport/Trafficmanagement/reclaiming-city-streets1000.html

PS – Willie – the link to the most recent Der Spiegel article goes to last year’s article – it should be http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,505246,00.html

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