Shared Space

[Lrfox]

Saw this article on Boston.com and having heard about it before, I figured it would be an interesting topic for debate among the minds of Architectural Boston.

and excerpt from: "The Future of Crossing the Street" by: Billy Baker. August 10, 2008.

We were discussing Shared Space, a street design concept becoming popular in parts of Europe (the German town of Bohmte started turning its entire main street into a Shared Space last fall), and I ask Hart if he thinks such a "wild" idea could ever work in Boston.

"It's not a wild idea," he counters quickly. "It existed for thousands of years. It was only with the advent of sewers and fast-moving vehicles - horses and trolleys and cars - where you start seeing curbs and really defining where uses go."

The curb is a big enemy in the Shared Space philosophy, because the curb is a separator, dictating what belongs to the pedestrian and what belongs to the vehicle. There are other enemies as well: signs, lines on the road, even traffic lights. Pioneered by Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman, who died earlier this year at age 62, Shared Space gets the street naked, removes all physical and psychological barriers, and forces cars and pedestrians to share. The concept makes the street safe by making it dangerous to proceed without paying attention. We have some elements of Shared Space here; in Downtown Crossing, Winter and Summer streets have no curb and, in the mornings, commercial vehicles mix with pedestrians. But the full Shared Space experience is hard to feel until all the clothes come off , which is why - as we start to cross Causeway - Hart stops a third of the way to the median.

"We're going to stand here," he says. "The cars will go around."

My first reaction is to look at Hart and admire his commitment, his passion for changing the world. This warm feeling lasts until the light turns green and I see two taxis - it had to be taxis - coming toward us.

IF HART'S GOAL IS TO MAKE THE SITUATION FEEL DANGERous, it's working. And not just on me, because the taxis actually go around us, slowly, staring at us, wondering what the hell we're doing on their street.

It's a 7 Page (online) article and it's available here: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/m.../10/the_future_of_crossing_the_street/?page=1

**EDIT**
Just realized that this may not be the appropriate forum for this article, so if any one of our moderators wants to move it to the "General Architecture and Urban Planning" forum, feel free.