Inspirational People
Jan Gehl
Danish urban designer and advocate for 'streets for people'.
Video: Streetfilms.
Rob Adams
City of Melbourne urban designer who has envisioned and driven Melbourne's renaissance over the past two decades.
Enrique Penalosa
Urbanist and former mayor of Bogota, Columbia. Be inspired by his no-nonsense views on the role of pedestrian rights in a democracy, and his unashamed advocacy for pedestrian infrastructure as a matter of principle. He is a hero. And a second video interview
Video: Streetfilms
Hans Monderman
Dutch traffic engineer and pioneer of shared space 'naked streets'.
Le Corbusier
The original French modernist urban planner who recognised the perils of mixing cars with pedestrians in the 1920s. Unfortunately as a solution he then invented the freeway, but the sentiment was there...
"To-day traffic is like dynamite flung at hazard into the street, killing pedestrians. Even so, traffic does not fulfill its function. The sacrifice of pedestrians leads to nowhere." (City of Tomorrow, 1929).
John Doyle (for his epiphany)
Elected on a platform of reintroducing cars into Swanston Street, John Doyle has since changed his views and now actively promotes continued pedestrianisation of the CBD
People's Department of Transportation, Portland, USA pdot.org
Some kindred spirits.
Inspirational Places
Victoria Street Mall, Coburg
Because local is always best...
Hargreaves Street/ Bull Street Shared Zone, Bendigo
One of the most complete examples of a Hans Monderman-style shared space in Australia, this T-intersection with heavy pedestrian throughput has been designed to have absolutely no formal traffic controls, encouraging 'right of way by negotiation' between car drivers and pedestrians.
Yarraville Popup Park, Ballarat Street, Yarraville
Excellent initiative - Ballarat Street has been temporarily closed off to traffic to make way for seating and pedestrians.
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| Yarraville Popup Park |
The original Woonerf/ Shared Zone, Holland
The Dutch pioneered the 'Shared Zone' concept 1970's, which establishes very slow traffic speeds and effective pedestrian priority on local residential streets by means of infrastructure treatments such as surfacing, road widths, and other visual cues. Could this be the solution for many of our local streets?
A Dutch 'Woon erf' (Home Zone/ Shared Zone) (Photo: Erauch from NL Wikipedia)
Cheonggyecheon River/ Cheonggye Freeway, Seoul
This one's incredible. The elevated Cheonggye Freeway was constructed in the 1970s in the river channel of its namesake through the middle of Seoul. When the freeway was up for major reconstructive maintenance in the early 2000's, it was instead completely removed and the river restored to become the focal point for a linear pedestrian park through the heart of the city.
Inspirational Vehicles
The KinderVan
You've just gotta love this one. Seats 6 kids. Available here.
Video of Enrique Penalosa, discussing footpaths and equality. Hero.
ReplyDeletehttp://bigthink.com/ideas/15907
Yes he's brilliant. Link added above. Thanks & welcome.
DeleteRE. the Woonerf, this would be an excellent treatment for Railway Place, which forms part of the Upfield Shared Path adjacent Munro St. Just the other day I was cycling along there with my toddler in the cargobike and was yelled at by a motorist who said 'Get your F'n kid off the road!', which I found highly obnoxious, especially since I was riding on a designated shared road! This kind of harrassment while riding/walking to my local shops is not on! Also indicative of the pro-car mindset of so many in our community.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree - this is the right format for many of our local roads. This is about shifting the way we as a community regard the main functions and highest and best use of local roads. There's lots more to discuss on this topic....
DeleteAnd PS I share your indignation at aggressive driver behaviour. - NW.