Shared space is a design approach that aims to reduce the dominance of motor traffic by reducing or removing conventional traffic management such as traffic signs, road markings and in some cases kerbs, resulting in ‘level surfaces’. The most controversial elements of many shared space schemes is this removal of kerbs and pedestrian crossings. There is no single definition of “shared space” but Government guidance defines it as: ‘A street or place designed to improve pedestrian movement and comfort by reducing the dominance of motor vehicles and enabling all users to share the space rather than follow the clearly defined rules implied by more conventional designs.’ (Department for Transport, 2011 ). The same document continues to define sharing as: ‘The ability and willingness of pedestrians, facilitated by the sympathetic behaviour of motorists and others to move freely around the street and use parts of it that, in a more conventional layout, would be considered largely dedicated to vehicular use.’ Many local authorities in Britain are enthusiastic about shared space and schemes are being developed and implemented across the country. Incredibly, despite the lack of evidence about how schemes operate in practice and several costly U-turns1, the schemes appear increasingly popular. The lack of evidence about the impact of these schemes ranges from an absence of accessibility audits, user experience analysis and accident data. For example “courtesy crossings” or uncontrolled crossings, often introduced as part of shared space design, have no official category thus accidents on them are not recorded as such making shared space accident data very unreliable. An academic study that analysed the evidence base for the Department for Transport guidance (LTN 1/11 Shared Space) concluded that the claims made on behalf of shared space have overstated the available evidence. The study looked at a scheme in Ashford, Kent showing that most pedestrians diverted away from their desired lines, often giving way to vehicles and feeling safer under an original road layout. The purpose of this research therefore is to find out more about peoples experiences of using shared spaces in towns and cities in order to establish a greater understanding of the impact of shared spaces on the public. (Author/publisher)
Abstract