Abstract
In November 1986 a conference was held in Essen to discuss the history and development of traffic restraints in residential areas. After the start in the nineteen sixties with the introduction of the pedestrian precincts and in the nineteen seventies with the introduction of the woonerven in the Netherlands and the introduction in Scandinavia of the modified urban road network and layout of streets, results are presented of traffic restraint measures in four German cities: Essen, Köln, Bocholt and München.