For someyears, in Germany as well as in other European countries, there has been an intense professional, public and political discussion on the question whether the so-called shared space principle may contribute to improving traffic conditions in small and mediums towns and large cities. In this respect, the presentation of shared space to the public is often highly overstated by its advocates. Moreover, the most different solutions are meanwhile mixed up in an undifferentiated way under the buzzword of shared space. In the worst case, this will lead to shared space being interpreted as a supposed panacea for all inner-city traffic problems and praised as a measure for the general improvement of road safety. That is why German Insurers Accident Research (Unfalftorschung der Versicherer - UDV) argues for putting the discussion on shared space, which is frequently held very emotionally, on an objective and sound basis. Therefore, UDV prepared the booklet "Shared Space - Eine neue Gestaltungsphilosophie für Innenstädte?" ("Shared space-a new design philosophy for inner cities?" http://www.udv.de/uploads/tx_udvpublications/Broschuere_Bsp_Shared_Spac…). The new booklet renders assistance to planners and decision-makers by providing numerous examples from Germany and abroad, so as to bring the professional discussion on shared space on a more objective level and to support local decision-making and design processes. Moreover, the booklet contains general recommendations to be observed in shared space projects. (Author/publisher) For the German version of this leaflet, see http://www.udv.de/uploads/tx_udvpublications/Ukommunal_4_Shared_Space.p…
Abstract