Wednesday, June 24, 2009

shared space

Hans Monderman was a Dutch traffic engineer. He designed the very counterintuitive concept of shared space. It is counterintuitive, because it entails in removing unnecessary road signs. It is counterintuitive, because we suspect that it would lead to utter chaos and disaster. Nonetheless, it leads to increased safety and less fatalities. This is so, because car and bicycle drivers and pedestrians are now forced to interact and communicate with eachother before making the next move instead of looking solely at inert signs. When we are forced to negotiate how to move around space we are forced to share there is less danger of accidents and road rage. However, I wonder if it could be implemented in Indonesian cities. For a good article on Monderman's concept of shared space see here.

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