Dear Antonio,

You might be interested in this presentation, that deals with the French legal framework and lists the places where such measures were implemented:

http://www.voiriepourtous.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/091214-2-Zones_de_rencontre-JCassagnes_cle5e6c7e.pdf

And here is another report about Switzerland and Belgium:

http://lara.inist.fr/bitstream/handle/2332/1490/certu-re_08-04.pdf?sequence=1

See also this paper by Petitet and Grangé:

http://www.metropolitiques.eu/IMG/pdf/met-petitet-grange.pdf

Best regards

d.

Dear Antonio,

Pedestrians, bicycles, cars, trucks — barrier free... I don't think that is possible. Take a look a this video. In Sevilla, Spain, they have tried to do it in Avenida de la Constitución, which is a main street  of the city.

Now, if you want to take a walk along this place, you can't! why? because you need to be all the time aware of the bicycles, urban train and even cars crossing perpendicular. So, you want to walk comfortable, looking at the beautiful architecture, but you can't.

Difficult issue. All the best!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEvSz0GxMcA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XP8btG5Diw&ebc=ANyPxKouM21TUpQvosgXyGXUJUMyWK2pipWiGMVfwcVebc_WYP-lkLfeuHci2GeYFAFoLFoZ0nqw9r3TO_w8m5j1qDDQuXcIvA

Hi Antonio,

You need to telll your student to come to Madrid and Sevilla to check it out for himself. He is not too far away.

Hello Antonio,  

Have your student check out the "Highline" in New York City. It's a transformed raised train rail into a walking path, a park. 

http://www.archdaily.com/24362/the-new-york-high-line-officially-open

Also, I find the plaza in front of Mies Seagram Building to be an interesting space too, also in New York City. 

https://placesjournal.org/article/seagram-union-of-building-and-landscape/

Hope this helps!

Dear Denis,

Merci - Thanks a lot for the contribution. The information you've provided will be very useful and it is the kind I was looking for. Maybe I'll get back to you for further discussion. All the best, António

Dear Miguel and Concha,

Gracias - Thanks for your contribution but I do not agree with you. This is a difficult issue, for sure, but there are successful examples of shared spaces in other countries (New Road in Brighton, UK, by Gehl Architects, for instance). I guess the first and most obvious problem in Sevilla is the pavement: you can't keep the same old asphalt and just forbid car traffic to get a successful urban shared space! Av. de la Constitution is now a quite empty car avenue: pedestrians keep walking on the sides (where the window shops are, and the shades and trees) leaving the avenue center empty. Not a successful intervention in my opinion, too. I've been there before and I guess I liked it better with cars...

Dear Concha, 

I thank you for the link about Haren. It's got useful information on some issues and dangers to be taken seriously into consideration. Regarding the links and videos on parks in Madrid (which I know), those are not shared spaces. Good for cyclists (specially) and pedestrians, but not shared spaces. Thank you anyway.

Dear Kara,

Thanks for both suggestions: those are great and successful urban spaces (I've been there to prove it) but they are not shared spaces. Just very pleasant (which is already a great design achievement!) pedestrian spaces. Very intense and full of life, I loved them. But not for this research.

THANK YOU ALL, and I apologize for the delayed answer.

Hi Antonio,

Pavement in Sevilla is totally new and if you take a closer look, you will see little steel round pieces on the floor, marking the way for bicycles and pedestrians. Cars only cross in perpendicular way. In the middle, right on the axis, you have the railway lines.

So do you agree about walking only along the sides? do you only want to see the shops? You cannot see the buildings facades from that angle.

Best regards

Hi Miguel,

Thank you for pointing out something which looks "invisible": the steel round pieces. This only proves that the pavement (as new as it might be) was a bad choice: it still looks like a car road and that's why pedestrians keep walking on the sides!

The psychological aspect is very important for urban safety, specially in shared spaces. Pedestrians should feel safe, walking and crossing everywhere, on a "noble material" pavement, while cars, trams, etc (all motor vehicles) should feels unsafe, therefore driving slowly and carefully to respect pedestrians and bicycles.

I agree that shops are not the only interesting things to watch of course, but in order to walk in the middle and look at facades, take photos, etc, pedestrians should not feel afraid of traffic.

Besides, I see very few trees and urban furniture pieces along the avenue, so its design is still a long axis of traffic, rather than a long shared space whose logic should be of mingling together all flows (people, bicycles, wheelchairs, baby cars, skates, rollerskates, trams, cars, delivery trucks).

Thanks for the contribution and discussion!

Antonio

Concha,

That's an interesting issue but I wouldn't put it that way. In Portugal we have the same cultural issues, so to speak. But we also have examples (some of them very ancient) of shared spaces long before the "technical designation" was coined by Moderman in 1982. In fact, I think we can say that many historical centers are "shared spaces" by nature. Both in Portugal and Spain there are beautifully stone paved streets and squares with commercial spaces around them that pedestrians and cars share, without conflict because: pavement, dimensions, shape, functions, they all convey to the users the message that these spaces are not car traffic streets, but urban civilized spaces for everyone to use and share.

I believe the big challenge is to create new urban spaces, incorporating these "natural" qualities and yet giving them the image and atmosphere of a contemporary urban space. That's what interests me the most in terms of Urban Design research.

When talk about urban shared space, a few interesting examples came out from my mind, and they are sure reflecting the uniqueness of Malaysia - the temporality of space. Some spaces (i.e. parking lot, road side) which are designed for one purpose, may at the end be turned into other uses (i.e. hawker stall, space for festival celebration). You may find some case studies as follow:

• Petaling Street - A road that turned into a market street
• Jalan Alor - A road that turned into a hawker street at night time
• Bukit Bintang - A road tuned into a night market

Hi Antonio,

I studied the Seven Dials intersection in London and found it quite successful as a shared space. It is a very particular morphology however, with sharp corners, where cars are forced to slow down. The pavement has also a key role.

See also: Hamilton-Baillie, B. (2008) 'Shared Space: Reconciling People, Places and Traffic', Built Environment, 32(2), 161-181.

https://vimeo.com/85338033

Hi Elek,

Thanks a lot for your contribution! Your time-lapse video is very interesting and useful.

I agree, pavement is always a key feature (and Seven Dials Intersection is not even one of the best examples). Thanks for the suggestion also!