Last week we saw the opening of the Darby Street shared space in Auckland’s city centre, the first of a number of excellent shared streets that are under construction at the moment. I really like the shared spaces concept – to take away the boundaries between what spaces are for cars and what spaces are for pedestrians, so that there’s a bit of uncertainty and interaction that goes on within the road-space. I also suspect that road engineers dislike them, because they go against just about every principle of road engineering ever thought up – and that makes me like shared spaces even more.
However, there have been a few worried thoughts that Aucklanders just might not ‘get it’, in the same way that drivers in Denmark and the Netherlands (the home of the idea) do. It is seen as a very ‘new’ idea, whereas actually if you think about it most of our streets used to be like shared spaces, a mixture of different activities and people before we started giving primacy to automotive traffic after the Second World War. An absolutely fascinating video – shot in San Francisco in 1905 – illustrates this point superbly, about how our streets used to function before we gave primacy to cars and before the road engineers started to dominate how we manage the main public space of our cities: the streets.
What I find truly fascinating in the video is how often there are “close shaves” of near collisions, how everyone seems so laid-back about pulling in front of other vehicles – whether they be cars, trams, horse-drawn carriages or whatever. But there are no collisions, everyone is careful and aware of their surroundings, people share the street with care – exactly what shared streets are aimed at achieving.
So really, our shared streets are not a new idea. They’re just a return to how streets traditionally operated for centuries before the car came to dominate our cities so much.
(Hat tip to Price Tags for the video).
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Snappy dressers too….
I think you are gilding that lily a bit much! First of all, if you watch the video carefully, it will be obvious that the same vehicle is weaving in front of the tram, to create an illusion of chaotic roads full of near-misses that never happen. This is because the camera crew paid them to do this, to keep the film interesting. Secondly, in 1905 San Francsco, nothing is moving that fast – certainly no courier vans hurtling along or bus drivers with frantic schedules to be met. Throw those into the imaginary mix of that video. Finally, my reading of social history informs me (anecdotally at least) that “falling in front of a tram” was a rather common way to die. I am sure people in 1905 were no less prey to distraction than we are now.
A better analogy to what would happen today if the rulkes and shared space of 1905 San Francisco were magically transported to 2011 would be to look at third world road death statistics – countries where this type of mayhem might still be regarded as acceptable from a safety viewpoint. In Vietnam, famous for it’s mad “shared spaces” road deaths are apparently if not the leading then one of the leading causes of death – over 12,000 per annum.
Yes everything is going fairly slowly along the street, which is what shared spaces are intended to do.
My point is not that we should create shared spaces on every street, but rather that it is not a new concept and nothing to be too afraid of.
I think Onehunga Mall between Arthur and Princess streets would be a great candidate for a shared space implementation.
Something similar was done in the 80s and nearly killed Onehunga dead, I believe. Or was it a full closure of the Mall? Anyone know?
Full closure I understand
I guess when people have to rely on their own wits to avoid hazard they are extra cautious and aware of whats around them. It is fascinating to see all the modes existing together without fuss.
unfortunately Onehunga does rely on its on-street parking at the moment. However once we have the CBD rail loop at double tracking to Onehunga with services every 15mins, then would be able to pedestrianise as the centre would then be strong enough to handle it.
Do need great PT for this to work in old-fashioned shopping streets like Onehunga.
The video also appears slightly slowed-down. Everything has an odd dreamlike quality.
That’s not to say that I disagree with admins main point – Kiwi’s aren’t some different species. Shared space DOESN’T operate on a learned, or culrural level so much as on a psychological level. And we are pretty much the same in all countries on that. Given cues that tell us to go fast, we go fast.
Given cues that the road is ours as a drive (like with side fencing keeping pedestrians away, high kerbs, wide lanes etc…) we expect somebody else do to the vigilant thing (“my light was green – I wasn’t too blame!” “Sure I hit him, but I was only going 45km/h, not my fault if he suddenly ended up on the road…”).
On the contrary, when shared space, and pedestrians everywhere, and lack of too straight, clear roads, tells us to slow down, we will. Not worried about Shared Space succeeding.
Sorry for the numerous spelling errors above!
Onehunga Mall currently has a bit too regimented separation between cars and pedestrians. Shared space, or something halfway towards it, might work well. Some of the streets nearby, such as Gerard Beeson Place, could be changed though, to provide more area for things like cafes and outside dining.