Concepts for improving walkability in the built up area

New Zealand Transport Agency in 2009 announced a summary of 4 concepts for improving the pe-destrian environment: These were named as living streets, pepe-destrian precincts, shared zones and shar-ing the main street. The next section briefly describes the mentioned concepts so as to understand the different ways and methods for enhancing pedestrian friendly urban environments:

Living streets

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency (2009) ‘Living streets’ are streets designed to ac-commodate a range of transportation options (i.e. driving, walking, bicycling, and transit‐and empha-size moving people, not just cars). They are active public spaces that serve the needs of all community residents, irrespective of age, income, or disability. The concept of ‘living streets’ recognizes that, as a priority, streets should be designed with living and community interaction. The New Zealand Transport Agency points out that the living streets need to be designed in such a way that drivers are aware that they are in an area where pedestrians and other street users are important; and thus cars are not excluded from the street. A living street aims to balance the needs of residents, businesses, pedes-trians and cyclists with cars. To achieve the living streets in place, the following design aspects are highly recommended: Traffic-calming measures, hard and soft landscaping areas; places for social activities, children’s play areas, seating, lighting improvements, public art, a better interface between street & housing (ibid).

The living streets are characterised by the presence of streetscapes (i.e. the area between the building and the street is attractive and inviting to pedestrians), wide designed sidewalks, crosswalks and where appropriate, include segregated bike lanes, street parking and transit lanes. Furthermore, pedes-trians are separated from moving traffic by planning strips or on-street parking. Street lights and signs are sized and placed for pedestrians and not cars. There are plazas, fountains, and other outdoor public spaces where people can congregate. Generally, the living streets support compact and mixed-use de-velopment, which often combines residential, office, retail, and other compatible activities (ibid).

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency (2009) the living streets concept can be applied in theory to imply any road (new or existing roads). There is no one solution; instead, the community is involved in identifying problems for which specific solutions are developed. This means that the liv-ing streets concept is particularly worth considerliv-ing for all new roads where good design costs little, and for existing roads that require reconstruction or major alterations for other reasons. The concept is most useful for roads without a predominant through traffic function, but can be applied in part to a minor arterial road (ibid).

If fully implemented, on one hand, the living street concept can improve safety and security for pedes-trians, enhances economic vitality, promotes quality housing, supports community networks, creates a sense of place and identity, promotes cultural activities, creates a sustainable environment, maintains ease of access, creates an aesthetically pleasing environment and it also improves social interaction.

Not only that, but also because they are public spaces and public investments, livable streets add value to adjacent properties, maximize public investment and benefit, and provide places like shops, parks, and plazas for people to congregate (ibid). On the other hand, the living streets concept can delay the motorised traffic and be costly. However, the positive advantages of the concept surpass the disad-vantage side.

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Pedestrian precincts refer to pedestrian-only streets that are created by restricting traffic access or closing roads to traffic (New Zealand Transport Agency, 2009). According to the New Zealand Agen-cy, there are four types of pedestrian precinct: These are namely:

- Modified street precinct: where one block is closed for pedestrian-only use.

- Plaza: whereby several blocks are closed, but the cross-streets stay open to all traffic:

- Continuous precinct: several blocks and the cross-streets are closed and

- Displaced precincts: Walkways are developed away from the usual roadside footpaths, mak-ing use of lanes and alleys (ibid).

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency, pedestrian precincts concepts can be adopted in streets characterised by heavy pedestrian activity, retail or mixed development and a high number of pedestrian/vehicle conflicts. While implementing the aspect of pedestrian precincts, motorised traffic can be accommodated elsewhere, access for emergency services must be maintained at all times. De-livery vehicles can be allowed access during the early morning or evening, or be prohibited complete-ly as long as servicing arrangements can be maintained. Public transport may also be permitted as long as vehicles operate slowly within a narrow corridor, although pedestrians may not favour this.

The cyclists can usually be permitted as guests in a pedestrian space. Extra parking areas may be needed to replace on-street spaces lost (ibid).

If implemented, on one hand, pedestrian precincts concepts may create the best possible conditions for pedestrian freedom of movement and road safety (ibid). Nevertheless, the pedestrian precincts can create not only aesthetic and social benefits but also can reduce pedestrian congestion, improve access to retail opportunities, can improve air quality and noise levels and have economic benefits in shop-ping areas. Putting pedestrians first in shopshop-ping areas can improve retail performance and competi-tiveness. on the other hand, the New Zealand Transport Agency (2009) claims that pedestrian pre-cincts may result to inconvenience traffic movement; be difficult to sell to retailers despite their prov-en bprov-enefits; involve diverting bus routes, which can result in longer travel times; passprov-engers may also be required to walk further to bus stops; involve closing routes to cyclists; become deserted during the evenings (this can be overcome with closures during set times, e.g. during daylight only); reduce on-street parking spaces, so convenience parking provision may be needed (ibid).

Shared space

The Department for Transport UK (2011: 6) defines a shared space as: “A Street or place designed to improve pedestrian movement and comfort by reducing the dominance of motor vehicles and enabling all users to share the space rather than follow the clearly defined rules implied by more conventional designs”.

A shared zone is a residential or retail street that has been designed to give priority to residents and pedestrians while significantly reducing the dominance of motorised vehicles. In the United Kingdom, shared zones are called “home zones” and in The Netherlands they are referred to as a "Woonerf". A woonerf is often of a higher quality and more expensive than a home zone (the New Zealand Transport Agency, 2009). “shared space” is a novel approach to street design which minimizes de-marcations between vehicles and pedestrians (the New Zealand Transport Agency, 2009). The shared space is a European project and a part of the IIIB North Sea program. The

objective of the

project is to develop new policies and ideas in the approach of the planning of integrated multipurpose zones in which man and his environment are prominent. This philosophy is based on seven pilot projects which have been implemented in the most developed European countries like the Netherlands, Bel-gium, France, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Great Britain. In the vision of "Shared Space" it is necessary to create more space for human beings, for the benefit of individuals and the survival of our democratic constitution.

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According to the New Zealand Transport Agency (2009), in a shared zone/space, motorised vehicles, including removal vans, refuse and service vehicles, still have access, but must give way to pedestri-ans; and conversely pedestrians should not hinder vehicles. The route is physically constrained for vehicles by landscaping, structures and tight turning radii, with no delineation between the footpath and roadway. This slows vehicles to very low speeds. The only requirement is that within the zone there is the rule of speed, and that pedestrians and vehicles operate in harmony, respecting each oth-er and without disturbing each othoth-er (the New Zealand Transport Agency, 2009).

The shared zones are most suitable for streets and compact areas with a low demand for through traf-fic movement. Their maximum size is restricted by the need to maintain response times for emergen-cy services and to limit the extent of roadway that must be negotiated at low speeds by motorists ac-cessing their properties. Parking places should be designated. Success requires full and active com-munity participation and consensus. The treatment is more costly to fit to existing roads than to new developments (ibid).

If well implemented, the result is an ‘environment of care’ where motorised traffic has a specific rea-son for travelling through the street. This concept reduces the number of vehicles and that means the drivers of the remaining vehicles take care of. Environmental conditions and road safety also improve to the benefit of residents and shoppers, and streets become open spaces for walking, sitting, playing and talking. The shared zones can enhance environmental conditions through better air quality, lower noise levels and visual amenity from landscaping; shared zones have fewer crashes and less severely injured casualties; improve social interaction and provide a greater sense of community when streets are used for walking, playing and talking and improve security from increased natural surveillance.

On the other hand, shared zones may be expensive to create as existing roads need to be converted;

may push traffic to adjacent roads and can cost more to maintain (the New Zealand Transport Agency, 2009).

Sharing the main street

‘Sharing the main street’ means adapting the main street - or a centre along a sub-arterial road - to improve the safety and the quality of the road environment to all its users (the New Zealand Transport Agency, 2009). It is argued that the main streets of rural towns, and minor arterial roads in cities that are straddled by strips of retail, commercial and community activities, have conflicting traffic and pe-destrian needs that need to be managed. Pepe-destrian crashes cluster at such locations. The traffic func-tion is impeded by the activities along the frontage – particularly in areas where there are high levels of parking turnover or many parking manoeuvres, turning movements and crossing pedestrians. The activities along the frontage suffer from the impact of traffic noise and air pollution, access to sites and difficulties for pedestrians who want to cross. People using these areas have a range of needs in-cluding the following:

- Pedestrians need to be able to cross safely and conveniently;

- Visitors need to be able to park;

- Motorists and cyclists need to be able to move safely through the centre;

- Businesses need to attract customers;

- Transport operators need space for loading and unloading;

- People with impairments need to be able to use the area safely and comfortably;

- The community needs an attractive and safe centre to visit and to meet; and

- Public authorities need to keep costs down (the New Zealand Transport Agency, 2009)

Adaptation to the

main streets is recommended for strip shopping centres alongside the existing roads. With respect to pedestrian safety they represent better value for money than residential area traffic calming. Implementing this concept, on one hand, it can reduce conflict between pedestrians,

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cyclists and vehicles; can increase the safety of all road users, can improve the quality of the road, environment for all users, and maintain/enhance the economic performance of the commercial func-tions along the frontage. On the other hand, the concept has some disadvantage as it may be expensive to create as existing roads need to be converted and create modest delays to traffic when it is slowed through the area (ibid).

In document Walkability in rapidly growing cities in developing countries (Page 63-66)