Shared Space - Philosophy

Philosophy

The goal of shared space is to improve the road safety and vitality of minor roads and junctions within the street hierarchy, particularly ones with high levels of pedestrian traffic by encouraging negotiation of shared areas between different road users. Shared space minimises demarcations between vehicles and pedestrians thereby, according to some authorities including the UK Government, reduces the dominance of motor vehicles and enable all users to share the space. In work done for the UK Department for Transport MVA (2010) explains that shared space is a "design approach rather than a design type characterised by standard features".

Hans Monderman suggests that an individuals' behaviour in traffic is more positively affected by the built environment of the public space than by conventional traffic control devices and regulations.

A reason for the apparent paradox that reduced regulation leads to safer roads may be found by studying the risk compensation effect.

• "Shared space is successful because the perception of risk may be a means or even a prerequisite for increasing objective safety. Because when a situation feels unsafe, people are more alert and there are fewer accidents."
• "We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behaviour...The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles." (Der Spiegel quotes Monderman)
• "When you don't exactly know who has right of way, you tend to seek eye contact with other road users. You automatically reduce your speed, you have contact with other people and you take greater care."
• "To understand how shared space works, it is important to move away from reliance on 'rights' and laws, and to recognize the potential for conventions and protocols ... Such conventions and protocols evolve rapidly and are very effective if the state does not intervene through regulation." (Shared Space Expert Team)

The introduction of such schemes have had positive effect on road safety, traffic volume, economic vitality, and community cohesion where a user's behaviour becomes influenced and controlled by natural human interactions rather than by artificial regulation.

This design method is however bitterly opposed by many organisations representing the blind, partially sighted and deaf. Some organisations note that some of their members avoid shared space areas entirely. See Criticism section below for more details.