Abstract Manager

Shared streets; wide, open spaces supporting different use cases, this is how we envision our public spaces, once we give more room to active transportation – especially pedestrians – clawed back from motordom.

However, designers are somewhat overwhelmed when it comes to designing this newfound space. Who should be design for? How do we design? Not all pedestrians have the same abilities, not all use cases require the same urban design, and not all users looking at universally accessible spaces have the same requirements and needs. Similarly to faster moving users (motorized or self-powered), designers have to identify different types of pedestrians, establish needs, requirements and design criteria, and try to find common ground or – if that is not possible – establish a way to identify priorities.

Especially vulnerable users have special needs. Sometimes, those needs are contradictory: mobility impaired users versus visibility impaired users, for example). Considering those needs and their contradictions has a profound impact on the entire design process, from the beginning to the implementation on-site.

The presentation will introduce the different users and their needs. The presentation will then move on to explain how those needs can be mutually exclusive (or inclusive) and will evaluation the impact on the design process.
Based on real-world examples – both projects and design guidance - the presentation will show the impact on the final design of a shared space on the different types of pedestrians. The examples will showcase the differing requirements, the trade-offs required, the contradictory nature of some of the major requirements, and how priorities could be established and assessed.