Colloquia

Summary

A prominent challenge in cities today is the relieving the pressure that motorised traffic exerts on the quality of life. Measures implemented to car-dependency of the urban environment are often politically sensitive and actions met with protest from local populations. Recognizing the need for a mobility transition, leading partners in urban development such as Heijmans are searching for tools to address car-independent development and mobilise support for the mobility transition amongst communities.

A Street Experiment is a tool for the mobility transition by temporarily transforming the use of streets from being car-centric to human-centric in a collaborative placemaking project with and by citizens. A Street Experiment prototypes an alternative design to promote car-independency for a street which can be used to test and share ideas for sustainable urban futures. While research proves Street Experiments to be successful tools to decrease car use in, there is a knowledge gap in how they affect support for car-independency. This thesis aims to gain insight to the effects of a Street Experiment on support for car-independent urban futures through the execution of a Street Experiment project as case-study in Schiedam (NL).

Car-independent measures have a politically sensitive history in Schiedam. A project was set up to redesign an intersection for improved sustainable mobility. Through a co-design approach, the “Participatory Utopian Sketching” method, for citizen participation goals for a redesign were established. A prototype design was made, implemented, and evaluated to try out an alternative layout on the intersection and determine its contribution to support for car-independent measures.

Results indicate the effect of the prototype to be limited in significantly improving the quality of space for sustainable mobility and increasing support for car-independent measures. However, the Street Experiment does prove to be an effective tool to initiate a conversation regarding car-independent measures and engage with communities about urban futures. As a tool, Street Experiments challenge the car-centric status-quo within a street and create a tangible reference point for stakeholders in discussion for transitioning towards sustainable urban futures.