{"title":"Turning Urban Streets from Infrastructures into Living Places Early Research Outcomes of a Case Study in Prato, Tuscany","authors":"G. Paolinelli, Lorenza Fortuna","doi":"10.21625/essd.v7i1.862","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In the second half of the twentieth century urban landscapes were affected by heavy infrastructural development. With regard to streets, managing the growing fluidity and speed of motor vehicle flows has been a priority for most designers. Nowadays there are multiple driving forces behind a transition that could accommodate different uses within the streets, primarily the cultural, social and economic exchanges that streets faciliated in the past but that have been lost over time. In the spreading practice called “shared street” most signage and traffic lights can be removed to permit the self-regulated and spontaneous circulation of all users and vehicles. This paradigm is discussed with regard to its potential to strengthen urban landscape identity, ensuring accessibility, redefining uses and practices within the street, reducing injuries and misbehaviour, and offering real and perceived safety to all users. “Back to the street” is an ongoing design research project dealing with integration strategies for different kinds of urban streetscapes. Which design features are necessary to encourage a change in attitude, speed and hierarchy for street users? How can these features positively affect urban landscapes in general and the liveability of streets first and foremost? The research attempts to answer these questions by considering street design as a means of triggering the effective enhancement of urban public spaces. The paper is based on the case study of Via San Paolo in Prato (Tuscany) and presents a set of quality requirements for street design such as plant integration, water drainage, and comfortable paths for both cyclists and pedestrians. As the design for separate flows cannot fulfill all the quality features in Via San Paolo, mostly due to its varying width, it is assumed that the “shared street” can replace it in order to enhance community life within the streets while promoting local sustainable mobility. The research examines two options: sharing the street in narrow stretches or along its whole length. A preliminary comparison is proposed to discuss the earlier research outcomes.","PeriodicalId":178568,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Environmental Science & Sustainable Development","volume":"757 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Environmental Science & Sustainable Development","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.21625/essd.v7i1.862","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the second half of the twentieth century urban landscapes were affected by heavy infrastructural development. With regard to streets, managing the growing fluidity and speed of motor vehicle flows has been a priority for most designers. Nowadays there are multiple driving forces behind a transition that could accommodate different uses within the streets, primarily the cultural, social and economic exchanges that streets faciliated in the past but that have been lost over time. In the spreading practice called “shared street” most signage and traffic lights can be removed to permit the self-regulated and spontaneous circulation of all users and vehicles. This paradigm is discussed with regard to its potential to strengthen urban landscape identity, ensuring accessibility, redefining uses and practices within the street, reducing injuries and misbehaviour, and offering real and perceived safety to all users. “Back to the street” is an ongoing design research project dealing with integration strategies for different kinds of urban streetscapes. Which design features are necessary to encourage a change in attitude, speed and hierarchy for street users? How can these features positively affect urban landscapes in general and the liveability of streets first and foremost? The research attempts to answer these questions by considering street design as a means of triggering the effective enhancement of urban public spaces. The paper is based on the case study of Via San Paolo in Prato (Tuscany) and presents a set of quality requirements for street design such as plant integration, water drainage, and comfortable paths for both cyclists and pedestrians. As the design for separate flows cannot fulfill all the quality features in Via San Paolo, mostly due to its varying width, it is assumed that the “shared street” can replace it in order to enhance community life within the streets while promoting local sustainable mobility. The research examines two options: sharing the street in narrow stretches or along its whole length. A preliminary comparison is proposed to discuss the earlier research outcomes.
20世纪下半叶,城市景观受到基础设施建设的严重影响。关于街道,管理日益增长的流动性和机动车流量的速度一直是大多数设计师的首要任务。如今,在这种转变背后有多种驱动力,可以在街道内容纳不同的用途,主要是街道在过去促进的文化、社会和经济交流,但随着时间的推移,这些交流已经消失了。在被称为“共享街道”的传播实践中,大多数标志和交通信号灯可以被移除,以允许所有用户和车辆自我调节和自发流通。讨论了这种模式在加强城市景观特征、确保可达性、重新定义街道内的用途和实践、减少伤害和不当行为以及为所有用户提供真实和感知的安全方面的潜力。“回归街道”是一个正在进行的设计研究项目,涉及不同类型城市街道景观的整合策略。哪些设计特征是必要的,可以鼓励街道使用者改变态度、速度和等级?这些特征如何对城市景观和街道的宜居性产生积极影响?本研究试图通过将街道设计视为触发城市公共空间有效增强的一种手段来回答这些问题。本文以托斯卡纳市普拉托的圣保罗大道为例,提出了一系列街道设计的质量要求,如植物整合、排水系统、自行车和行人的舒适路径。由于分隔流的设计无法满足Via San Paolo的所有质量特征,主要是由于其宽度的变化,因此假设“共享街道”可以取代它,以增强街道内的社区生活,同时促进当地的可持续流动性。该研究考察了两种选择:在狭窄的路段共享街道或沿着整条街道共享街道。本文提出了一个初步的比较来讨论早期的研究成果。