Risk and Urban Design (5-29-07)
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) encourages urban planners to incorporate reasonable levels of risk into public spaces, by making users risk-aware.
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) encourages urban planners to incorporate reasonable levels of risk into public spaces, by making users risk-aware.
Proulx has completed a noteworthy study of occupant responses to building-related emergencies in high-rise office buildings, such as fires in the structures.
Although traffic-calming strategies have been utilized in urban areas, they have not been frequently used in rural areas. Two studies examine interventions to slow cars and increase traffic safety.
Both Talen and Craw et al. recently have completed research related to the design of optimal urban spaces. While Craw and her colleagues have investigated issues related to the graffiti afflicting many areas, Talen has looked more holistically at developing measures for well-designed urban spaces.
Three articles on how certain aspects of the environment affect people’s perception of danger add to our knowledge about how to make places safer.
New research on pedestrian dynamics offers insight to designers who need to design facilities and spaces for the possibility of quick evacuations.
Some traffic warning signs are not effective. Two recent journal articles profile signage that does not produce the desired behaviors by drivers.
Individuals talking on cell phones are not as aware of information being presented in the area they are passing through as individuals who are not talking on cell phones.
Measures to protect pedestrian safety sometimes seem counter-intuitive. What interventions are effective, and what can we do to reconcile the difference between what is safer, and what we think is safer? Originally published in Issue 3, 2004.
Designing streets for pedestrians requires consideration of a basic concern—safety. Yet, many safety installations, such as raised islands, installed sidewalks, and pedestrian overpasses can be expensive to design and install. Can lower-cost interventions be effective?