Liveable streets and social inclusion

Abstract

This article discusses how street design and traffic affect social relations in urban neighbourhoods. Three street types in the city of Basel, Switzerland were studied: a 50 km/h street, a 30 km/h street and three encounter zones (20 km/h and pedestrian priority, also known as woonerven or home zones). The effects were measured in terms of neighbourhood interactions, use of public space and the personal feelings of belonging of residents. The study, standing in the tradition of Donald Appleyard's liveable street research in the early 1970s, was carried out in the framework programme 'Social Inclusion and Social Exclusion' financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation and by the Swiss Federal Office of Sports. The results show that urban neighbourhoods are (still) very lively social places, despite their often lamented anonymity and individualisation. Streets with slow moving traffic, limited space for parking and good environmental qualities offer a large potential for personal development, contentment and social integration. Neighbourhood contacts in such streets are more frequent and more intensive and the separation effects are substantially smaller. Liveable streets in urban neighbourhoods can be great places for public life and social inclusion.

An Investigation of Physical Attributes Relevant to the Informal Street Hawking in the Urban Spaces of Dhaka City

“…This is reflected by the insufficiency width of the footpath, inadequate street shelters and canopies and inappropriate paving and flooring, as can be seen in figure 2, are deteriorating the quality of the spaces. The findings of this research supports the results of previous studies, especially the 'Livable Streets'; which revealed the effects of movement on deterioration of streets" livability (Appleyard, 1981), findings on Switzerland"s streetscapes (Sauter, 2008) or the study about the physical features on the walkability of an area by (Forsyth, 2008).…”

Active and Public Transportation Connectivity between North Temple TOD and Jordan Park River Trail

“…General tools that planners deem to be most useful to encourage active transportation may not necessarily be what is needed in every neighborhood. It is important to consider culture, social contexts, spatial attributes and the built environment together to see how they affect travel behavior (Sauter and Huettenmoser 2008). Thus, the objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of built environment factors, connections between the Jordan River Parkway Trail and the North Temple corridor in particular, in offering quality of life to a low income neighborhood and encouraging active and public transportation.…”

Flats Outdoor Space as a Vital Social Place

“…Table 2 illustrates the different uses of the near home spaces. Activities in public spaces, such as lingering, chatting, sitting, watching and playing (Sauter & Huettenmoser, 2008), were found to be as common in low cost residential area. Of the total observed events, social activity constitutes 41.89% followed by domestic activity (36.04%) and retreat activity (20.72%).…”

“…B. Brown & Werner, 1985;Sauter & Huettenmoser, 2008). Presence of functional spaces complementing the dwelling units, such as interactional and communal spaces, and other related social facilities (Huang, 2006;Kang, 2006;Sirgy & Cornwell, 2002) impacts the residents' quality of life (Sirgy & Cornwell, 2002;Sugiyama & Thompson, 2005).…”