Taking the lid off transport planning

Last night I gave a short talk to the Urban Design Institute of South Africa and I motivated for a process to move us towards a new design manual for roads and streets in South Africa. It's time to move past the divisions of the past; the process should be one which brings together designers and engineers in a mutually respectful way.

I also suggested that if designers are to be heard by engineers then they need to be more convincing in their arguments, appealing to the language of engineers (which is dominated by talk of efficiency, safety and the economy). Designers - consider this a strategy for effective projects rather than selling your soul!

So here are some progressive Manuals to help us get started with the task of finding a shared language:

Dutch: Recommendations for Traffic Provisions in Built-up Areas

British: UK Manual for Streets


The Americans have also been waking up to this theme, under the name of Context-Sensitive Solutions

I have a few ideas on this blog which also give ideas for bridging the language gap, see the tag 'street design', and there are links to follow also.

Enjoy.