Traffic-free routes or shared space: what’s best for pedestrians and cyclists?

Bristol was the venue for an absorbing debate this week between a leading advocate of separating pedestrians and cyclists from motorised traffic and a pioneer of shared space.

Should we separate pedestrians and cyclists from vehicular traffic or encourage them to mix? That was the question that attracted more than 100 people to a debate at the University of the West of England in Bristol this week. The debate pitted UWE academic Steve Melia, an advocate of separation, against Ben Hamilton-Baillie who coined the term ‘shared space’ in 2002 and, through his consultancy Hamilton-Baillie Associates, has since designed many such schemes across the country.

The...

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