Road safety benefits of placemaking activities in South Australia

Abstract

lacemaking is an urban design practice that provides a focus on place attributes for more inclusive use by 'people' rather than motor vehicles and where the central focus is 'place' (for people) rather than 'movement' (of traffic). Placemaking activities include simple interventions such as artworks on roads, as well as larger scale projects such as the creation of shared spaces and redesign of road space that supports asset renewal or economic development. The use of placemaking as a tool or catalyst for improving road safety is appealing, and psychologically managing driver behaviour through manipulation of environmental features has great value when those manipulations create a more people-friendly environment. While the mechanisms through which placemaking activities positively impact road safety are not fully understood, it is highly likely that the benefits are mainly realised through reductions of vehicle volumes and vehicle speeds. Additionally, placemaking that is more disruptive and/or reclaims larger portions of public space (i.e., roads) for people rather than traffic will result in increased road safety benefits.