Homezone
'A Home Zone is defined as a residential street where people and vehicles share the whole of the street space safely, and on equal terms, where quality of life takes precedence over the ease of traffic movement.'
'It is a concept that is new in UK, but present in Europe in various forms for more than thirty years. The layout of the street should emphasise this change of use, so that motorists perceive that they should give equal priority to others. The concept can be applied to either new housing areas or to existing streets of a more conventional nature. For an extensive new development or established area, its use would be limited to a small number of streets within the larger area.'
'The approach adopted in UK to create Home Zones has been to re-engineer the space around people’s homes so that they feel more able to undertake social and leisure activities within the overall street space. As well as addressing the traffic aspects, Home Zone schemes also develop a greater pride and responsibility in residents for the care and wellbeing of their surroundings. This has been achieved by the active involvement of residents in the design process.'
'The strength of community ownership developed through the inclusive participation process also encourages new residents to accept the ethos of the community. As the involvement of the community has been at the core of successful Home Zones, it has been perceived that these cannot be applied to new developments and can only be used to change and improve the streets around existing homes.'
Extract from The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation report Home Zone Residential Areas prepared by John Barrell at TRL.
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