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This is the 9th episode of a series 25 building blocks to create better streets, neighbourhoods, and cities. Casualties in traffic are main threats to the quality of the living environment. ‘Vision zero’ might change this.
Any human activity that annually causes 1.35 million deaths worldwide, more than 20 million serious injuries, damage of $1,600 billion and is a major cause of global warming would be banned immediately. Except for the use of the car. This post describes how changes in road design will improve safety.

The more public transport, the safer the traffic

Researchers from various universities in the US, Australia and Europe have studied the relationship between road pattern, other infrastructure features and road safety or its lack. They compared the road pattern in nearly 1,700 cities around the world with data on the number of accidents, injuries, and fatalities. Lead researcher Jason Thompsonconcluded: <em>It is quite clear that places with more public transport, especially rail, have fewer accidents</em>. Therefore, on roads too public transport must prioritized.

The growing risk of pedestrians and cyclists

Most accidents occur in developing and emerging countries. Road deaths in developed countries are declining. In the US from 55,000 in 1970 to 40,000 in 2017. The main reason is that cars always better protect their passengers. This decrease in fatalities does not apply to collisions between cars and pedestrians and cyclists, many of which are children. Their numbers are increasing significantly, in the US more than in any other developed country. In this country, the number of bicycle lanes has increased, but adjustments to the layout of the rest of the roads and to the speed of motorized traffic have lagged, exposing cyclists to the proximity of speeding or parking cars. SUVs appear to be 'killers'and their number is growing rapidly.

Safe cycling routes

In many American cities, paint is the primary material for the construction of bike lanes. Due to the proximity of car traffic, this type of cycle routes contributes to the increasing number of road deaths rather than increasing safety. The Canadian city of Vancouver, which doubled the number of bicycle lanes in five years to 11.9% of all downtown streets, has the ambition to upgrade 100% of its cycling infrastructure to an AAA level, which means safe and comfortable for all ages and abilities. Cycle paths must technically safe: at least 3 meters wide for two-way traffic; separated from other traffic, which would otherwise have to reduce speed to less than 30 km/h).  In addition, users also need to feel safe.

Street design

Vision Zero Cities such as Oslo and Helsinki are committed to reducing road fatalities to zero over the next ten years. They are successful already now: There were no fatalities in either city in 2019. These and other cities use the Vision Zero Street Design Standard, a guide to planning, designing, and building streets that save lives.
Accidents are often the result of fast driving but are facilized by roads that allow and encourage fast driving. Therefore, a Vision Zero design meets three conditions:
• Discouraging speed through design.
• Stimulating walking, cycling and use of public transport.
• Ensure accessibility for all, regardless of age and physical ability (AAA).
The image above shows a street that meets these requirements. Here is an explanation of the numbers: (1) accessible sidewalks, (2) opportunity to rest, (3) protected cycle routes, (4) single lane roads, (5) lanes between road halves, (6) wide sidewalks, (7) public transport facilities, (8) protected pedestrian crossings, (9) loading and unloading bays, (10) adaptive traffic lights.

Enforcement

Strict rules regarding speed limits require compliance and law enforcement and neither are obvious. The Netherlands is a forerunner with respect to the infrastructure for bikes and pedestrians, but with respect to enforcement the country is negligent: on average, a driver of a passenger car is fined once every 20,000 kilometers for a speeding offense (2017 data). In addition, drivers use apps that warn of approaching speed traps. Given the risks of speeding and the frequency with which it happens, this remissing law enforcement approach is unacceptable.
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Werk jij aan één of meerdere initiatieven of ondernemingen die bijdragen aan een Amsterdam met voor iedereen een eerlijke, sociale basis maar binnen veilige ecologische grenzen. Dat noemen wij een 'Donut Pionier': iemand die de Donut Economie in regio Amsterdam een stapje dichterbij brengt.

Om deze transitie naar een circulaire economie te versnellen willen we het belang en de impact laten zien van initiatieven, belangrijke drempels wegnemen en zoeken naar praktische oplossingen om initiatieven te laten groeien. Daarvoor hebben we jouw kennis en ervaring nodig.

Hieronder leggen we meer uit over dit onderzoek, de resultaten, wat je hieraan hebt en de tijdlijn. Wil je meteen de vragenlijst invullen? Deze vind je hier:

[https://forms.office.com/e/ittiJyHtmw](https://forms.office.com/e/ittiJyHtmw "https://forms.office.com/e/ittiJyHtmw") De deadline hiervoor is 4 september.

Dit onderzoek
Je bent bij het werken aan jouw initiatief of onderneming vast uitdagingen tegengekomen. Denk daarbij bijvoorbeeld aan regelgeving die niet lijkt aan te sluiten bij je initiatief. Maar ook aan andere drempels die groei van jouw initiatief in de weg staan zoals ruimte, financiering, mensen, middelen, capaciteit, kennis of vooroordelen. Misschien heb je ook geleerd over oplossingen die daarbij werkten, of juist niet. Ten slotte zijn we nieuwsgierig naar de impact die je maakt. Deze vragen staan centraal in dit onderzoek. We richten ons op de succesvolle initiatieven, maar ook op die initiatieven die de drempels en problemen niet hebben kunnen overwinnen en uiteindelijk niet succesvol waren. Van beide valt veel te leren.

De resultaten
Op basis van dit onderzoek kunnen we de grootste uitdagingen agenderen en de beste oplossingen ontwikkelen of delen. Daarvoor analyseren we de reacties op deze vragen in september, met een aantal experts. We delen relevante inzichten met andere Donut Pioniers, maar vertalen het ook door naar beleidsmakers, het onderwijs en de arbeidsmarkt. Daarvoor werken we samen met onder meer de gemeente Amsterdam, Kennisland, Olympia, de HvA en de UvA. Ook werken we aan een Europees vervolg van dit onderzoek waarin verschillende steden worden vergeleken, om lessen te delen en samen te werken aan oplossingen.

What’s in it for you?
We realiseren ons dat je tijd beperkt is. Daarom proberen we je zoveel mogelijk terug te geven.
- De uitdagingen en oplossingen van andere pioniers delen we, met hun goedkeuring, ook met jou. Hopelijk helpt dit je om je doelen te halen.
- Je verhaal kan als voorbeeld worden opgenomen in publicaties in het kader van de 750 verjaardag van Amsterdam, of het internationale onderzoek. Dit ter lering en inspiratie voor iedereen die een stap wil zetten in het maken van positieve impact.
- We agenderen belangrijke concrete drempels bij de relevante partijen zoals de gemeente en werken met hen aan gerichte oplossingen. En daar betrekken we jou bij, als je interesse hebt.

Het vinden van de belangrijkste uitdagingen is één. Het belangrijkste is dat we hiervoor gerichte oplossingen ontwikkelen en de transitie naar een circulaire economie kunnen versnellen.  

De tijdlijn
- 4 september - Deadline voor de vragenlijst. 
- Eind september - We analyseren de resultaten in een workshop, oa. met Donut Pioniers. In de vragenlijst kun je je hiervoor opgeven.
- 13 november - We presenteren de resultaten op de Donut Dag.

Het invullen van deze vragenlijst kost 15 a 20 minuten. Het zou geweldig zijn als je hier wat tijd voor vrij wilt maken. 

De vragenlijst vind je hier: [https://forms.office.com/e/ittiJyHtmw](https://forms.office.com/e/ittiJyHtmw "https://forms.office.com/e/ittiJyHtmw")

Alvast heel erg bedankt voor je tijd.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Namens het Leren & Integreren team
Rosa Tibosch

This article is part of the series 25 building blocks to create better streets, neighbourhoods, and cities. Read how design, starting from street-level view contributes to the quality of the urban environment.

Plinths express the nature of activities inside

The visual quality, design and decoration of the plinth, the 'ground floor' of a building, contributes significantly to the quality of the streetscape and to the (commercial) success of the activities that take place at plinth level. This also applies, for example, if the activities of a workshop can be observed through the windows. Blank walls speed up visitors' pace, unless this wall has attractive art. Vacancy is disastrous.
A plinth displays the destination of a building or a part of it (photo bottom left). Fashion stores and suppliers of delicacies depend on its ability to attract buyers. There is nothing against allowing the plinth to expand slightly onto the street - think of beautiful displays of fresh vegetables - if a sufficiently wide barrier-free pedestrian route is maintained.
The total length of streets that must generate customers and visitors must not be too long in order to keeps vacancy to a minimum. This may mean that still profitable shops in streets where the number of vacancies is increasing must consider moving if revitalization of the street is infeasible. The space left behind can best be revamped into space for housing or offices to prevent further dilapidation.

Plinths of non-commercial destinations

The need for an attractive plinth also applies to non-commercial spaces. This may concern information centers, libraries, day care centers for children or the elderly, places where music groups rehearse, etcetera. Co-housing and co-working centers might also concentrate several activities in a semi-public print. In an apartment building, you might like to see an attractive portal through the glass, with stairs and elevators and a sitting area.

Residential plinths

Houses in the more central parts of the city can also have an attractive plinth. In practice, this happens often by placing plants and creating a seat on the sidewalk. The so-called Delft plinths are narrow, sometimes slightly raised additional sidewalks for plants, a bench, or stalling bicycles (photo bottom middle). The worst is if the plinth of a private house is mainly the garage door.

The aesthetics of the plinth

In many pre-war high streets, the plinth was designed as an integral part of the building. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, many retailers modernized their businesses and demolished entire ground floors. The walls of the upper floor, sometimes of several buildings at the same time, rested on a heavy steel beam and the new plinth was mainly made of glass (photo top left). Often a door to reach the upper floors is missing, complicating the premises’ residential function. Initially, these new fronts increased the attractivity of the ground floor. However, the effect on the streetscape has turned out to be negative. In Heerlen, artist and 'would be' urban planner Michel Huisman (the man behind the Maankwartier) is busy restoring old shopfronts together with volunteers and with the support of the municipality (photos top right). In Amsterdam, shopfronts are also being restored to their original appearance (photo bottom right).

Plinths policy

The sky is the limit for improving plinths, as can be seen in the book Street-Level Architecture, The Past, Present and Future of Interactive Frontages by Conrad Kicker and the *Superplinten Handbook</em> , commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam.
In 2020, a plinth policy was introduced in the Strijp-S district in Eindhoven from a social-economic background. 20% of the available plinths is destined for starters, pioneers and 'placemakers'.  Continuous coordination with the target group is important here. In The Hague, 100 former inner-city shops have now been transformed into workplaces for young and creative companies. Differentiating rents is part of the plinth policy too.
 
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