6th May 2009
NDA annual Conference
SEMINAR: "Shared Spaces"
25 Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
10:00am - 6th May 2009
1:00pm - 6th May 2009
Rob Imrie, Professor of Geography at King’s College London, explored the issues and benefits in making Shared Spaces Universally Designed, that is, designed to be used by the widest range of people possible, regardless of age, disability or size. Traffic congestion and safety as well as economic and social vitality can be effectively tackled in streets and other public spaces if they are designed and managed to allow traffic to be fully integrated with other human activity, not separated from it. Shared space is a streets planning concept that promotes the reduction of barriers between pedestrians and vehicles, and the elimination of traffic signs and signals.
Traffic congestion and safety as well as economic and social vitality can be effectively tackled in streets and other public spaces if they are designed and managed to allow traffic to be fully integrated with other human activity, not separated from it. Shared space is a streets planning concept that promotes the reduction of barriers between pedestrians and vehicles, and the elimination of traffic signs and signals.This seminar targeted Disability and Ageing user organisations and others involved in the design, development, implementation and maintenance of Shared Spaces such as by Engineers, Architects, Landscape Architects Designers and Planners involved in Urban Design.
Please contact us directly if you require any of the presentation is an alternate format.
Biography
Rob Imrie is Professor of Geography at King’s College London. His main research interests are urban governance and community development in cities, the impact and implications of urban policy in British and international cities, the geographies of disability and the built environment, and urban design and the codification and regulation of architecture.
He has authored a range of articles and books in these areas, the latter including Disability and the City (1996, Paul Chapman), Inclusive Design (with P. Hall, 2001, Spon Press), Accessible Housing (2006, Routledge), and Regenerating London: governance, sustainability and community in a global city (with L. Lees and M.Raco, 2009, Routledge).
Rob is a former member of: the UK’s Department of Communities and Local Government's (DCLG) Working Party advising on changes to Part M of the Building Regulations; the DCLG's Housing Research Network, with responsibility to develop links between housing research and policy; and the Lifetime Homes Group, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Event details
10:00 Morning session registration – Tea and Coffee served
10:30 Opening Address - Dr. Ger Craddock, Chief Officer of Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, CEUD.
10:35 Shared Space presentation – Professor Rob Imrie, Dept. Of Geography, Kings College, London
11:15 Human Diversity in a Shared Space concept: Universal Design process as a way forward?– Neil Murphy, Built Environment Advisor, CEUD
11:35 Making sense of Shared Space – Lean Kennedy, Access & Education Officer, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
12:00 Shared Space Group Discussion
13:00 Morning session close
