Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Hans Monderman

Counter-Intuitive Department: Sometimes, Traffic Controls Make Streets More Dangerous

By Kea Wilson | Jan 23, 2023 | No Comments

Since the very first center line appeared on a Michigan road in 1911, many have questioned whether the design norms that govern U.S. roads really make them "safe", or simply less dangerous than the anarchic days of early motordom — though still nowhere near as safe as the days before the car dominated American roads at all. Here's why.

Shared Space: The Street Design NYC’s Financial District Was Made For

By Stephen Miller | Jul 3, 2014 | 39 Comments

For people in cars, the Financial District is a slow-speed maze. For everyone else, it is one of the city’s most transit-rich destinations. Despite this, most of the street space in the area is devoted to cars. The Financial District is an ideal candidate for pedestrianization, but while it has seen redesigns on a handful of streets, it […]

Impromptu Shared Space Calms Soho Intersection

By Ben Fried | Mar 5, 2009 | 6 Comments

Reader Tim Koelle sends this report of a busted traffic signal gone terribly right at the intersection of West Broadway and Grand yesterday morning: I watched for an hour while cars, trucks and pedestrians shared this space quietly… with civility! Little honking, no aggressive driving, no traffic cop. Why? Because the light was out. No […]

Hans Monderman: In Memoriam

By Aaron Naparstek | Jan 11, 2008 | No Comments

The following obituary was contributed by Ben Hamilton-Baillie, an urban designer based in Bristol, England. Hans Monderman, the pioneering Dutch traffic engineer, died on Monday 7th January near his home close to Drachten in Friesland, aged 63. As one of the most innovative and challenging of thinkers and practitioners in his field, he will […]

Hans Monderman, Engineer of Livable Streets, 1947-2008

By Aaron Naparstek | Jan 8, 2008 | 5 Comments

New Mobility Agenda‘s Eric Britton sends along sad news that Hans Monderman, the Dutch traffic engineer renowned for his innovative "shared space" plans emphasizing human interaction and negotiation over blind obedience to mechanical traffic control devices, died yesterday. He was a rare and radical traffic engineer who believed that the art and science of his […]

German Town Chooses Human Interaction Over Traffic Signals

By Aaron Naparstek | Sep 14, 2007 | 8 Comments

Driving (carefully) with Dutch "shared space" guru and traffic engineer Hans Monderman. While battles rage here in New York City over signs and markings and the segregation of the public right-of-way for different types of users, yet another Northern European town is ditching its traffic control devices altogether. Spiegel reports that as of September 12, […]