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Oxford Circus: The future of urban cycling?

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Nov 03, 2009

Summary

I'd far rather be a part of the mainstream traffic than be shunted into a narrow, glass-strewn, leaf-slippy bike lane

If, like millions of others, you plan to join the Christmas shopping throngs at Oxford Circus in London in the coming weeks, you might notice something different – a completely redesigned junction where pedestrians can cross the perennially jammed intersection of Oxford and Regent Streets diagonally, as well as laterally.

A big part of this revamp has involved removing the metal barriers and concrete balustrades which formerly penned in pedestrians. Aside from greatly boosting the available space in one of Europe's most congested pedestrian zones, the grand theory goes that if you give people more freedom they will take greater responsibility for their own actions.

This notion, known as shared space, or the naked street, was most vigorously popularised by the pioneering Dutch road engineer Hans Monderman. "If you treat drivers like idiots, they act as idiots," was his maxim.

At its most radical, for example in the Dutch village of Makkinga, all tr

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