Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies?
Promoted by sustainable urban agendas and urged by global pandemic measures, street experiments (SE) are booming in Europe but remain latent in Asia. These experiments aim to reconfigure streets as more than spaces for motorized traffic movements, enabling a temporary urban paradigm shift. Such a sh...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Urban Mobility |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667091723000250 |
| _version_ | 1797383653500649472 |
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| author | Caterina Villani Gianni Talamini |
| author_facet | Caterina Villani Gianni Talamini |
| author_sort | Caterina Villani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Promoted by sustainable urban agendas and urged by global pandemic measures, street experiments (SE) are booming in Europe but remain latent in Asia. These experiments aim to reconfigure streets as more than spaces for motorized traffic movements, enabling a temporary urban paradigm shift. Such a shift involves balancing active mobility and public space uses in streets while envisioning radically different settings and uses. Recently, eminent scholars urged considering SE in connection to the system and planning framework within which SE are conceived to trace their trajectories. This article examines four decades of temporary-pedestrianization policies and planning instruments in Hong Kong, an Asian city representative of high-density urban environments with highly intensive use of road space and conservative and prescriptive planning. In doing so, the article identifies four trajectories and illustrates two emblematic cases: Chater Road, the first street temporarily pedestrianized under a commercial initiative, and Sai Yeung Choi Street South, a street pedestrianized under a government initiative, now turned back to its original function. The competing roles and practical uses that pedestrianized streets must fulfil partially determined their fate. However, the trajectories these cases followed also differ due to the contextual planning approach and decision-making process. The study contributes to scholarship on SE by shedding new light on the geographical context of high-density urban Asia, forwarding challenges that policymakers might need to address in the planning and governance of SE in similar environments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:24:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5194950ea5bd46bc91180a4335661e28 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-0917 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T21:24:10Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Urban Mobility |
| spelling | doaj.art-5194950ea5bd46bc91180a4335661e282023-12-21T07:38:16ZengElsevierJournal of Urban Mobility2667-09172023-12-014100069Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies?Caterina Villani0Gianni Talamini1School of Architecture, Planning and Environment Policy, University College Dublin (UCD), Richview, Clonskeagh, Dublin D14 E099, Ireland; Corresponding author.Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, ChinaPromoted by sustainable urban agendas and urged by global pandemic measures, street experiments (SE) are booming in Europe but remain latent in Asia. These experiments aim to reconfigure streets as more than spaces for motorized traffic movements, enabling a temporary urban paradigm shift. Such a shift involves balancing active mobility and public space uses in streets while envisioning radically different settings and uses. Recently, eminent scholars urged considering SE in connection to the system and planning framework within which SE are conceived to trace their trajectories. This article examines four decades of temporary-pedestrianization policies and planning instruments in Hong Kong, an Asian city representative of high-density urban environments with highly intensive use of road space and conservative and prescriptive planning. In doing so, the article identifies four trajectories and illustrates two emblematic cases: Chater Road, the first street temporarily pedestrianized under a commercial initiative, and Sai Yeung Choi Street South, a street pedestrianized under a government initiative, now turned back to its original function. The competing roles and practical uses that pedestrianized streets must fulfil partially determined their fate. However, the trajectories these cases followed also differ due to the contextual planning approach and decision-making process. The study contributes to scholarship on SE by shedding new light on the geographical context of high-density urban Asia, forwarding challenges that policymakers might need to address in the planning and governance of SE in similar environments.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667091723000250PedestrianisationUrban experimentsUrban regimeStreet managementConflictsHong Kong |
| spellingShingle | Caterina Villani Gianni Talamini Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies? Journal of Urban Mobility Pedestrianisation Urban experiments Urban regime Street management Conflicts Hong Kong |
| title | Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies? |
| title_full | Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies? |
| title_fullStr | Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies? |
| title_short | Failed pedestrian street experiments in high-density urban Asia: A matter of policies? |
| title_sort | failed pedestrian street experiments in high density urban asia a matter of policies |
| topic | Pedestrianisation Urban experiments Urban regime Street management Conflicts Hong Kong |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667091723000250 |
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