I love reading about experiments like these:
“Shared space is a term that simply describes a shift in thinking away from the regulated highway towards using the natural skills that humans are blessed with to negotiate movement and allow the normal civilities of life to continue,” says road designer Hamilton-Baillie. “I think what Poynton has demonstrated is that it is possible to create a continuous-flow, low-speed environment, still cope with pedestrian crossing movements, and, most importantly, recreate a space, a place outside the church in Fountain Place, that is part of the town — and no longer merely an appendage to the highway.”
“It has a very calming effect,” says one resident in the film. “And I think we’re all being kinder to one another, motorists and pedestrians alike.”
Decrease the perceived separation between people and they suddenly become nicer to each other. Exactly what the psychology literature predicts.
(via reddit)