Living street

A living street is a street designed primarily with the interests of pedestrians and cyclists in mind and as a social space where people can meet and where children may also be able to play legally and safely. These roads are still available for use by motor vehicles, however their design aims to reduce both the speed and dominance of motorised transport. This is often achieved using the shared space approach, with greatly reduced demarcations between vehicle traffic and pedestrians. Vehicle parking may also be restricted to designated bays. It became popular during the 1970s in the Netherlands, which is why the Dutch word for a living street (woonerf) is often used as a synonym.In everyday language, a Verkehrsberuhigter Bereich is also called a Spielstraße ('play street').AustriaCzech RepublicFinlandGermanyNetherlandsPolandRussiaSlovakiaSpainSweden A living street is a street designed primarily with the interests of pedestrians and cyclists in mind and as a social space where people can meet and where children may also be able to play legally and safely. These roads are still available for use by motor vehicles, however their design aims to reduce both the speed and dominance of motorised transport. This is often achieved using the shared space approach, with greatly reduced demarcations between vehicle traffic and pedestrians. Vehicle parking may also be restricted to designated bays. It became popular during the 1970s in the Netherlands, which is why the Dutch word for a living street (woonerf) is often used as a synonym. Country-specific living street implementations include: home zone (United Kingdom), residential zone (ru:Жилая зона, Russia), shared zone (Australia/New Zealand), woonerf (Netherlands, Flanders, South Africa, Namibia) and zone résidentielle (France). Legislation was introduced in the United Kingdom with the Highway Act 1835 which banned the playing of football and games on the highway. In 1859 a total of 44 children were sent to prison for failure to pay fines for playing in the street in London and Middlesex, rising to 2,000 young people under the age of seventeen by 1935.