ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

From Car-Centric to People-Centric: Developing Street Transformations through environmental and community involvement approaches

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Oral Track 17 | PUBLIC SPACE

Speakers

Ms Anja Pejović (Politecnico di Torino)Prof. Riccardo Pollo (Politecnico di Torino)

Description

The majority of urban open spaces are designed for motorised vehicles, highlighting the role of the street as a means for maximising car efficiency and space for transportation, stripping it of its social dimension and placing people in the margins of public spaces. Various problems, including high levels of environmental pollution, noise, high energy consumption and inactive lifestyles have arisen from this car-centric urban planning. To address these issues, cities worldwide have started to develop and implement different strategies and models to transform the streets into more liveable and healthy public spaces by reducing areas devoted to cars and reallocating them to soft mobility. These interventions aim to reclaim the spaces dedicated to motorised vehicles, reshaping the role of the street from strictly functional to an open public space that generates different aspects of urban life, affecting the quality of the urban spaces, social interaction, physical activity, economic and environmental factors.
The scoping review previously performed by the authors on the topics of the already implemented street transformations for active mobility indicated significant gaps related to community involvement and environmental impacts. On the one hand, the articles highlighted the importance of participative processes and community involvement in the development of street interventions for active mobility to create inclusive spaces, catering to the needs of the citizens (Lunetto et al., 2023; Vásquez et al., 2024). On the other hand, no article was found evaluating thermal comfort improvement in these interventions, even though previous literature indicated the potential of such transformations to mitigate heat stress (Nieuwenhuijsen, 2021). These aspects, thermal comfort and environmental health on one side, and mobility and social use on the other, are rarely studied together. However, both factors directly influence the experience, behaviour and appreciation of users of urban spaces.
To address these gaps, we are proposing a citizen science approach for the development of street transformation plans and projects, as a bridge between the different scientific approaches and social requirements. In recent years, citizen science has been increasingly used and researched as a tool for empowerment, behavioural change and collective action, increasing scientific knowledge and awareness of the public while crowdsourcing data for research purposes (Sardo et al., 2024). The citizen science approach has been already used in different projects and research in the fields of microclimate (Květoňová et al., 2024) and sustainable mobility (Sardo et al., 2024), demonstrating the importance of citizen involvement in the co-design of the projects and policies. Integration of citizen participation into street redesign processes could facilitate more inclusive, context-sensitive, and scientifically informed urban planning practices. Furthermore, the contribution of citizen science has been recognised by several scholars within the so-called Post-Normal science approach, which deals with the social soundness of applied science, science-based professional advice and scientific policy advice in situations of high stakes, high uncertainty and contested values (Hakalay, 2023). Such framework can be recognised in the domain of street rethinking, often characterised by public controversies and complexity.
The paper will illustrate the research process underway in the northern suburbs of the city of Turin (Italy), aimed at measuring, simulating and mapping the urban microclimate during hot seasons and heat waves by researchers with groups of citizens, mainly high school students. The goal of the research is to promote awareness of the necessary changes in the characteristics of public spaces in terms of use, mobility modes, shape, vegetation and surface materials. The interests and differences between the viewpoints of young citizens, scholars and experts will be discussed to reveal barriers and gaps in approaches to street redesign that meet the needs of communities and the environmental sustainability of cities.

References

Haklay, M. et al. (2023) Citizen science and Post-Normal Science’s extended peer community: Identifying overlaps by mapping typologies, Futures, 150, p. 103178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2023.103178.
Květoňová, V. et al. (2024) Where is the heat threat in a city? Different perspectives on people-oriented and remote sensing methods: the case of Prague, Heliyon, 10(16), p. e36101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36101.
Lunetto, M. et al. (2023) Barriers and enablers to local active travel during COVID-19: A case study of Streetspace interventions in two London boroughs, Wellcome Open Research, 8, p. 177. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.19164.1.
Nieuwenhuijsen, M.J. (2021) 'New urban models for more sustainable, liveable and healthier cities post covid19; reducing air pollution, noise and heat island effects and increasing green space and physical activity,' Environment International, 157, p. 106850. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106850.
Sardo, A.M. et al. (2024) Measuring the impacts of participatory citizen science: lessons from the WeCount sustainable mobility project, Journal of Science Communication, 23(05). https://doi.org/10.22323/2.23050801.
Vásquez, L. et al. (2024) Street experiments in intermediate cities: scope and perceptions of COVID-19 interventions, Journal of Urban Mobility, 5, p. 100072. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urbmob.2024.100072.