The 'Home Zone' effect on children's play

Mike Biddulph from Cardiff University is conducting research into street design.

His evidence suggests that children in particular are benefitting from approaches to street design which comply with The Manual for Streets.

Watch this time lapse video comparing a traffic calmed road with a 'home zone'

Biddulph notes:

“When comparing a recently traffic calmed street and a nearby street with more radical‘ home zone’ qualities it was evident that the home zone was used extensively across its entire area for play, whilst the traffic calmed street was not.

“The research compared two streets in the Grangetown area of Cardiff for 24 hours during the summer holidays. The streets are directly comparable socially and in terms of their built forms. Only the designs of the highways differed.

“Hidden cameras were installed to record all residents’ movements to provide a precise record which could then be subsequently analysed. 6 hours, from 3pm until 9pm, were studied in detail.

“During this time no one played in the traffic calmed street. In the home zone 13 children from the street played on and off for 2 hours and 41 minutes until rain stopped play.”

via Planning Blog