Posted
February 10, 2008

The Man Who Started a Revolution in the Streets

Hans Monderman was a Dutch traffic enginneer who transformed how Europe thinks about streets. Monderman advocated returning streets to their true role as commons by getting rid of all traffic signals and even curbs that separate pedestrians from motorists. The idea was that people should negotiate among each other how to share this public space—an idea which sounds crazy but won the enthusiastic support of those who see it in action in the Netherlands and other countries.