Hans Monderman

Hans Monderman, born on 19 November 1945 and died on 7 January 2008, was a Dutch road traffic engineer and innovator. He was recognised for radically challenging the criteria used to evaluate engineering solutions for street design, and his work pushed transportation planners and highway engineers to look afresh at the way people and technology relate to each other. His design approach rested on the concept of shared space, an urban design approach that seeks to minimise demarcations between vehicle traffic and pedestrians, often by removing kerbs, road surface markings, traffic signs and regulations. He found that traffic efficiency and safety improved when a street and its surrounding public space were redesigned so that each person negotiates movement directly with others.