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Evaluating the English Home Zone Initiatives

Problem: What lessons on street design can professional planners take from recent English home zone initiatives? Purpose: This article is a comparative evaluation of English home zones, or streets shared by vehicles and pedestrians based on the Dutch woonerf concept. This approach to street design is intended to improve livability. Methods: I used monitoring data on 14 home zone projects to draw generalizable lessons from the initiatives. Results and conclusions: Although the concept of the home zone has not been fully implemented in all cases, these projects exhibited lower traffic speeds and continued low or reduced numbers of traffic accidents compared to conditions before the home zones were implemented, and residents report that they now feel their streets are safer for their children. Residents also report finding the home zone streets to be more attractive than they were previously, and some of those in high crime areas experienced reduced levels of crime and antisocial behavior, although these results were not obtained everywhere. Evidence that the treatments resulted in more socializing among adults is less convincing. In general the projects are very well received by residents, demonstrating that this approach to street design improves livability. However, the evidence suggests that similar effects might be realized with less comprehensive and expensive solutions. Takeaway for practice: The introduction of home zone design qualities has contributed to improved livability in established residential streets. Research support: None.