Description
Every trip starts on foot. In Bydgoszcz, the authorities and urban designers ignore the needs of pedestrians, so the city becomes friendly only to road traffic. Pedestrians rarely oppose the trend. The project objective is to change the negative trend and reclaim the city for people. We want to encourage citizens to participate in designing city space, and show them that their opinions matter and that in designing public space no one should be discriminated. The project should result in broader participation of inhabitants in the city life: jointly developed “Map of barriers" showing places in the city that are most unfriendly for pedestrians and “Catalogue of good practices" being a “road sign" for the city authorities indicating how the city space can be rationally designed and activating city inhabitants.
Summary of project results
Every travel, whether by car, by bicycle, or on a tram, begins with a walk. Unfortunately, planning and designing the infrastructure is usually done with the comfort of drivers in mind. Pedestrians rarely protest, which does not help their situation. At the moment, pedestrian routes built in Bydgoszcz are full of illogical and inconvenient solutions. There is no consistent vision, and no assessing the designed solutions from a user's perspective. The objective of the project was to make the residents more active in co-creating the future infrastructure, to draw the city authorities' attention to the significance of the problem, and effectively to reverse the above trend. It was possible to successfully introduce the “Catalogue of good practices of designing pedestrian spaces", which was created as part of the project. It will serve as a guide for the city's authorities, on how to design the public space wisely. The most visible outcome of the project is the improved safety in the places, where changes have been introduced, e.g. new pedestrian crossings. There has been an increased public interest in the issue of safety of pedestrian routes. The city authorities, too, noticed that accessibility and condition of pedestrian infrastructure influence the residents' quality of life and the city's reception by its visitors. Part of the project involved creating the “Map of Barriers", on which the residents could mark places unfriendly to pedestrians. The reports were verified during site inspections, and 17 places were reported to the appropriate institutions. Three happenings were organised, as well as two conferences and a debate - the events were meant to promote the “Map of Barriers", the catalogue of good practices, and the idea of a pedestrian-friendly city. Twenty-five visits to schools and 40 meetings during housing estate councils' sessions were organised. Estate councils and residents were supported in improving the quality and safety of public space. The recipients of the project were the residents of Bydgoszcz (including school children), as well as civil servants and councillors.
Summary of bilateral results