Retrofitting Traditional Streets for Shared Uses: The ‘Pedestrian Priority Street’ in Seoul

This chapter describes the construction and operation of a new concept in shared street design – the Pedestrian Priority Street (PPS). The PPS is a design concept and policy approach developed in Seoul, Korea. It specifically seeks to retrofit narrow and busy street networks to promote shared use and protect pedestrians. First the evolution of the PPS concept is described. This is followed by an account of the design, construction and evaluation of two pilot PPS projects in 2013, and a brief description of eight additional projects completed during 2014. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the future of PPS, including recommendations on strengths of the over-arching approach. Evaluation of PPS pilot projects shows that the general level of user satisfaction on treated streets was significantly increased and vehicle speeds were slightly decreased. Of note is that observation studies show a reduced incidence of pedestrians coming in risky proximity to vehicles. This indicates that the general possibility of pedestrian-car accidents decreased and a considerable change in driver behaviour. Other findings of interest relate to the need to involve the community in decision making about shared street design and the related need to design street treatments to reflect the surrounding land use. PPS in Seoul is reflective of a new era in shared street design and implementation, promoting streets as places to be, rather than simply thoroughfares to move through at speed. Its design concepts can be applied to any street, but will be particularly relevant to those seeking to retrofit narrow, car-dominated streets to be more balanced in their appeal to pedestrians as well as car users.