Genuspedagogis i Förskolan
Several cities have implemented various projects to improve traffic safety in city centers.During 1970s and 1980s the city centers changed as the suburbs grew and large shopping centers were located outside the center. At the same time, several projects were initiated with construction of pedestrian streets and restriction of traffic in the center. In year 1994,shared-used areas were introduced in Sweden and these areas are often used in center environments.In Sweden, municipalities are responsible for integrating security in public places and in comprehensive plans and detailed development plans. The National Board of Housing,Building and Planning is the authority for administrating planning issues and develop general guidance about planning. Traffic is one of their key issues, although today there are no concrete guidelines from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planningfor the design of traffic safety in city centers.Traffic safety in city centers affects many people because the city center is a public place.It is therefore important that there are current guidelines available that are helpful for changes and improvements in traffic safety in the city center.The purpose of this report is to formulate guidelines for planning city centers from a traffic safety perspective. The aim is that the guidelines can be applied in the design of smaller city centers for improving traffic safety. For this report two case studies were implemented that included inventories and observations of Bollnäs and Sandviken city centers. The results showed that many of the streets did not function well and that there was a lack of design in the city centre center from a traffic safety perspective, for example pedestrian crossings and car parks.Inventories and observations are good methods to see how the traffic environment in the city center varies in use and function. The observations and inventories resulted in guidelines with recommendations for the design of streets and traffic in small city centers.