Existing Conditions
Unlike the suburbs of Copenhagen, where road space is abundant, the inner city has to negotiate multiple vehicle types within a narrow spatial context designed centuries before the invention of the car. Subsequent additions of transport modes have constrained pedestrian sidewalks and cycle paths to minimal widths. At the same time, two-way roads, car parking, and bus stops occupy the majority of space between buildings. Within inner Copenhagen, only 7% of citywide road space is taken up by cycle paths. In contrast, road space for cars amounts to 66%, even though the percentage of trips are split almost evenly between bicycles and cars.
Traditional bus stop
Existing Conditions
Unlike the suburbs of Copenhagen, where road space is abundant, the inner city has to negotiate multiple vehicle types within a narrow spatial context designed centuries before the invention of the car. Subsequent additions of transport modes have constrained pedestrian sidewalks and cycle paths to minimal widths. At the same time, two-way roads, car parking, and bus stops occupy the majority of space between buildings. Within inner Copenhagen, only 7% of citywide road space is taken up by cycle paths. In contrast, road space for cars amounts to 66%, even though the percentage of trips are split almost evenly between bicycles and cars.
DYNAMIC STREET
JAJA’s dynamic street profile utilizes advancements in the Internet of Things, where embedded sensors, lights, and transmitters allow vehicles to communicate with road infrastructure. Rather than having fixed street infrastructure that designates where certain functions should occur, the streetscape is enhanced with a grid of LEDs that can reallocate space in accordance with changing traffic volumes. Fixed on-street parking and bus stops are removed, allowing the third lane of the street to no longer be needed, and that space is redistributed to widen the cycle lanes to 3.5m in both directions.
When a bus is approaching a stop, the road surface changes at the threshold between the road and cycle path to indicate a buffered area where passengers will alight and gives safe notice to incoming cyclists to avoid the buffered area. Cyclists will continue to have the right of way, although half of their expanded lane will now be demarcated as a buffered passenger zone. Modes using the cycle path will have the right of way, and cars will stand on the road, rather than passing a stopped bus.
Proposed dynamic stop
DYNAMIC STREET
JAJA’s dynamic street profile utilizes advancements in the Internet of Things, where embedded sensors, lights, and transmitters allow vehicles to communicate with road infrastructure. Rather than having fixed street infrastructure that designates where certain functions should occur, the streetscape is enhanced with a grid of LEDs that can reallocate space in accordance with changing traffic volumes. Fixed on-street parking and bus stops are removed, allowing the third lane of the street to no longer be needed, and that space is redistributed to widen the cycle lanes to 3.5m in both directions.
When a bus is approaching a stop, the road surface changes at the threshold between the road and cycle path to indicate a buffered area where passengers will alight and gives safe notice to incoming cyclists to avoid the buffered area. Cyclists will continue to have the right of way, although half of their expanded lane will now be demarcated as a buffered passenger zone. Modes using the cycle path will have the right of way, and cars will stand on the road, rather than passing a stopped bus.
PILOT PROJECT
In collaboration with the public transport operator, MOVIA and the Frederiksberg Municipality, JAJA are currently planning to implement a prototype of our dyanmic street profile on Finsensvej, Frederiksberg.
PILOT PROJECT
In collaboration with the public transport operator, MOVIA and the Frederiksberg Municipality, JAJA are currently planning to implement a prototype of our dyanmic street profile on Finsensvej, Frederiksberg.
| Program: | Street transformation, urban design |
| Location: | Frederiksberg, Denmark |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Type: | Pilot project |
| Collaborators: | NIRAS, MOVIA, Frederiksberg Municipality |
| Status: | Ongoing |
| Team JAJA: | Jakob S Christensen, Jan Tanaka, Kathrin Gimmel, Robert Martin, Sam De Boever, Natalia Gruszczynska, Pola Rebecca Koch |