Ben Hamilton-Baillie, who coined the term “shared space”, now prefers the term “low-speed environments”, partly because it avoids the confusion that arises between “shared space” and “shared surfaces”. While shared surfaces imply no pavement or kerbs, shared space retains the distinction between pavement and carriageway not least because it helps blind people orientate themselves.
I coined the term Equality Streets to express my thesis that road-user relationships would be transformed if we lived by equality instead of lived and died by priority. It would spell the end of the “need” for traffic lights, those weapons of mass distraction, danger and delay, which cost lives and cost the earth.
