📘 I have just finished reading the book ‘Life between buildings‘ by Jan Gehl and value the benefit of pedestrianisation on ‘hearing’ that he points out.
“Every time a street with automobile traffic is converted to a pedestrian street, there are renewed opportunities for hearing other people. The noise of cars is replaced by the sound of steps, voices, running water, and so forth. It is again possible to have a conversation, to hear music, people talking, children playing. In these traffic free streets and in old pedestrian cities, it is possible to study how valuable and important the opportunity for hearing is for the general ambience and for physical and psychological well-being.”
(pg. 167, Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space by Jan Gehl)