Public space regeneration through the “Pedibus” micro-projects
in the Oltrarno quarter, Florence
The Oltrarno is a historic district south of the River
Arno in Florence with a number of intrinsic characteristics that makes it one
of the most problematic areas of the city.
The morphological situation is complex and varied: the
historic city center is protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site while the
pedestrian areas must coexist with congested traffic roads. Moreover the
dynamic participation of local citizens in spontaneous committees and the
richness of social life (locals, immigrants, tourists) envision the possibility
to test here a pioneering project for the regeneration and re-appropriation of
public space.
In particular the need to re design the school-home
paths among the three existing schools of the district offered the chance to
trigger a participation and sustainable mobility process as driver of urban
space regeneration.

What is the “Pedibus”
The major difficulty in using the pedestrian urban
space made necessary to define some interventions for the benefit of the whole
neighborhood. The preliminary surveys immediately clarified the need for a
project able to reclaim the physical space of the city through the definition
of new safety standards.
The project proposed to establish an intervention
strategy for the realization of school routes along the pedestrian pathways reorganized
according to the idea of Pedibus.
The lack of pedestrian security requires parents to
take up to four trips to accompany children to school in their cars.
Paradoxically, the safety of some restricts that of
others and increases traffic and air pollution.
In Switzerland, France and Canada an alternative to
use of cars to go to school is provided by the “Pedibus”, a sort of pedestrian
school bus. The name Pedibus is
derived from Latin pes, pedis (foot) and
bus. Inspired by the Human Powered
Transports (transport systems in human potential) provides an incentive to
avoid the use of cars and motorbikes in the city. It is organized just like a
city bus with terminals, fixed routes, stops and running times.
If one child is helpless, the union of many children
gives strength and visibility. The Pedibus
suggests the participation of citizens through the organization of natural
forces already in the field: parents, grandparents, volunteers, local police
who in turn deal with the accompaniment of children.
Children are involved in a new game. In the children’s
perception everything is turned into play, adventure and discovery and going to
school alone become an exciting adventure in which to follow the colored signs
and arrows that indicate the safest path to school. Moreover children are
encouraged to improve their autonomy and self awareness.

Safety and traffic
Inside the whole historic center of Florence is
already in force a restricted traffic area with a speed limit of 30 km/h. Its
establishment, unfortunately, does not guarantee the limit to be respected.
The master plan proposed interventions and safety
measures on pedestrian paths that do not alter the road situation but take
advantage of the existing resources, such as the roads regulation, the existing
signage, the parking, the traffic limitations, adding to bans and speed limits
a series of structures meant to improve the pedestrian safety and accessibility
(i.e. Berlin cushions, chicanes, widened sidewalks, ramps, together with the
redesign of pedestrian crossings).

Participation Laboratories

The project’s first phase required the definition of
the Pedibus routes and lines.
Through several site surveys, meetings with parents
and teachers and work done in classes directly with the children, we collected the
essential data necessary to implement the Pedibus,
including the starting points of the pupils, their modes of transportation, the
identification and optimization of the routes to school.
In participatory school workshops we also asked the
students to imagine the road in front of their school without cars and to
propose many different possible alternative uses. The result was a drawing by
the kids themselves of over 25 meters long, which collected their creative
wishes.
The design of routes was then tailored on the
physiological and psychological needs of children to allow them a certain
degree of independence. Both space and time were reconsidered on the basis of
forces lower than those on which adults can usually count on. The Oltrarno was
re-measured according the city Childs’ Minute Step Grid (CMSG), a pattern defined
by “how far a child can walk in one minute”

A project by points
Crossing and overlaying the collected data determined
the possibility to finalize the routes, identify the points of conflicts with
the traffic system and the resources on the map.
In particular we indicated the critical points of “low
pedestrian safety” as a priority for the implementation phase and defined as
“Minimal Units of Intervention” (MUI), small or very small recovery project
along the routes/lines of the Pedibus.
The need to dilute the project over time and the lack
of founding to guarantee a comprehensive implementation of the whole project at
once, suggested to rethink the implementation of the “Pedibus’ service” with spot-projects
that co-operatively take advantage of other simultaneous construction
opportunities.
Structural measures along the Pedibus path will be
implemented gradually in accordance with the availability and opportunities of
the moment. The different “Minimal Units of Intervention” (MUI) can be taken
apart and reassembled with almost infinite combinatorial formulations according
to the priority given to individual actions and based on the available economic
resources and opportunities.
This strategy allows a search for funding through
grants, private sponsors or program agreements with public entities. This sub-division
of the realization in timed actions for small and very small works also gained
a greater chance to settle the new proposed arrangements in the citizens’
collective imaginations.

The MUI #12
The MUI #12, in front of the Torrigiani School, was
the first Minimal Unit to be built. The project’s goal was to provide a safe
and easy access and increase the value of the public space according to the
needs of both children and residents.
The roadway in front of the school was reduced to 2.75
m, allowing the easy passage of cars, vans and emergency vehicles at a moderate
speed and a significant widening of the pedestrian space to a length of about
40 m.
The new pedestrian space consists of a 4 m wide platform,
raised to the street level. The square was finished with a single paving of
local sandstone “alla rinfusa”, the
same used in the tradition of the ancient streets of Florence, which differs
from the rest of the existing pavement.
The large sidewalk of the new “plaza” contains two
inserts of polished stone suitable for use by children to draw on with colored
chalk. On the platform we placed benches made of modular blocks of local grey
limestone.
Two ramps allow wheelchair access. These ramps are paved
with colored asphalt and illuminated by LED signaling steps with built-in solar
panels. The ramps are protected by a low wall of squared sandstone blocks in
order to guarantee a safe and accessible path into the school.
To the west of the school we created a pedestrian area
with bicycle racks, a Magnolia
Soulangeana tree and a Rhyncospermum
Jasminoide hedge trellis.
The new “plaza” took the place of the existing parking
lot and serves as a significant meeting point of the residents. The former
street space in front of the school has regained a social dimension that
previously did not exist.
Ultimately, the project served many functions as an
economic feasibility and recovery plan for the district, a regeneration project
of public space in the historic city and finally a participative process with
the citizens for the re-appropriation of street sociability. The project also
co-operates with Marc Augé’s proposal to go “back to the city as an adventure-land”
for adults and children.

The projects received the following awards:
- “Design for all”
- Innovation and urban quality Award 2013, Ferrara Italy.
- “Participatory Design of Public Space” 2011 Award, 1st
Urban Public Space Biennial, promoted by INU National Institute of Urban
Planning, Rome - 3rd prize in the “Historic Town” section.
- “Tuscany Eco-Efficiency” 2010 Award, Tuscany Region - honourable mention
in the framework of good
practices of public administration in “Sustainable Mobility”
- “Pedestrian Safe Ways for Children in the Historic
Center of Florence” 2003 Ideas Competition; Florence Municipality