Uploaded on 2015-12-15 by babakraji63

Communities are made up of divers group of people from different cultures and ethics which means they have different interests and needs. In order to find creative solutions to community-wide concerns, it would be desirable to work directly with the public. Public participation can help in many ways: - Understand and include all needs, views and interests - Establish priorities - Enhance public knowledge, understanding, awareness - Increase the sense of belonging to the community and enhance responsible behavior of citizen - Participation is also an important aspect of democracy **An example:** How a Dutch neighborhood pioneered an innovation now affecting many cities (Retrieved from http://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/16-ways-make-your-neighborhood-safer-greener-and-more-fun) We know that for increasing the livability of cities, people on foot or bicycle should have shared right-of-way from public spaces as compared to other motorized vehicles specially in residential areas. Traffic calming and low speed limits uses design elements such as narrowing roads or elevating crosswalks to slow traffic and assert pedestrian’s right to cross the street. The origin of this idea can be traced in Netherlands. Residents of one neighborhood were getting tired of car racing along their streets which creating an unsafe environment for their children to play. One day, they decided to do something about it by arranging planter boxes and other objects into the street and positioning them in a way that cars could pass but would have to slow down. Although the idea was clearly illegal but the idea was found very effective and soon the city municipality was installing similar measures to improve the safety of pedestrian. By taking direct action, those people saved their neighborhood and changed the face of cities around the world by introducing “Woonerf”. ![enter image description here][1] An example of Woonerf in Dutch cities https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/88/1e/8e/881e8e1c46fac8d32872d56d5dabe06d.jpg [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14501857874584792.jpg