David Engwicht
Encyclopedia
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David Engwicht (born 1950) is a social innovator
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...

 and a significant international leader of efforts to reduce the negative impacts of motor vehicle
Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle or road vehicle is a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not operate on rails, such as trains or trolleys. The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually by an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor, or some combination of the two, such as hybrid...

 traffic
Traffic
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...

 on cities and towns. He is a proponent of shared space
Shared space
Shared space is an urban design concept aimed at integrated use of public spaces. It encourages traffic engineers, urban planners and experts from other fields to consult with users of public space when planning and designing streets and squares in both built and non-built environments...

 schemes. He is considered one of the fathers of traffic calming and claims to be the inventor of the Walking bus
Walking bus
A walking bus is a form of student transport for schoolchildren who, chaperoned by two adults walk to school, in much the same way a school bus would drive them to school...

, Street reclamation
Street reclamation
Street reclaiming is the process of converting, or otherwise returning streets to a stronger focus on non-car use - walking, cycling and active street life. It is advocated by many urban planners and urban economists, of widely varying political points of view...

, and the Universal Anchoring Device. He is author of several books including three broadly available books Reclaiming our Cities and Towns: Better Living through Less Traffic (1993), Street Reclaiming: Creating Livable Streets and Vibrant Communities (1999), and Mental Speed Bumps: The smarter way to tame traffic (2005).

Engwicht became involved in traffic control
Traffic control
Road traffic control involves directing vehicular and pedestrian traffic around a construction zone, accident or other road disruption, thus ensuring the safety of emergency response teams, construction workers and the general public....

 from completely outside the fields of transportation planning
Transportation planning
Transportation planning is a field involved with the evaluation, assessment, design and siting of transportation facilities .-Models and Sustainability :...

 and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

. His writings on the social and economic value of cities are lucid and well-referenced. His writing can be seen as describing a major dilemma of technics-out-of-control in the second half of the 20th century. His newer writings and his workshops are rich with ideas and inspirations for communities to reclaim control over an abandoned public realm.

A resident of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Engwicht lectures worldwide on transportation, community, and creativity.

See also

  • Shared space
    Shared space
    Shared space is an urban design concept aimed at integrated use of public spaces. It encourages traffic engineers, urban planners and experts from other fields to consult with users of public space when planning and designing streets and squares in both built and non-built environments...

  • Engwicht Communications is a member of the World Carfree Network
    World Carfree Network
    The World Carfree Network is an international network that coordinates the actions of car-free advocates from around the world. It is the main hub of the global car-free movement...


External links

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