Challenging the system: Pedestrian sovereignty in the early systemisation of city traffic in Stockholm, ca. 1945–1955

Martin Emanuel

doi:10.1177/0022526620987795

Abstract

This article probes the duality of marginalisation yet omnipresence of walking in cities. Using innovation in traffic light technology in Stockholm as a case study, it seeks to understand the attempts to regulate and safeguard pedestrians in the first decade after the Second World War. The article argues that traffic lights and other technologies were part of experts’ efforts to make urban mobility “systemic”, linking streets with vehicles and road users with the aim to optimize traffic. In doing so, their approach to pedestrian control was ambiguous. On the one hand, experts wanted to fit pedestrians into the emerging city traffic system: make them predictable, while also seeing to their safety. On the other hand, their designs and corresponding legislation often accepted pedestrian sovereignty, and walking was not systemised in Stockholm during the period studied here.

Highlights

Mass motorisation transformed cities around the globe during the twentieth century
Experts wanted to fit pedestrians into the emerging city traffic system: make them predictable, while seeing to their safety. Their designs and corresponding legislation often accepted pedestrian sovereignty, and walking was not systemised in Stockholm during the period studied here
This article has analysed traffic light innovation in Stockholm in the decade following the Second World War, with special attention given to its impact on walking practices

Summary

Introduction

Mass motorisation transformed cities around the globe during the twentieth century. Before, during, and especially after the Second World War, traffic experts and urban planners in Europe and elsewhere, anticipating rapid increases in car ownership and traffic, made up plans that would refurbish their cities to better accommodate cars with ring roads, thoroughfares, and ample of space for parking. Alongside these long-term plans and visions, municipal engineers and the traffic police applied traffic control measures to make better use of existing road space and facilitate traffic flow while trying to maintain traffic safety. Before, during, and especially after the Second World War, traffic experts and urban planners in Europe and elsewhere, anticipating rapid increases in car ownership and traffic, made up plans that would refurbish their cities to better accommodate cars with ring roads, thoroughfares, and ample of space for parking.1 Alongside these long-term plans and visions, municipal engineers and the traffic police applied traffic control measures to make better use of existing road space and facilitate traffic flow while trying to maintain traffic safety. Focusing their efforts on the critical problem of finding a way to fit cars into cities and ensuring the flow of motorised traffic, experts marginalised other modes of mobility, including walking. Using innovation in traffic control technology in Stockholm as a case study, it seeks to understand attempts to regulate and safeguard pedestrians in the decade following the war and the impact of these on the practice of walking

Objectives

Conclusion