Search for requirements for the width of pedestrian roads in the context of the classification of public space

Abstract

Walking has long been the primary means of human transport. Nevertheless, in recent decades, the insufficient emphasis has been placed on it in the creation and renewal of public space. It focuses mainly on the needs of road transport, the volume of which is constantly growing enormously. It is only in recent years that the view begins to be re-evaluated and trends in the organization of public space gradually changed, as it is true that a larger supply generates a greater demand. Therefore, leading architects are gradually changing their approaches to the organization of public space and put humans, pedestrian transport, and its requirements first. In the Czech Republic, the trend is gradually changing, as it is worldwide. Walking again plays an important role in the creation of sustainable mobility plans for the cities of the Czech Republic. The main problems arise in the actual implementation of these ideas, as the legislative requirements are formulated only in general, unlike the requirements for road transport, which sets out the requirements for minimum road profiles in the context of design speed and traffic intensity in a given cross-section. These requirements are set out in Decree No. 501/2006 Coll. on general requirements for land use and also in CSN 73 6110 Design of local roads (CSN is Czech technical norm). However, such a categorization of requirements for pedestrian roads is not yet solved uniformly for the entire territory of the Czech Republic, even though CSN 73 6110 deals with sidewalks (functional group D roads). ). So far, this categorization is replaced only by seldom locally valid methodologies, manuals, or requirements and regulations in the town plans of individual cities. This paper aims to search for current approaches, legislative requirements, and approaches to addressing the width requirements for pedestrian roads in public space in the context of the classification of this area.