Comfort of Streets As A Public Space: The Case of Selected LRT Streets in Addis Ababa
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Date
2025-02-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Despite being an important part of urban public space, streets are often designed primarily for cars, not people. This can make them hostile and uninviting, which discourages people from using them. This study examined the selected street segments along the Light Rail Transit (LRT) of Addis Ababa for one of the qualities of the place-making approach, which is comfort from aspects of the physical setting, safety, and sense of pleasure. With the methods of literature review, observation, and survey, the study attempts to understand the expected qualities and limitations on the ground. Three objectives are set to address the issue. One is to grasp quality parameters and attributes from existing literature by using content analysis. The second objective is to investigate the physical context and pedestrian activity on the street using observation and pedestrian counting with the descriptive statistics analysis method. The third objective is to evaluate the performance of the pedestrian environment as a public space using Vikas Mehta's "public space index" (PSI) analysis. Based on the results and discussion, the streets were found to be crowded, lack diversity in user types, and have limitations in the provision of optional activities. There is compromised overall comfort in the physical setting, safety, and sense of pleasure caused by a lack of provision of sidewalk elements, maintenance, and appropriate use.
Keywords: street, pedestrian, comfort, public space, street as a public space.