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Designing a Livable Neighbourhood: The Woonerf Concept

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In this short course, you will learn what is the Woonerf, its history behind the concept, the context in which these streets work best, and what are the principles that make a street a Woonerf. We will cover the legal and design principles and will show these principles in a real-life example.

The Woonerf concept was developed in Delft in the 1960s and 1970s and spread to other Dutch cities. Woonerven are residential streets in which pedestrians share the road with vehicles, while vehicles should follow the pedestrians’ pace. The use of physical barriers and obstacles conveys the impression that pedestrians can use the entire street, reducing traffic volumes significantly.

Join us for a short course exploring the concept, and allow us to show you how to turn a local living street into a Woonerf.

3 modules

Modules

Half a day

Recommended schedule

2 hours

Total length

What will you learn?

  • The Woonerf in general: its origin, development, and setting within a city.
  • Its legal framework.
  • Five criteria for designing a woonerf.


Who is this course for?

  • Professionals in the field of urban mobility, urban planners, architects, civil engineers, etc. 
  • Students majoring in urban planning and transportation.
  • Urban activists, city enthusiasts, and concerned citizens.


Instructors

Picture of Dick van Veen

Dick van Veen

Dick is a senior traffic engineer and urban designer with almost 20 years of experience. In his work he is bridging the gap between traffic and public space, between ‘flowing’ and ‘staying’. For him, designing is never about just cars, but always involves the human condition. Street design is never a blueprint; guidelines are merely a starting point for design. Dick has helped many cities change toward more people friendly streets and places, in the Netherlands, Europe and North America.

Picture of Lior Steinberg

Lior Steinberg

Lior helps cities to look beyond functionality and to plan urban spaces that make people smile. His specialty is the multidisciplinary approach to urban planning and bicycle plans: it is never only about infrastructure, but also the quality of life, urban design, politics, communications, and many more. He worked on bicycle strategies and plans in different countries, like Tel Aviv’s bicycle strategy and Rotterdam’s bicycle vision.


About the course


Free & Paid Options

You can access and participate in the course for free. If you want to earn a  certificate upon completion, you can purchase it. The certificate will be accessible only once the course is successfully completed. Read more here.

What Urban Professionals Have to Say

Great course for a EU project practitioners like myself. Simple and easy- applicable solution, usable in some future calls for the cities and municipalities. I highly recommend the course!
Andrea Novakovic
Educo Consulting

Course Content

Log in and enroll to unlock all course materials.
Introduction 3 Lessons
Drawing a Woonerf 2 Lessons

Ratings and Reviews

4.9
Avg. Rating
12 Ratings
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What's your experience? We'd love to know!
Iftikhar Hakim
Posted 2 months ago
Woonerf can drastically change the accident scenario in cities like Srinagar

I enjoyed the course and will do more advanced courses if available

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Bahar YaÄŸmur YILDIZ
Posted 5 months ago
Understanding Woonerf Design

I was able to understand what Woonerf was, what it required to be a design and how I could implement it on my designs. Anyone who would like to know or use Woonerf could use this course.

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Paula Mahecha
Posted 7 months ago
I wish we had more streets like this in Oslo and Bogota

I found it very useful

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Corey Hegglund
Posted 8 months ago
Great for a basic overview of the woonerf

Great overview of the basic principles of building shared spaces at a human scale. One thing I would like to see more of, are how urban designers work around certain important design constraints, such as providing access to emergency service vehicles. Using good and bad examples from the real world would also help this understanding.

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Prajakta Deshpande
Posted 9 months ago
Insightful!

Loved it!

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Sarah Ziegler
Posted 9 months ago
Relevant course for car-reduced transformations

Great after having implemented temporary interventions like summer streets and wanting to permanently transform them into pedestrian-centred inner-city spaces.

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Anwita P
Posted 10 months ago
Woonerfs are community building tools.

i liked the course. value addition. crisp and to the point. strongly recommended

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Shane Casey
Posted 11 months ago
Great Mini-Course and Key Takeaways when Designing Streets for People

I had a blast learning about the key elements of the Woonerf design, and realizing how easy it can be to redesign people friendly streets.

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J Ro
Posted 1 year ago
Eye Opening and Easy to Understand

One of the simplest yet most unknown concepts. Wonderfully taught

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Evelyn Jazmín Quispe Huamán
Posted 2 years ago
Designing for all people

I love it.

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