By John Richfield

A great opportunity and the will to go beyond custom, practice and precedent – a new shared space scheme in Bristol shows that creative planning and effective risk management can result in the making of a popular and accessible public space.

Whilst working on traffic management plans for the Cabot Circus area in Bristol, my colleagues and I realised that we had the potential to turn a complex, messy area of small service roads, clogged with through traffic, from a challenge into a great opportunity: the creation of an attractive new public space, park and walking and cycling routes. Tucked in behind a hotel development close to the new Cabot Circus retail complex in Bristol city centre, the historic, but little-used, St Matthias park had been bisected in Victorian times by St Matthias Park Road, and subsequently cut off from the inner city by the post-war inner circuit road.

Bristol Legible City

City ID outline: an innovative approach to communicating cities

'For cities to appear on the map of the 21st century, they will need to focus on how they communicate, and in particular, how they can trade on their differences. Successful cities will be those that efficiently connect people, movement and places; those that are engaging and empowering and those that are welcoming, accessible and easily understood…..'

Andrew Kelly, Head of Bristol Cultural Development Partnership