Abstract

According to the late Hans Monderman, Dutch engineer and road safety expert, the one thing experts forget to discuss when discussing safety is the human brain. When things are made ‘safer’, humans tend to increase their risk taking. What makes an environment safe or dangerous is not the level of risk in that environment but rather is the level of risk transparent or masked. Much of what is done in the name of safety masks the true level of risk, creating a ‘false sense of security’. This presentation will discuss the implications for the design of public spaces—and the importance of bringing back the concept of ‘citizen responsibility’.