The awards, given yearly by HRH Prince Michael of Kent, recognizes the most outstanding examples of road safety initiatives worldwide
LONDON (December 11, 2018) — The National Association of City Transportation Officials’ (NACTO) Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI) was named a winner of the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards; a prestigious honor bestowed on organizations that make an outstanding contribution to the safety of the world’s roads. GDCI received the award for its outstanding work in producing the influential Global Street Design Guide, a new standard endorsed by dozens of major cities worldwide that gives the blueprints for transforming streets to prioritize safety, pedestrians, and sustainable mobility.
“Changing the built environment is of the utmost importance when it comes to saving lives in our cities.” said HRH Prince Michael of Kent, “I am deeply impressed by NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative to create safer streets. They have led with groundbreaking design guidance, and demonstrated the possibilities that new streets give with safe street transformations in cities across the globe.”
Each year Prince Michael recognizes the most impressive examples of international road safety initiatives and give them public recognition under his commitment to the United Nations Global Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020). Previous winners include international nonprofits, national policy documents, city-level transportation departments, and philanthropic organizations.
The Global Street Design Guide, created with the input of 72 experts from 42 countries and endorsed by 37 cities, was originally published in 2016 in English, and is now available in Chinese and Portuguese, with a Spanish edition set to be released in 2019. The Guide prioritizes the most vulnerable users of the street—pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders. In a short period of time, the Guide has enabled many cities to promote a shift in the practice of street design from vehicular throughput to people throughput, addressing challenges of road safety, congestion, and air pollution in rapidly expanding global cities.
“The Global Street Design Guide is a transformative document that is already bearing fruit with real street and safety improvements,” said Skye Duncan, Director of the NACTO Global Designing Cities Initiative. “From São Paulo and Fortaleza to Mumbai and Addis Ababa, the Guide is helping city transportation departments rewrite their own street design manuals and build streets to a safer and more vibrant standard.”
“The fight to reduce traffic fatalities is a fight to update outdated traffic guidance. The Global Street Design Guide gives cities a new playbook for redesigning their streets,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, Principal of Bloomberg Associates and Chair of NACTO and the Global Designing Cities Initiative. “Endorsed by over 80 cities and organizations the guide shows that streets can improve the livability, mobility, and safety of cities of all sizes. We are deeply honored to receive this prestigious recognition from HRH Prince Michael of Kent.”
The Global Street Design Guide is available in bookstores, for purchase online from Island Press, and as a free PDF on GlobalDesigningCities.org.
Contact:
Ankita Chachra / +1 9176359987 / ankita@nacto.org
