Public Space as Mediator

How Might We Use Tactile Paving to Communicate?

Imagine the street you're walking on letting you know when a car is about to cross your path. It won't tell you through sound or light. It won’t try to grab your attention. It'll make you feel it, using a dynamic changing texture to indicate that an autonomous vehicle (AV) is coming your way.

Interpersonal interaction is key in dense complex urban areas. Gestures, eye contact and vocalisation are tools that we humans use to interact with each other. These tools help us navigate in an urban environment.

We're starting to share our streets and urban spaces with autonomous agents. So how do we interact with them? How will an AV communicate? Does it need to use our interpersonal communication tools? Or is there another way for us to communicate with it?

An AV has a major advantage over us humans. It's a robot. It communicates differently by default, so why make it communicate like us? We might need a mediator. Something to facilitate communication, allowing each agent to communicate in their own way.

We can already find these interaction mediators around us. Tactile paving elements are already being used to communicate with the visually impaired about public space. These tactile blocks use two main types of texture to indicate multiple interactions: “Go” and “Stop”, or “Safe to walk” and “Caution”.

How might we use tactile elements in public space to mediate interaction? Can texture tell us more than "Stop" and "Go"?

By making this tactile block dynamic and changing we can create a language with which both the AV and the pedestrian can communicate.

What if we could design a local, implicit communication system between an autonomous vehicle and pedestrians? A communication system mediated by public space and afforded by tactile paving and texture? This threefold communication could help us design a public space with no sidewalks or roads. No traffic lights or road signage. A street space in which pedestrians and AVs can inhabit the same space safely.

Ben Drusinsky
Architect and designer specialising in public space