Page - 132 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 3/2017

132 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 3 2o17 Patrick Naef | Using mobility and urban planning to implement atmosphere designating the right side [the rectilinear zone] of the encounter zone as a 30 Km/h area and keeping only the plaza as an encounter zone. It would have been easier for us to appreciate this area as an encounter zone’ (Personal communication, 18 September 2017) On the political level, Thierry Steiert, communal counsellor for the city of Fribourg, states that there are different types of encounter zones; he compares the Joseph-Piller encounter zone to more residential ones where a ‘neighbourhood life’ could more adequately take place: ‘In a neighbourhood street, you have children playing on the street: it is totally natural. The fact that children consider this area as a playground is also a driving force for speed regulation. It is not the idea here.’ However, in a similar vein to certain officials in Fribourg urban planning sections, some inhabitants of the area consider that developing an encounter zone in a transit area is nonsense: ‘We are using pede- strians to slow down cars! There is a transit section and there are cul-de-sacs. That is where they should have realized the encounter zone.’ (Personal communication, 9 May 2017) For another former inhabitant of the neighbourhood, there is a paradox resulting from contradictory viewpoints between the city and the canton: ‘On one side you have the city which is aiming at developing a pleasant town for the inhabitants and on the other side you have the canton which is trying to pro- mote smooth transit in the city.’ (Personal communication, 9 May 2017) Further, in the encounter zone the plaza is conceived as a place where social gathering can happen. Another inhabitant living on the plaza praises for instance the installation of three high tables that she now uses to organize public suppers for the neighbours: This place became my centre… A lot more than other central places in Fribourg. This is clearly due to this new development; now people are more eager to stay. We started to organize collective suppers for the inhabitants, even though this implied a little concerta- tion with the police. These tables were initially set up for decoration more than anything else, but we decided to use them. (Personal communication, 9 May 2017) Around the plaza, following the development of the encounter zone, inhabitants started to organize participative events and to propose street furniture, such as chairs and tables for the passers-by. The plaza thus demonstrates a process of appropriation by the inhabitants, enhan- cing pedestrian installation, in contrast to the other part of the encounter zone, where pedestri- ans are excluded and experience tensions with motorist users. This case study constitutes a good example of the appropriation or rejection of different aspects of an encounter zone. While the plaza certainly contributes to building an atmosphere of place-sharing, the adjacent boulevard, also part of the encounter zone, is seen by many users as a failure. It demonstrates that the success of an encounter zone, considered through the lens of atmosphere and place sharing, is highly contextual. First, the layout – between square plazas and rectilinear boulevards – significantly influences the behaviour of users motivated by con- flicting dynamics. Secondly, as stated by many interviewees in Fribourg, for such a public space to be appropriated by pedestrians, it has to be an area they previously used. As pointed out by the collaborator of the Fribourg road construction office quoted above: ‘It is hard to change the DNA of these places. As for pedestrian crossings, we need to develop encounter zones in places already used by pedestrians. A radical change of function can be counterproductive.’ (Personal communica- tion, 18 September 2017) Moreover, as a study conducted by the city of Fribourg demonstra- ted, the speed limit is respected in the plaza area, but not in the rectilinear area. Thus, beyond