Page - 135 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 3/2017

Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 3 2o17 Patrick Naef | Using mobility and urban planning to implement atmosphere 135 are now planning the installation of new street furniture to address this situation. Here is a paradox which is doubtless not specific to Versoix and Fribourg. Signage, pavements and pede- strian crossings are removed to reduce the segregation between users – mainly pedestrians and motorized vehicles – but new elements must be set up that recreate this segregation. An impor- tant tool in this context is to provide appropriate information to the population, so that they accept these new mobility codes. Moreover, the adoption of new practices cannot be achieved in a day. Public authorities must remain flexible with regard to the development of encounter zones if they are to respond adequately to the diverse and sometimes rival expectations of users. It is, in the end, a clear understanding of these new mobility codes that will bring about a serene appropriation of this public space, and transform an encounter zone into a place of conviviality. In the French context, Thomas (2003) notes that pedestrian areas are often subjected to a process of ‘over-signalization’ that neutralizes urban life. For her, the main regulatory texts in force promote development principles of the pedestrian city that contribute to its levelling and homogenization, impacting on what she sees as the ‘anchorage of the body’: ‘The flattening and levelling of the city surfaces, like the primacy given to flows over the anchorage of bodies, favours another implication of the haptic and proprioceptive perception. […] Compartmenta- lized in atmospheres where no asperities retain the foot – but where no “grip” offers a stability point – the pedestrian slides more than he walks.’ (Thomas, 2003 4) The example of Versoix partly confirms this interpretation, according to a statement of its mayor in 2016: ‘There is a lot more street furniture in the pedestrian zone than in the encounter zone. The encounter zone is an area where cars can still circulate at moderate speed, along with pedestrians who have priority, but it is not a space for walking… It is more a liaison space’ (personal communication, 15 September 2016) His colleague, the chief of urban planning, has a more nuanced view: ‘There is now a water play area and steps on the plaza; it is not rare to see people using the steps to sit down. It is starting to function and it can only function if people accept to reduce their speed towards 20 km/h.’ (personal communication, 15 September 2016) The installation of a weekly farmer’s market, giant pebbles and water games has also been unanimously welcomed by the local population. It needs to become bigger, but it certainly contributes to the ‘anchorage of the bodies’ and to the conviviality of the area. Additionally, more informal initiatives can also strongly participate to the anchorage of pedestrians. The collective suppers organized in the ‘Alt’ neighbourhood in Fribourg constitutes without doubts a concrete illustration. The organizer also proposed other informal events: offering chairs to passers-by to invite them to linger in the plaza (fig. 5) or disseminating radio devices during the last soccer World Cup. She is now victim of the success of these collective happenings: ‘I have now people knocking at my door to ask if I can assist them with the organization of similar events. Lately it was a teacher who wanted to propose literary café.’ (Personal communication, 9 May 2017) As Gehl (2010) emphasizes, the vitality of a place is not determined by the number of peop- le who use it, but by the time they spend in it. He adds that urban life is a process that feeds on itself: ‘People go where there are people.” (2010, 93) Furthermore, one needs to allow time to pass, in order for a place to attract people and favour pedestrian ‘anchorage’, as Thomas descri- bes it. Criticisms of an over-signalization of the public space, like the ones addressed by Tho- mas, naturally bring us back to the concept of ‘shared space’ presented above. As Karndacharuk et al. (2016, 206) note, ‘what is evident about the shared space concept is the shift towards