The Urban Sketch Writer

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  • Car dependency, sustainability and cycling in Copenhagen

    Car dependency, sustainability and cycling in Copenhagen

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 4 December 2024]

    I note this week The New Economics Foundation have recently published a report entitled: Trapped Behind The Wheel – How England’s New Builds Lock Us Into Car Dependency.

    The UDG have conveniently summarized some of the main findings in their latest Urban Update. The drivers (no pun intended) behind this trend include:

    • Land value and condition, which favour cheaper greenfield land in a profit-driven housing development system
    • Relatively lower levels of local political opposition to new developments in more remote areas
    • A lack of early, integrated planning of transport, housing, and development sites, reinforced by substantial underfunding of public planning departments
    • Top-down local housing targets that act in combination with the factors above to produce development in the wrong places for sustainable transport

    To my mind, the third bullet is the kicker. 

    You simply cannot retrofit joined up active travel or public transport provision into a development. It has to be done upfront, at pre-app, in collaboration with all the relevant placemaking specialists who have hopefully read and understand Manual for Streets.

    There is clearly a huge disconnect between the incessant call for sustainable development and the regular use in a DAS of the words ‘active travel’ on the one hand and, the fact that, on the other, despite all the rhetoric, we still keep building in unsustainable locations, that are first and foremost car parks with houses squeezed in between. Any DAS that proudly proclaims a dual carriageway into a site as a ‘… formally designed… gateway’ is *checks notes* missing the point.

    Too much of what we’re approving and building just isn’t fit for sustainable purposes.

    I remember Jan Gehl in his ‘How to Build a Good City’ interview explaining how his then seven-year-old granddaughter, living in Copenhagen, could walk on her own all the way from home to school without ever having to step on a road due to the installation of continuous footways across side streets. What freedom and independence!

    Also, that his ten-year-old grandchildren are: “… allowed to go from one end of the city to the other because it is deemed safe for a little one who is ten and who has been bicycling around with mum and dad since they were five, now they can do it themselves. And that is very nice that you can be mobile early and also you can stay mobile a long time after the doctor has taken away your driver’s licence.” Something to ponder.

    Yet seven years on from his interview, we still can’t negotiate a dedicated cycle lane or 3m radii on a side road junction or a 20mph design speed (BfHL) let alone a continuous pavement, because a driver might get mad or a bin lorry might have to *gasp* cross into the opposite lane to make a turn.

    We have a long way to go, folks. Or maybe we should just move to Copenhagen.

    #placemaking #streets #streetdesign #cycling #cyclelanes #publictransport #jangehl #udg

  • Toronto, housewives and Aldis lamps

    Toronto, housewives and Aldis lamps

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 27 November 2024]

    This week, Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, wants to remove three cycle lanes in downtown Toronto to ease traffic congestion. The rationale for this is apparently based on ‘anecdotal evidence’ – the best and most reliable kind, obviously – that the cycle lanes are exacerbating travel problems. 

    This in a city where six cyclists have been killed in the past year: five on streets with no cycling infrastructure, the sixth having been forced into vehicular traffic by a construction waste bin blocking a cycle lane.

    He also believes that traffic congestion could be mitigated by building more roads and wider streets. Hmm. And a road tunnel! Don’t forget the road tunnel! This is somewhere up there with Robert Moses’ plans for the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Thankfully, Bob’s plans were scuppered by a housewife with a penchant for cycling.

    Anyone with a modicum of sense intrinsically knows that building more roads just equals – *checks notes* – more cars. You simply cannot build your way out of this mess. Build it and they will drive. To think otherwise is insane – and stupidly expensive and disruptive.

    But hey, let’s give Doug the benefit of the doubt for a split second and assume that more and wider roads are indeed the answer the Toronto’s car-related woes.

    Let’s accommodate those cars to the max! Let’s put on our sincere faces and accept the destruction of buildings, severance of communities, noise and pollution and potentially fatal danger to anyone outside a vehicle as being an unfortunate necessity to give drivers on University Avenue the increased freedom to back up a few inches.

    Well, I don’t know about you, but I have yet to meet anyone who’s just come back from a holiday anywhere in the world waxing lyrical about the high volume of fast-moving or idling traffic in the city centre and how wonderful, relaxing and safe it felt to be close to the cars at all times, shouting to be heard and choking in the smog.

    Conversely, some travellers recall the intimate, walkable street network, the astonishing baroque architecture, an unexpected hidden square with a cute pavement café selling the best cakes in town or the peace and quiet of a car-free environment where you can actually have a conversation with the person next to you without needing to resort to semaphore or Aldis lamps to communicate because the din of the cars and juggernauts is so loud.

    So the cure to Toronto’s car addiction problems is not more roads or wider roads or tunnels. It’s actually more cycle lanes, better public transport and viable, convenient sustainable travel choices for everyone. I can assure you that no-one will be visiting Toronto to breathe in the increasingly polluted air or marvel at the number of traffic lanes that can be squeezed onto Bloor Street. 

    It’s time for the housewives of Toronto to get on their bikes and unite, just give me ‘two tings’ if you agree.

    #urbandesign #placemaking #streets #streetdesign #cycling #cyclelanes #janejacobs #toronto #twotings

  • Running, 72% of women and Grana Padano

    Running, 72% of women and Grana Padano

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 20 November 2024]

    Yet again, women’s safety has been a topic for discussion during the past week with interviews taking place on the BBC news with female runners. 

    The issue? 

    Women feel they need to alter their exercise behaviour in the winter months in order to stay safe.

    Of course, this isn’t ‘new’ news. Quite the opposite. Women deliberately altering their behaviour in an attempt to avoid intimidation or confrontation is – *checks notes* – as old as the hills.

    Sport England have discovered that: “… 72% of women in the UK change their outdoor activity routines during winter.”  This is up from 46% last year and is not a good look for what we claim is a ‘civilised society’.

    It seems we have a long way to go.

    But all is not lost.

    We do have options.

    As placemakers we can at the very least design the public realm in such a way that women and all those who feel vulnerable can take back some autonomy and enjoy getting out and about whenever they feel like. 

    We can actually listen and take note when urban designers raise concerns over street and space design and site layouts that would create intimidating environments.

    We can actually listen and take note when urban designers raise concerns over the lack of legibility and permeability of places that will create confusion and possibly fear in those unfamiliar – or even familiar – with an area.

    And we can actually listen and take note when a mere housewife from New York named Jane Jacobs defeated the government machine that was intent on constructing dual-carriageways and urban motorways that would destroy communities, built heritage and hundreds if not thousands of businesses.

    It is, after all, those very communities and businesses that create the activity and eyes on the street that help all of us feel safe whether shopping, exercising or heading to work. And it is the built heritage that enables many of those communities and businesses to be there in the first place.

    We instinctively know what ‘works’ in the built environment. So why aren’t we designing and building more of it? Whatever we build today – for good or bad – will still be there in a hundred years or more. Will we be proud of it? The fact we’ll likely be dead, so why does it matter, isn’t a good enough excuse. People’s health and wellbeing is on the line, people.

    Until these inclusive, legible, permeable, busy, attractive, exercise-friendly streets with their hairdressers and boutiques and delis that offer those little Grana Padano cheese samples become the default design norm, keep keeping your phones and keys at the ready, ladies.

    Amirite?

    #urbandesign #placemaking #streets #streetdesign #janejacobs #amirite #running #sportengland

  • Safety, public transport and the fabulous Jane Jacobs

    Safety, public transport and the fabulous Jane Jacobs

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 13 November 2024]

    Ha! Who knew? I haven’t just been talking off the top of my head for two weeks! An Urban Update from the UDG (Urban Design Group) referenced an article from Cities entitled: ‘Women’s perceived safety in public places and public transport: A narrative review of contributing factors and measurement methods’.

    I couldn’t make it up – certainly not a title that dry. But there we have it – women’s safety and public transport covered in one hit! And a call for tree-lined, actively peopled streets into the bargain!

    According to the UDG’s summary of the report (see bullets below), the key findings will quite frankly be of no surprise whatsoever to anyone who works as a placemaker with a duty of care to the public:

    • Street Lighting and Crime Fear: Many studies focus on how lighting affects safety, especially for women at night. Brighter lighting often lowers fear of crime and increases confidence in using public spaces, but lighting alone doesn’t fully address the underlying anxieties people may have about safety.
    • Visibility and Openness: High visibility in public areas allows people to see their surroundings more clearly, which can reduce fear. Open areas without concealed spots make streets feel safer. By contrast, poorly lit areas with hidden spaces increase feelings of vulnerability, especially for women walking alone at night.
    • Role of Surveillance: CCTV cameras are common, but studies show they don’t directly improve feelings of safety. Women tend to prefer visible police patrols over video surveillance for a greater sense of security.
    • Complexity of Safety Perception: Personal safety feelings result from various factors, including physical environment, social context, and individual characteristics. Personal experiences and anxiety levels also influence how safe a person feels in different settings.
    • Impact of the Walking Environment: Walking through clean, tree-lined streets with active shops and people generally feels safer. Conversely, litter, graffiti, and low activity areas lower perceived safety. Familiarity also matters—women feel safer in areas they know well, especially if they are well-lit and well-maintained.

    I’ve been droning on about these things ad nauseam for years: sorry not sorry.

    On the subject of the walking environment, which covers all the preceding bullets, we can do so. much. more.

    I demand a return to the street-based urbanism of Jane Jacobs – short blocks, mixed use, eyes on the street etc. Simple stuff… but sooo effective. And beneficial to all – not just women.

    To deter anti-social behaviour we must have streets that encourage more people to be out and about. 

    More people out and about = streets that become self-policing.

    Self-policing streets = streets that are safer for all.

    A virtuous circle.

    But until these self-policing streets become the default design norm, keep your phones and keys at the ready, ladies.

    Amirite?

    #urbandesign #placemaking #UDG #urbandesigngroup #streets #streetdesign #janejacobs #amirite

  • Car dependency, GDP and inclusive design

    Car dependency, GDP and inclusive design

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 6 November 2024]

    Yowza! How apropos a question raised in my previous post seems to have been! Namely: Why are we still approving development with substandard access to public transport?

    Well, lo and behold, Peter Walker of the Guardian, no less, has attempted to answer that question by publishing an article on how “Planning rules have failed to link new homes to public transport.”

    It turns out that a study by the RTPI has found that the last ten years of constant chatter about building in sustainable locations with good transport infrastructure has literally fallen on deaf ears.

    There are a number of repercussions to this that anyone who’s been placemaking for over half an hour and has a duty of care to the public will understand:

    • People have to become car dependent out of necessity 
    • This has implications for people’s health…
    • … as well as their finances
    • It disadvantages those on low incomes
    • It disadvantages those who for whatever reason cannot drive, or do not want to drive
    • It makes access to shops, schools, colleges, workplaces, doctors’ surgeries etc. etc. etc. an arduous task in what is apparently a civilised society with sufficient GDP to send us straight in at No6 in the Top Ten countdown of global economies

    Not a good look.

    This week my Urban Design 101 request is a return to strategic level design, reviewing the morphology of existing settlements well served by public transport to investigate how these could be sustainably expanded to accommodate housing need.

    It’s quite clear that the current system of the ‘call for sites’, where land comes forward in an often delightfully ad-hoc manner, often in fields with questionable topography and drainage issues, often far from anywhere and which would just result in yet more car dependency… *checks notes*… isn’t working. 

    I’m not the only one to reach this conclusion – take a look at ‘Achieving Good Town Form’, the latest Urban Design Group paper.

    If we are going to design inclusively – which includes providing the community with a viable choice of travel options – we have to get the public transport links right. 

    A few miles up the road a still-under-construction major, major housing development has had to abandon a bus route through the site because the streets in the neighbouring development parcel weren’t wide enough to accommodate it. But all is not lost! Residents can still walk a quarter of a mile alongside a dual-carriageway on a path that isn’t overlooked to a stop that is barely overlooked by a single house to catch a bus into town.

    And on the way home again, they have the pleasure of crossing that dual-carriageway via staggered crossings. 

    Not much of a selling point even while the fare is still capped at £2.

    Phones and keys at the ready, ladies! 

    Amirite?

    #peterwalker #guardian #amirite #placemaking #placemakers #urbandesign #publictransport #bus

  • Soairse Ronan, Marina Hyde and Jane Jacobs walk onto the Graham Norton Show…

    [This content first appeared on LinkedIn on 30 October 2024]

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock since Friday 25 October 2024, you’ve no doubt seen the clip of Saoirse Ronan on The Graham Norton Show telling the lads to basically STFU when it comes to talking about women’s safety, a topic they clearly know nothing about.

    Happily, they actually took notice and did.

    As Marina Hyde points out in her Guardian article: “… what they can’t do, even with all their combined decades of Acting, is think their way into the part of literally any woman, in any place, walking home after dark or on an almost deserted route on just another day of a lifetime of knowing she could be prey. You get quite good at thinking about how boring little things like phones or keys could defend you in those moments, as any woman will wearily concede. We all dream of a future without this forever hum of fear, where we too could join in the absurdist joke.”

    But my question to you is, what are we doing, as placemakers, to deliver a public realm where everyone – not just women and girls – feel safe to be there at any time regardless of gender, age, disability, race or religious belief?

    • Why are we still approving development where routes are not well overlooked or lit?
    • Why are we still approving development riddled with areas of concealment?
    • Why are we still approving development that is car-orientated and discriminatory to those walking and wheeling?
    • Why are we still approving development with substandard access to public transport?
    • Why are we still approving development where most of the pavements end up blocked by parked cars?

    And why are we in a situation where, according to Public Practice, 43% of respondents to their Recruitment and Skills Report say they lack the funding to recruit the required placemaking staff?

    It’s all well and good the government setting a housing target of 1.5million homes over the next parliament, but how are we going to ensure these are built to the highest design standards when there are huge resource gaps in over-stretched planning departments?

    In response can I at the very least demand a return to the basics – Urban Design 101 – and lobby for a return to street-based urbanism, à la Jane Jacobs, creating places with gentle density to accommodate a critical mass of population… short blocks to create a variety of routes between destinations… mixed use development to bring people out on the street at different times… street trees and hard and soft landscape that enhance the quality of the place… good enclosure of streets by buildings to enable eyes on the street… a ban on pavement parking.

    We need to stop designing to accommodate the refuse vehicles first and foremost and finally start prioritising the people who will actually live, work and roller-skate there. We have more than enough guidance and policy to show us how to do these things.

    As Saoirse would say: “Amirite ladies?”

    #saoirseronan #marinahyde #guardian #amirite #placemaking #placemakers #publicpractice #janejacobs #eyesonthestreet #urbandesign