new approach to urban movement
TRANSCRIPT
urban movement
THE NEW approach to URBAN MOVEMENT
Balancing the need for „place‟ over „friction of space‟
Colin Black
John Dales
urban movement
Question 1:
Was or is there an old urban movement?
urban movement
“It may be that future
generations will regard our
carelessness in allowing
human beings and moving
vehicles to use the same
streets, and our apparent
callousness to the inevitable
results, with the same horror
and incomprehension with
which we recall the
indifference of earlier
generations to elementary
sanitation.”
Report of the Steering Group, 1963
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“Traffic segregation, which may
be defined as separation of
traffic in the interests of safety
and free flow, should be the
keynote of modern road design.”
Ministry of War Transport, 1946
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“Traffic segregation should be
the keynote of modern road
design and should be arranged
to reduce the conflict between
one vehicle and another and
between motor vehicles and
slower-moving and more
vulnerable road users such as
pedestrians and cyclists.”
Ministry of Transport, 1966
urban movement
The old approach…
• …failed/s to consider other impacts that arise when parts of a
town or city are reserved exclusively for either:
– (fast moving) vehicles; or
– pedestrians.
• …overlooked/s the possibility of designing environments in
which pedestrians & motor vehicles successfully co-exist
• …adopted/s too narrow a focus in response to the challenges
identified
• …nearly always prioritised/s movement of motor vehicles over
pedestrians
urban movement
But we know better now, don‟t we?
• Narrow focus still characterises the approach of many to addressing the urban movement challenges of today
• The infrastructure-heavy approach to highway design in 1960s & 70s may no longer be prevalent, BUT many continue to see movement, & provision for it, as an end in itself
• We need to think much more about the real ends: the places we‟re moving to, from & within
• Until we do, we‟ll keep making the same mistakes!
urban movement
Question 2:
How has the old way been found wanting?
urban movement
If towns and cities had voices, they would say:
“The old way was/is usually bad for us”
• In complex urban environments, simplistic solutions rarely deliver long-lasting success
• Though some problems have been solved, the results for towns & cities as a whole are best described at „mixed‟
• Shopping core may benefit, during retail hours, BUT other parts
and the core at other times can be sterile
• Many resultant environments are hostile to pedestrians
• The success & vitality of towns & city centres depends on their
being attractive to people who are walking
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SEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
Northampton
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SEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
Stoke
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SEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
Blackburn
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SEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
Luton
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SEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
Staines
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CoventrySEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
• vehicles up
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EustonSEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
• vehicles up
• vehicles down
urban movement
BirminghamSEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
• vehicles up
• vehicles down
• pedestrians up
urban movement
Bristol
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
• vehicles up
• vehicles down
• pedestrians up
• pedestrians down
SEGREGATION
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Mile EndSEGREGATION
• no vehicles
• no pedestrians
• vehicles up
• vehicles down
• pedestrians up
• pedestrians down
• barriers
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Reflections on failure
• Any approach that ignores the complexity of the built
environment will be found wanting
• The old way has delivered a plethora of bland, cluttered, over-
engineered, disconnected, unattractive streetscapes that fail to
value the people who do or would use them
• Narrow focus on problems has some solutions simply become
a different kind of problem
• We need a more comprehensive approach that encompasses a
better understanding of what makes towns and cities tick and
recognises that transport must serve them, not dominate them
• No longer acceptable for transport planners to adopt silo
thinking & simply „do their bit‟, ignoring whatever lies beyond
their immediate brief or scheme „red line‟
urban movement
Question 3:
What is the new urban movement?
urban movement
Defining the new approach
• The new urban movement is not a utopian concept about towns
& cities
• Nor is it merely a reaction to the old urban movement
• Segregation was defined as „the separation of traffic in the
interests of safety and free flow‟.
• New approach may be defined as „managing the many
demands for urban movement in the interests of the safety and
success of towns and cities‟.
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Refocusing on the „place‟
• The old way focused/s on problems, the new urban movement
focuses on places. In doing so, it starts with the street
• Streets are the vital essence of public life
• Streets are where people do all kinds of work, meet for all sorts
of reasons, move in all sorts of ways & by many different
modes, & visit all kinds of shops, restaurants & other leisure
attractions
• „Street life‟
urban movement
Understanding inter-relationships
• The new approach to urban movement actively considers the
inter-relationship of movement with the:
– built environment
– interaction of numerous users & uses
– creation of a high quality public realm
– and (of course) the planning context
urban movement
Emergence of the new urban movement
• Recent years have seen the development of a wide range of
new approaches to the planning of highway space &
emergence of numerous buzzwords & phrases
• Woonerven, Home Zones, Traffic Taming, Quality Streets,
Great Streets, Shared Space, Space Syntax, Living Streets,
Mixed Priority Routes, Psychological Traffic Calming, Barrier-
free Streets & even Naked Streets
• These initiatives & ideas are collectively indicative of a new
urban movement that is gaining credibility & acceptance across
Europe
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Question 4:
What can the new way achieve (that the old couldn’t)?
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How do we measure success?
• The best measure of how successful a place is, is how popular
it is with people who live there, work there or visit it
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Characteristics of places that work
CHARACTER
A place with its own identity
CONTINUITY & ENCLOSURE A place where
public & private spaces are clearly distinguished
QUALITY OF THE PUBLIC REALM
A place with attractive and successful outdoor areas
EASE OF MOVEMENT
A place that is easy to get to and move through
LEGIBILITY A place
that has a clear image and is easy to understand
ADAPTABILITY
A place that can change easily
DIVERSITY
A place with variety and choice
urban movement
Case Studies
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Church Way, Doncaster
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Church Way, Doncaster
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Church Way, Doncaster
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Northfield Avenue, Ealing
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Northfield Avenue, Ealing
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Northfield Avenue, Ealing
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High Street, Kensington
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High Street, Kensington
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Newland Avenue, Hull
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Newland Avenue, Hull
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Newland Avenue, Hull
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Newland Avenue, Hull
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Newland Avenue, Hull
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Maid Marian Way, Nottingham
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Maid Marian Way, Nottingham
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High Street, Chepstow
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High Street, Chepstow
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High Street, Chepstow
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High Street, Chepstow
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King Street, Hammersmith
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King Street, Hammersmith
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King Street, Hammersmith
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Benefits of the new urban movement
• Recognises that each street, each place, is subject to
numerous demands & not only with regard to movement
• Focuses on achieving best mix between different & often
competing demands
• Not all users will get all they want, but the dominance of one
user group over all others will cease
• Towns & cities should be vibrant, dynamic and mixed-use
places that people like – the new approach to urban movement
has this objective above all others
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New Thinking – New Action
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New breed of professional required
• To facilitate creation & transformation of places that people like
• Recognise that each street, each place, is subject to numerous
demands & not only with regard to movement
• Achieve right balance between different & competing demands
• Appreciate not all users will get all they want - but one user
group will no longer dominate
• Towns & cities should be vibrant, dynamic, mixed-use places –
this is the fundamental objective
urban movement
„Why, Dad, why?‟
• What level of highway provision is really necessary?
• Is the transport strategy likely to induce additional trips?
• How will the urban design proposals work?
• How do the proposals address social exclusion?
• How will parking be managed effectively?
• How much will travel behaviour need to change?
• How have they modelled the options to test the scenarios?
• How do they propose to deliver the transport vision?
• Will air & noise pollution be within legal limits?
• What priority have they given to promoting walking, cycling &
public transport?
urban movement
Understand ethos of „sustainable communities‟
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Chase the Ostrich…. get heads out the sand!
• Far too many towns still subjected to sterile approach to urban
design that fails to appreciate the need to create „place‟
• Most plans fail to provide a „vision‟ for the towns to realise its
potential by establishing its sense of place, its identity
• Joined-up thinking - term used by many but executed by few
• Far too many towns being consigned to continued mediocrity
– Case study – AAP Tonbridge, UK
• Identify multiple policy wins, in particular:
– Pollution
– Health
urban movement
The future
• Current training of transport & planning professionals
concentrates far too heavily on „hoop jumping‟
• We need to:
– Combine transport planning & engineering with urban design
– Improve understanding of how successful places work & dependency on
balancing all movement demands
– Understand transport as a means to an end & not as an end in itself
• We need professionals with the vision to make places & the
expertise to make places work