Walking will be the heart of the post-car city
By Emma Griffin and David Harrison
It is 2035. Walking has become the primary and most attractive form of transport in UK towns and cities. Urban areas are understood as networks for pedestrians, not cars, with all key destinations connected with low-traffic or car-free streets. Walking networks integrate with public transport and cycling, with train stations surrounded by car-free areas, which invite people to walk.
Electric vehicles are available to those that really need them, but they do not dominate. Through-traffic is restricted to arterial roads. But high streets on main roads are much safer and more attractive places to spend time and the centres of community life.
Pavements are finally free of clutter, smooth and even, making them accessible to everyone. Road space has been returned to people on foot or wheels and to plants. Thousands upon thousands of new street trees are playing their part to reduce summer temperatures and reduce flooding. And streets are places to rest and live a little: full of seating, community activity, art and intrigue.
In this environment, a 20 or 30-minute walk seems like nothing. People do not hesitate to fit walking into daily routines, appreciating the massive benefits it brings to their environment, health and happiness.
Not there yet
Even today, this walking city is beginning to emerge. In London, areas in City of London and Covent Garden are becoming more people-friendly. Low traffic neighbourhoods are beginning to emerge across the country. York has announced it will be car-free by 2023. Other cities are creating better connections between destinations. In Sheffield, for example, the pedestrianised, tree-lined Howard Street draws you from the rail station to the city centre on foot.
But such developments are rare and tend to be fragmentary. A new hierarchy of road users, now adopted in the Highway Code, puts pedestrians on top. But in practice, motorists get most the space and attention.
Motor vehicles took control of our cities with bad planning and misguided dreams from the 1950s. But UK towns are still being carved up by cars and their paraphernalia. In Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, an inner relief road recently smashed through the town at great expense to the public realm, even though there is already a ring road. Even in central London, where walking is the most common form of transport, parked cars crowd streets and signalised crossings have no pedestrian phase.
It is no surprise, then, that around a third of all car trips in London are under 2km, most of which could easily be walked in around 20 minutes.
A transition
Footways is part of the transition towards a post-car, people-friendly city. It creates both tools to shift habits and boost walking, plus a new vision that raises the profile of walking and helps towns and cities deliver better infrastructure.
Footways began as a project by Living Streets volunteers in central London. We linked key destinations, such as mainline stations, major cultural institutions and shopping areas, with London’s most attractive streets and public spaces.
We plotted our network of enjoyable and easy walking routes on Google My Maps and turned it into a paper map in September 2020, designed by Urban Good CIC and funded by Transport for London. We worked closely with organisations from across the city, including all central London councils, transport activists, universities, businesses, walk guides and map makers.
The map is the first to present the whole of central London from a pedestrian perspective. It shows how easily the city connects on foot, and how many journeys can be walked.
What does progress look like?
This map is beautiful and has been very popular. But this is just the beginning.
We will print more maps for central London
Working with Living Streets volunteers, we will help communities across the UK develop their own urban walking networks and share them widely.
We are exploring new digital options with partners, so routes can be accessed online and on phones.
We’d like UK attractions and destinations to include walking directions on websites and communications materials.
We’d like better, legible signage, so walking is the default and the norm.
But this is much more than about maps or way-finding. The Footways initiative will also lead to the transformation of streets.
Up until now, walking has been the forgotten mode: nominally at the top of many transport planning hierarchies but in reality overlooked, underrepresented and underfunded. The project will raise the profile of the humble pedestrian. And in boosting numbers on foot, it will create a greater constituency demanding change.
A new transport network also focuses decision makers’ minds. We have collaborated effectively with central and inner London councils to highlight the changes that people walking need. Our city-wide network also crosses political boundaries, to deliver widespread change.
Our next step is to work with tech companies to develop systems to log the barriers to walking and share them with transport authorities and influencers.
We also want the project to stimulate greater measurement of walking: not only so we can track progress, but so policy makers can truly understand what needs to change.
There has never been a better time for Footways. The UK Government's Decarbonising Transport Plan has set a target for half of all journeys in towns and cities to be walked and cycled by 2030. Walking is the ultimate form of sustainable transport, reducing both greenhouse gases and air pollution. It is the miracle cure, reducing risk of countless diseases and improving our wellbeing. And it’s the glue for communities. Nothing beats a walk to the shops and the chance to stop and chat to people we know.
People choose the mode of transport which is easiest and most attractive to them. Footways is about making walking that choice.
Our key achievements so far
Our first 10,000 print run funded by TfL was in great demand and almost gone.
Our basic Google My Maps digital version has been viewed 840,000+ times.
We have worked closely with TfL and the London Mayor’s office, all central London authorities, hospitals including Great Ormond Street, universities, rail operators and business improvement districts,
Coverage in Bloomberg, Sunday Times, BBC Radio, Monocle, Time Out, local press and specialist publications.
We are seeking new partners for the second print run of Central London Footways, with LNER announced as our first partner in September 2021.
