Transcript Professor Peter Jones, UCL - From urban roads to living streets

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From Urban Roads to Living Streets:
Making the Change
Peter Jones
Professor of Transport and Sustainable Development
Keynote Speech: Living Streets Annual Supporters Conference, June 2013
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Contents
• My role and aims
• Roads Task Force Report – a great opportunity
• Some recent research findings:
–
–
–
–
Traffic signal removal and pedestrians
Streets as interchanges
Street activities
Mapping furniture footprints
• Taking stock
– Gaps in knowledge
– Opportunities and allies
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My role and aims
• Role: the EC’s ‘critical friend’ model
• Aims:
– Highlight opportunities created by forthcoming RTF
report
– Show examples of wealth of research to draw on,
alongside practical experience
– Encourage closer working between activists and
academics
– Propose a future challenge
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Roads Task Force (RTF) report
• Set up by the Mayor to take a long-term look at
the needs of London’s roads – independent panel
• Report due to be launched on 10th July
• Key messages:
– Most London roads are ‘streets’, with multiple functions
– This is MUCH more than just about vehicle movement
– Quality of public realm and street experience crucial to
continuing success of London as a global leading city
– Can’t continue to ‘compromise’ all the time
The RTF has identified six road/street functions
A Family of ‘Street types’
MOVEMENT
Strategic significance
Bringing them together: London’s street family
ARTERIAL ROAD
CITY HUB /
BOULEVARD
HIGH ROAD
HIGH STREET
Local significance
CONNECTOR
LOCAL STREET
CITY STREET
LOCAL
DISTRICT
SPECIALIST
TOWN
SQUARE/STREET
Local significance
CITY PLACE
Strategic significance
PLACE
6
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Implications
• This is important because:
– It recognises that streets have multiple functions,
emphasising many things that Living Streets has been
promoting for a long time
– It gets way from the ‘one size fits all’ mentality: vehicle
traffic is NOT always the first priority
– It gives full weight to Place/Living street functions
– This requires new approaches to sensitive street design
and community engagement – again, where Living
Streets has much to offer
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Workshop 1: Local Stakeholders
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‘Conventional’ approach to street design
Residential
area
District shopping
centre
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‘Balanced’ approach to street design
Residential
area
District shopping
centre
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Sample of research findings
• Impacts of traffic signal removal on pedestrians
(Clare Woodcock)
• Streets as interchanges (Ian James)
• Street activities (Lucy Godfrey)
• Mapping street furniture footprints (Rachel
Palfreeman)
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Signal removal: four case study sites
Wyndham Way junction
with High Street
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Changes in pedestrian behaviour
Pedestrian
Flow
Composition
Cabstand/ Wyndham
Way
Wyndham Way/
High Street
Jermyn Street/
Duke Street Saint
James
Ruislip Road East/
Greenford Avenue
The same
Increased
Increased
Decreased
Changed by a small amount, not statistically significant.
Formal and
informal
crossing
Informal crossing
increased.
Informal crossing
increased.
Informal crossing
increased.
Informal crossing
decreased by
significant
percentage (-16%).
Delay
Decreased in HPHV
and LPHV, increased in
LPLV.
Decreased during
LPHV and HPHV
conditions, and
remained the same
during LPLV.
Increased during
two conditions:
HPHV, LPLV and
remained the same
during LPHV.
Increased during
all four conditions.
Crossing
Speed
Decreased during all
conditions
Increased during
LPLV, remained the
same during HPHV
and LPHV.
Increased during
all conditions
Increased during
all conditions.
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Junction safety
Accident
Statistics
Cabstand/
Wyndham Way
Wyndham Way/ High
Street
No accidents
before or after.
Number of accidents
increased after the
signals were removed.
- No pedestrian
accidents.
Jermyn Street/
Duke Street Saint
James
One accident before,
one accident after.
No pedestrian
accidents.
Ruislip Road East/
Greenford Avenue
Six accidents before, two
were pedestrian/ vehicle
collisions. No accident
information available after
signal removal.
Pedestrian perceptions: Ealing
Question: How acceptable was your wait time?
Question: In comparison to before the signals were removed do
you feel:
4%
4%
5%
Acceptable
13%
About the same
12%
43%
Too Long
Far too
long
No answer
79%
Less Safe
More Safe
No answer
40%
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Conclusions
• Clear benefits to vehicles from removing signals
• Junction layout key influence on pedestrian impacts
• Traffic signal removal is most appropriate where there are
equal numbers of pedestrians and vehicles, and where
vehicle speed is relatively slow.
• Least appropriate at junctions where there are dominant
vehicle movements in which removing control might
encourage increased vehicle speeds.
• Removal of signalised control should be considered alongside
traffic calming measures such as chicanes, raised tables,
speed bumps or lower speed limits.
• Provision for vulnerable pedestrians, particularly for the
mobility impaired remains a key concern because without
signal facilities, vulnerable pedestrians may be unable to
cross the junction.
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Streets as ‘interchanges’
Public Transport Usage After Alighting a Bus
Overground Rail
Bus
Tube
Walk
Other
Tooting Broadway, South London
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Levels of bus-to-bus interchange, Route 333
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Asymmetrical bus passenger flows, Tooting
Broadway
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Range of footway users….
Striders – ‘traffic’
Traders
Customers
Browsers
Queuers
Entertainers
Socialisers
Observers
Waiters
Resters
Inhabiters
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The Variety of Street Activities…
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Street activities: Great George Street
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Range of footway services
• Retail services (stalls, paper sellers, etc.)
• Communications (phone & post boxes)
• Cash point machines
• Public transport services (shelters, info.)
• Public amenity (seating, toilets, bins,…)
• Public art and greenery
• Wayfinding and traffic regulation
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What is a street furniture ‘footprint’?
Bus shelter and footprint
Street space available is therefore reduced
Bin and footprint
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Some street furniture ‘footprints’
Cycle stand
Size of Furniture Total Footprint
(width x length)
0.10m x 0.60 m 0.60m x 1.30m
Bench
0.48m x 1.06m
1.18m x 1.18m
Rubbish bin
0.50m x 0.50m
1.20m x 1.50m
Bus stop area
1.30m x 3.25m
2.40m x 3.90m
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Taking Stock: Gaps in knowledge
• Vehicle movement is well research and applied:
–
–
–
–
Full design standards
Quantitative performance measures
Comprehensive modelling capability
Extensive appraisal of benefits
• Less is understood about pedestrian movement
• Virtually NOTHING is known about street activity:
– No established design standards
– No robust ‘performance measures’
– No modelling and appraisal
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Taking Stock: Where do we stand?
• “Living streets” chimes with the times, so a good
start! But, this is about much more than ‘pedestrians’!
• Most work on streets still on a modal basis, not
holistic, and
• General reference to ‘encouraging walking and
cycling’
• And the balance of attention??
– 80% cycling
– 15% walking
– 5% street activity
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Opportunities and Allies
• Scope for academics, practitioners and activists to work
closer together – while recognising each others’ agendas
• RTF report provides a good basis for moving forward –
putting the ‘living’ back into streets!
• It recognises the key importance of streets as ‘places’
and the need to raise street quality and foster street
activity
• Many powerful groups support this change of emphasis –
health, developers, retailers, etc.
• But streets need ‘champions’ and ‘custodians’, who
cherish the diversity of urban streets and their functions
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Opportunities and Allies
• Scope for academics, practitioners and activists to work
closer together – while recognising each others’ agendas
• RTF report provides a good basis for moving forward –
putting the ‘living’ back into streets!
• It recognises the key importance of streets as ‘places’
and the need to raise street quality and foster street
activity
• Many powerful groups support this change of emphasis –
health, developers, retailers, etc.
• But streets need ‘champions’ and ‘custodians’, who
cherish the diversity of urban streets and their functions
….is this where YOU come in?