Thanks to Adrian Bell at TransLink, I had invitations to meet with some of the good people at Transport for London – the British capital’s TransLink. Prior to the meetings, I asked for some highlights of places I should see around London, and they quickly got back to me with a great list of highlights.
So I’m going to share it with you:
Clapham Old Town
At least three schemes to be seen in the area the old town; Venn street and a short bus ride to Van Gogh walk.
Clapham Old Town consists of a series of public realm improvements that aimed to reduce traffic dominance and provide a better environment for walking. The scheme followed the success of the conversion of Venn Street to shared space.
Van Gogh Walk was a community led scheme to create a new public space on a residential street – an urban park with sculptures and space for play.
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Cycle Superhighways – North/South and East/West, Cycle Super Highway 2 and Cycle Super Highway 1 (particularly Pitfield Street, Apex Corner and Leonard’s Circus)
Pitfield Street
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Quietway 1
Quietways will be a network of radial and orbital cycle routes throughout London. Linking key destinations, they will follow backstreet routes, through parks, along waterways or tree-lined streets.
The routes will overcome barriers to cycling, targeting cyclists who want to use quieter, low-traffic routes, providing an environment for those cyclists who want to travel at a more gentle pace.
Each Quietway will provide a continuous route for cyclists and every London borough will benefit from the programme. This network will complement other cycling initiatives such as the Central London Cycling Grid, Cycle Superhighways and Mini-Hollands.
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Royal College Street – one of the first schemes in London to use ‘light segregation’ (planters, rubber blocks and parking) to create cycle lanes. A traffic lane removed to create space for cycling, and enable the removal of an older bidirectional track that resulted in a high number of collisions at junctions.
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Tavistock Place – ongoing trial using light segregation to assess impacts/benefits of conversion to a one-way street for motor vehicles, allowing space to be reallocated to cycling. Prior to the trial cycle lane was bidirectional and very crowded.
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Vauxhall Walk Rain Gardens – pocket park incorporating sustainable drainage
Bonnington Square – reduced carriageway and extended footways provide space for outdoor seating and improve connectivity with community garden
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Aldgate – Aldgate is in the final stages of being transformed from a gyratory to two-way system, enabling the creation of a new public space.
Braham Street Park was created during an earlier phase of the project – the conversion of Whitechapel High Street to two-way freed up road space for the development of offices and new public space.
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Euston Circus or Holborn Circus – both these schemes have created new public space and improved the pedestrian environment by rationalising traffic movement through the junctions. Euston Circus is particularly notable as it has helped reduce pedestrian severance across one of central London’s busiest junctions
Regent Street, Glasshouse Street, etc – Public realm improvements, decluttering and enhanced pedestrian crossings along the length of Regents Streets. Smaller streets such as Glasshouse Street have also benefitted from public realm improvements. Ham Yard and Denman Place are examples of new development improving pedestrian permeability and unlocking neglected public spaces.
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Waltham Forest as the most progressed Mini Hollands.
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Tottenham Court Road – incorporates a new approach to limiting traffic (and managing freight) in the centre
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Documents
Better Streets Delivered 2 (new version to be published very soon)
UDL’s Slow Streets Source Book
London Cycle Design Standards
Improving the health of Londoners – Transport Action Plan
The four ‘Good Growth’ reports from the Mayor’s Design Advisory Group
These all look pretty neat. London’s a great city by bike – flat and not very windy. I hope your trip includes a lot of these places, and you can report back.
Anyone going to London should check out the New London Architecture Centre. It’s the city’s Urbanarium.