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The tangled web of planning for active transportSteven Burgess, MRCagneyAITPM, July, 2015

sburgess@mrcagney.com @burgess_steven

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Is this an issue ?Are traffic engineers the problem?

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What are Streets?Exchange more important than movement;A place not a link;Most important element of the open space network;May or may not carry vehicles;Supportive of adjacent land use.

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What are Roads?

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For movement more than exchange;A link, not a place;Part of the movement network, not open space;Derives its economic benefit for efficient movement over distance.

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The Link and Place model has to evolve Land Use has a big influence on streets.

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Street or Road?Designing a street as a road squeezes out active transport

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Who are we making them safe for?

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Dealing with safety on roads

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What about safety on streets?

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We cant deal with it the same way.

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The “straight” myth

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Street design criteria?How important are:

Truck turning paths?Clear zones?Building setbacks?Pavement widths?

How important is:Shade?Gathering/play space?Walkability?

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Designing for health?Obesity is now the leading cause of premature death and disability

Sedentary lifestyles and environments that don’t support physical activity increase the prevalence of chronic diseases

Health system’s most important challenge, as 65% of adults will be overweight or obese by 2020.

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Building Active Healthy Communities

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Do we respect the devastating impact that designing for cars has on our health?

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Safety v Health

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Consequence of making car travel “safe”?Consequence of road safety principles being applied to streets?User hierarchy in streets.Are our kids growing up in vital, active, happy safe streets?

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Role of traffic engineers?Make streets safe for cars, trucks, buses and trams?

Make streets safe for active transport?Streets contributing to healthy neighbourhoods?

Streets supporting adjacent land use?Streets as a key part of open space network?Streets we can afford?Streets people enjoy!

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Designing Streets as Roads?

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Street based communitiesThe secret to active transport demandIntegrated land uses. Provide a network of interconnected streets designed for all users but give priority to pedestrians and cyclists. Locate neighbourhood centres at the intersection of major streets to provide retail exposure.

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User Hierarchy

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The hierarchy illustrates the priority of consideration for each use in a street:

pedestrianscyclistspublic transport usersmotorists.

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Street Hierarchy

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Streets are classified according to the places they serve. Those places determine the role and function of the street.

main streets mixed-use streets streets for living industrial streets movement streets

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Main StreetsActivity is central to surrounding community;Accommodates retail, employment, leisure, education etc.;Active throughout the day and into the nightNot isolated to cities;Residential amenity not normally an issue.

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Mixed Use Streets

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Mix of residential, commercial and retail;Occasional services and community uses;Wide variety of uses;Must retain some residential amenity.

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Living Streets

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Predominantly for livingAlso contain incidental shops, school, home office;Places to walk, meet, cycle, play etcAlso can convey vehicle trafficAmenity for living a priority

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Name these street types (and why)

Main Street

Mixed Use Street

Living Street

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What type of street is this?

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ParkingParking is a key element in active transport:

balance on-street and off-street parking supplydesign parking that is accessible and not obstructive to usersmake parking aesthetically acceptableuse parking to separate users of the streetmanage parking turnover to improve - and not detract from - street vibrancymanage short-term parking to avoid impacts on other street users.

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Intersections – what are your priorities?

Pedestrian friendlyBicycle friendlyBus friendly

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A New Street Design Process

A new design process

Land Use

Function

Form

Prototype

Don’t provide a supply of street space based on a future traffic demand, as we would in a road design…

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Get purpose and function right before moving on to form

Street design is not road design Street hierarchy and road

hierarchy are not related The traffic model is your slave,

not your master Link, place, origin and destination

are inextricably linked

Parking is just a traffic generating land use

Find some touchstone exemplar Streets – keep asking yourself, “Why do I like them?” “Why are they good?”

Make communities, not just suburbs

Allow the land use to prosper – to be excellent

Touchstones to encouraging places for active transport