“Houston is one of the largest US cities. It’s experiencing a lot of growth in terms of population size.
There are a lot of folks moving down to Texas in general, and into Houston specifically. And so there’s a lot of infrastructure growth. The city and the local community recognizes that you can’t build a way out with freeways.
And so there’s a very big push to invest in transit, invest in sustainable modes, bikeways and more walkable communities. It’s a really great place to be. Houston has traditionally had the reputation of an oil and gas town, but it’s way more than that.
It’s a very cosmopolitan city, very diverse, very rich, with a lot of great industries here. And back to the transit and infrastructure side of things, there’s a big push to expand transit offerings, expand light rail, bus rapid transit, and make transit more accessible and usable.
The same goes for bikeways. Houston has over 1,800 miles of high-comfort bike lanes and natural trails. And so there’s a lot of investment, a lot of interest and a desire to really rethink how people travel around the city.”
From Conversations in Momentum: S3 #8 Conversations In Momentum – Hassan Madhoun on Momentum’s new US office, 4 Nov 2024
At the same time, refurbishment brings a range of transport challenges. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for any project we work on and this is especially true for refurbishment projects. Older buildings are likely to have service yards which are no longer fit for purpose, structural issues such as columns which can’t be moved, or car parks which are too small for modern vehicles, to name a few of the issues.
As one of the leading transport consultancies for commercial development in London, we are able to provide an integrated range of services to help refurbishment development proposals achieve planning consent.
Our bespoke services for refurbishment and retrofit schemes:
- Access strategies to inform masterplans and concept designs
- Travel planning
- Servicing and waste management strategies, including off-site deliveries
- Building operations modelling
- Integrated design review
- Expert advisory services to help achieve successful negotiations
- Collaboration with relevant authorities to achieve planning
- Active travel and cycle parking provision
- Vertical movement and transportation (people and vehicle lifts)
- Construction logistics
An example of one of these transport challenges is the dominance of the car – an issue that cities across the world are grappling with and an area that is being heavily debated in the UK.
According to Transport for London, road vehicles are the largest cause of air pollution in London, which both contributes towards climate change and can have negative public health impacts, including increasing rates of asthma, cancer and lung disease [1]. With the increasing need to ensure sustainability and reduce the effects of climate change, many cities are taking long-term steps to ‘reclaim their streets’ through policies intended to reduce car usage, increase pedestrianisation, and stimulate a rise in active travel.
So, how are different cities approaching the challenge of reducing the dominance of cars and giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists?
Barcelona, Spain:
In 2020, a decade-long plan was launched in Barcelona to tackle car dependence and reduce the city’s air pollution levels [2]. As part of this plan, one in three streets in the Eixample district, which suffers from high levels of pollution, will become green zones, with emphasis placed on promoting walking and cycling [2]. To stimulate a reduction in car dependence, the city introduced the superblock scheme in 2016 [2]. This scheme involves combining nine of the city’s blocks and closing them for through-traffic, as well as creating cycle lanes and expanding the public realm through increasing green space and providing play areas [3].
Freiberg, Germany:
Vauban, a small neighbourhood in Freiberg, has also taken steps to discourage personal car usage. Efforts have been made to reduce available parking spaces in Vauban, and cars are met with low speed limits of 3 miles per hour in parking-free areas [4]. These measures give priority to pedestrians, and consequently the neighbourhood is almost completely free of cars [5]. Vauban serves as a successful example of how walkable neighbourhoods can be created [6].
Hanover, Germany:
In September 2023, it was announced that Hanover aims to become ‘almost car-free’, with the city transformed by 2030 [7]. Through plans to reduce available parking in the city centre, introduce speeds of 20 km/h or 30 km/h, and expand cycling infrastructure, the Mayor hopes to reduce traffic congestion and car dependence in the city centre, creating a more sustainable and environmentally friendly city [7]. These measures aim to stimulate a rise in walking and cycling within Hanover.
Creating sustainable cities: lessons for the future
Achieving sustainability targets and reducing the impacts of climate change requires a significant reduction in emissions from road traffic. Although policies designed to remove cars from city centres will undoubtedly be met with opposition, important lessons can be learnt from Barcelona, Vauban and Hanover, as well as many other cities which have adopted similar measures to prioritise pedestrians. Pedestrianisation can improve environmental quality through reducing road traffic emissions, contributing towards climate change mitigation, and can also promote healthier lifestyles through encouraging an increase in active travel.
It’s great to be part of a company that shares this view!
References cited:
[1] Transport for London: ‘Air quality’. Available at: Air quality – Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk)
[2] Burgen, S. (2020) ‘Barcelona launches 10-year plan to reclaim city streets from cars’. Available at: Barcelona launches 10-year plan to reclaim city streets from cars | Barcelona | The Guardian
[3] Burgen, S. (2019) ‘Barcelona Is Taking Radical Steps to Ban Cars. Here’s Why’. Available at: Barcelona Is Taking Radical Steps To Ban Cars. Here’s Why. | HuffPost UK Impact (huffingtonpost.co.uk)
[4] Dimitropoulous, S. (2021) ‘This German neighbourhood has everything. Except cars.’ Available at: This German neighborhood has everything. Except cars. – Experience Magazine (expmag.com)
[5] Paterson, T. (2009) ‘Auto-ban: German town goes car-free’. Available at: Auto-ban: German town goes car-free | The Independent | The Independent
[6] Peters, A. (2019) ‘What can we learn from this thriving, car-free German neighbourhood? Get rid of parking spaces’. Available at: How Frieberg’s Vauban neighborhood created a car-free paradise (fastcompany.com)
[7] Judah, J. (2023) ‘Hanover will remove nearly all street-side parking and introduce 12mph speed limit in a bid to banish cars and turn the city into ‘a place to party and stroll about’’. Available at: Hanover will remove nearly all street-side parking and introduce 12mph speed limit in a bid to banish cars and turn the city into ‘a place to party and stroll about’ (msn.com)
As a result, there has been a sharp decline in private car use within the inner city. TfL reported in 2023 that in Central London car ownership rates fell by 14% in the 3 years between 2019 and 2022[1]. Even factoring in the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant modal shift away from private cars appears to be occurring – strongest in Central London.
Future developments, where well connected to public transport, must aim to be ‘car-free’ and maximum parking standards are helping ensure new car parks become relegated to suburban locations with low public transport connectivity. Existing parking infrastructure however, becoming steadily surplus to demand, offers an exciting opportunity for development.
This coincides with a recent push towards a retrofitting approach to development, due to concerns towards the volume of carbon resulting from the demolition and construction of new builds. This represents a break from past practice, whereby multi-storey car parks (MSCP) and other car parks have been razed[2], with the site seized for the construction of a shiny new building. In some cases, this is the most suitable route to go down, when the calculation between embodied carbon savings from a retrofit versus future operational carbon savings in a new building suggest demolition as the favourable decision.
The submission of retrofit development planning applications hit a record year in 2023 according to the City of London[3]. Recent proposed developments include The Brunswick Centre, where designs for an underground hotel in the underutilised former car park have been announced by developer Lazari and Axiom Architects[4]. The design will reportedly encourage a revitalisation of the space, whilst preserving the Grade II listed building’s character. Barriers to retrofitting often include concerns that plans will be limited by the existing infrastructure, without the customisation allowed in a purpose-built space. But, with a certain degree of ingenuity and flexibility, great spaces can be designed. At the Brunswick Centre plans include innovative circadian lighting to overcome the challenge of making an underground site an airy and pleasant place to stay.
Peckham Levels, a collection of 500 artists’ studios housed in a retrofitted 1960’s MSCP, offers a success story with the once underutilised space now a thriving community space. The project was completed in 2015, with the former history of the building visibly embraced into the new design created by architects Turner Works.
There is also an opportunity to use vacant and underused MSCPs to ease the increasing demand for safe and secure bicycle parking within cities. Whist a growing number of cycle hangers are addressing the residential demand for cycle parking, there remains the issue of parking at the endpoint of leisure and work journeys. Not only is on-street parking liable to theft, but it is also often unsuitable for larger cargo bikes and adapted cycles, deterring people from cycling. Parking operator Q-Park has sought to address this dilemma, partnering with bike parking provider SpokeSafe to build out spaces within three of their London car parks. In a future where bicycles are taking over traditional car travel, adapting car parking spaces to accommodate this shift could present an ideal solution.
Logistics hubs have previously thought to present a further key opportunity area for development within underused car parks, with the City of London draft Local Plan (2036)[5] identifying car parks as a ‘priority for use as last-mile logistics hubs’. This is not always a straightforward solution, due to low headroom and the local traffic impacts – but the idea has potential.
Exploring the realm of possibilities presented by repurposing MSCPs, raises additional questions: to what degree does their adaptability depend on contextual factors such as location, surrounding infrastructure, and architectural design? In which scenario are these factors the most optimal? How can the obstacle of limited headroom be overcome? Does them being underground or above ground have an impact? Addressing such inquiries would lead to a clearer understanding of when to pursue a retrofit approach and assist in identifying their most appropriate applications.
[1] Travel in London 2023 – Road traffic trends (tfl.gov.uk)
[2] https://www.dezeen.com/2019/05/10/demolition-starts-on-design-icon-welbeck-street-car-park/
[4] https://brunswickcentreconsultation.com/our-vision/
[5] City Plan 2036 (cityoflondon.gov.uk)
References
In addition to securing the huge increases in power and water supplies required by labs, transport planning plays a key role in addressing some of the key challenges these developments face, and ensuring that they are efficient and functional buildings aligned with developers’ sustainability goals.
Waste management
In designing operational waste strategies for offices, architects and developers alike know that deliveries come in, and waste in the form of paper and coffee grounds goes out. For a building accommodating life sciences labs, however, there is a little more to consider.
With a much broader range of material and types of waste, including clinical and potentially hazardous waste, being delivered to – and removed from – these sites, life sciences labs need bespoke delivery and servicing strategies to ensure this can be managed without impacting the operation of the wider development, and is safely contained.
In providing detailed forecasts for delivery types and vehicle numbers at an early stage, these strategies can be baked into building designs, ensuring sufficient capacity for deliveries is provided across as few vehicles as possible, and that all waste can be disposed of safely.
Operational emissions
The global urgency to combat climate change has spurred an unprecedented push toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions, both in the construction and operation of buildings. Developments accommodating life sciences, where energy-intensive laboratories and research facilities mean higher operational emissions, need to work harder in other areas to try to meet net-zero requirements. Transport planning must therefore be interwoven and linked with the design to reduce operational emissions for these developments. By encouraging building users to travel sustainably, operational emissions can be reduced significantly.
To do this, sustainable transportation options that align with a development’s net-zero goals must be integrated into the design, and promoted to building users.
The use of public transport and walking, wheeling and cycling should also be encouraged amongst employees to support the overall reduction of carbon emissions of a development. This can be done based on in-depth postcode and data analysis to understand where building users travel from, how they travel, and therefore how to encourage more sustainable and shared means of transport. People who live 50 miles from their place of work are unlikely to cycle all the way, but free access to folding bikes in the office or lab might make the train a more attractive option than the car.
To reduce the emissions of those travelling by car, the provision of electric vehicle charging stations, priority parking for electric and hybrid vehicles, and incentivized carpooling programs can collectively contribute to reducing the carbon impact of the transportation associated with a facility.
In addition to supporting a net-zero development, this can support health and wellbeing agendas, sustainability targets, staff attraction and retention, and improving the amount of space on site available for alternative uses.
By considering delivery and waste strategies and opportunities for building users to travel sustainably at early design stages, we can design buildings that are truly flexible, and operate smoothly and sustainably under the demands of these cutting-edge spaces.
In 2022, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department of Rural and Community Development jointly published Town Centre First, a new policy approach for Irish towns and villages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-term vision of the policy is to “create town centres that function as viable, vibrant and attractive locations for people to live, work and visit, while also functioning as the service, social, cultural and recreation hub for the local community.” This new policy approach has been complimented by the provision of funding to local authorities, in order to tackle the challenges of vacancy, car-dominance, and lack of vibrancy faced by many regional Irish urban centres. So what has Momentum’s experience been in this urban revival?
Creating spaces for people
Ireland’s towns and villages have lacked high quality public realm and pedestrian connections, instead prioritising ease of movement and parking for private vehicles. Momentum has rationalised how transport can contribute to creating a more human-centred urban experience. In Dunleer, together with BDP architects and Louth County Council, Momentum identified opportunities to make transport more sustainable, accessible, and safer for all users. Public consultation was at the core of this work, providing both local and national stakeholders the opportunity to shape their future transport and mobility experience. We made recommendations including improved pedestrian comfort and safer crossing points, which are highly transferrable across all of our typical work and highlight the value that public input can bring, across all developments, no matter their size or scale.
Bespoke transport planning
As Ireland continues to develop its catalogue of transport-related policy and guidance, Momentum has engaged in extensive bespoke and first principles transport analysis. This work involves the adaption of both Irish documents and the interpretation of non-Irish documents in a local context. Colbert Quarter in Limerick city provided the perfect opportunity to explore this work approach, with a concise set of transport inputs required for a complex and expansive site. Momentum developed a set of bespoke analysis tools, including a trip generation and transport specification, which contributed to a Delivery and Servicing Plan and the site masterplan. Flexibility in terms of work approach is something we should be striving to achieve in order to bring added value to the transport outputs produced.
Future-proofed transport solutions
A key aspect of Ireland’s urban renewal has been future-proofing transport infrastructure and non-vehicle mobility. This has given Momentum the opportunity to explore and propose novel and forward-thinking transport solutions. Ennis 2040 was one such project, with Clare County Council being presented with suitable locations in the town for Park & Stride locations, the aim of which are to allow town centre regeneration which is pedestrian-oriented. Solutions such as this provide an important reminder of the constant need for innovation and the potential to develop more revolutionary transport and mobility solutions.
All in all, Momentum’s experience in Ireland perfectly exemplifies our core value of placing people at the core of the transport and mobility work which we carry out, while also challenging us to continuously adapt and propose improvements as a company, and as individuals.
Click here to read more about Momentum’s work across Ireland.
How could mobility hubs be used to help bridge this gender gap?
Mobility hubs seek to bring together different modes of transport, such as shared transport, public transport and active travel, in one location. They make it easier for people to change between modes, see and access different sustainable transport options, and provide improvements to public spaces. Mobility hubs can be used as tools to address gaps and barriers to sustainable travel modes. Therefore, when considering barriers that women face to active travel, mobility hubs could consider the below in their design and location to better address women’s mobility needs:
- Integration with public transport and live travel information – Many of us feel vulnerable when we wait for a connecting service or walk places we don’t know. Mobility hubs minimise waiting times and walking distances between interchanges and destinations therefore enhancing sense of safety, with different sustainable transport options for the first/last mile of women’s journeys.
- Location – Mobility hubs should be located close to protected cycle infrastructure and well-lit routes to help address women’s safety concerns related to cycling and travelling at night. Locations should have natural surveillance and be close to final destinations to support women’s journeys, such as residential areas, schools and neighbourhood centres.
- Diversity of bikes and scooters – Women on average have a greater share of caring responsibilities, from looking after children to helping elderly relatives with their food shopping. These are hard to undertake on shared bikes and scooters which are primarily designed for males and commuting with small front baskets or no storage provision. Including shared cargo bikes, and bikes and scooters with larger storage baskets and child seats at mobility hubs would better respond to women’s needs, and raise the visibility of non-commuting travel and women cycling.
- Reserving cycles and parking spaces – particularly at night and for non-standard cycles. This would remove concerns related to not being able to find a docked parking space close to a destination, which can impact women’s personal safety if they have to search a wider area, parking in less secure areas with potentially longer walks to their destination. A guaranteed space at a dock or mobility hub of choice would help to provide a greater sense of security and safety for women.
- Integrated ticketing – women’s travel behaviour is different to men, often involving different modes of transport and trip chaining (multi-stop journeys), which can lead to higher travel costs for women. Smart and integrated ticketing across different modes, for example, via Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) which combines all transport information and payment into a single application, would reduce this financial disadvantage and encourage multi-modal travel at mobility hubs.
Mobility hubs could therefore help to better respond to women’s mobility needs and provide important linkages between sustainable modes in local contexts. This would help to support more women into active travel and in creating more inclusive and sustainable cities that benefit us all.
[1] https://www.sustrans.org.uk/media/10527/sustrans-2021-walking-and-cycling-index-aggregated-report.pdf
[2] Women’s Night Safety Report (li.me)
Refurbishing existing buildings offers a huge opportunity to reduce carbon and over the past two years we’ve seen an increase in the number of developers who want schemes to be reused as much as possible to meet planning policy requirements, as well as their own environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives.
At the same time, refurbishment brings a range of transport challenges. Older buildings are likely to have service yards which are no longer fit for purpose, structural issues such as columns which can’t be moved, or car parks which are too small for modern vehicles, to name a few of the issues.
The main challenge is the conflict between retaining an existing building and the preference for off-street deliveries and loading, together with the need for significant levels of cycle parking. We’ve found this challenge can be solved in many different ways and requires dynamic thinking.
Creating a dual-purpose space
One solution for off-street deliveries is to use vehicle lifts. Maintenance and contingency for when vehicle lifts are otherwise ‘out-of-service’ has deterred their more widespread use in the past, but with new technology and contingency designed in they can prove to be an ideal solution in confined spaces.
We recently worked on bespoke servicing access solutions for projects at 55 and 85 Gracechurch Street in the City of London. These sites have traditional basement floor service yards with non-traditional ground floor access and we recommended using two types of vehicle lifts, which are virtually hidden from view during the day and pop up or can be driven onto when they are needed for overnight servicing. This results in significant space saving for vehicle access and delivers prime public realm space with the potential to be used for other purposes.
The benefit of the ‘hidden’ vehicle lifts is that during the day there is a space that’s usable for the public realm, such as market halls or food vans. This is far more aesthetically pleasing than a service yard, and it means the space can be let out to generate income.
It’s a concept which has been well received in the City of London. The projects recently successfully passed through the planning process and there is interest from other developers and from the planning authority to see if similar schemes could work at other sites. To date, we have implemented these innovative solutions for redevelopment projects but as refurbishment projects are more increasingly common, we expect that this type of thinking will be prudent for the right site.
Different ways of doing deliveries
In other projects we have looked at ways to reduce the number or type of vehicles that need to use loading bays.
At one building, where the off-street loading bay is compromised, we are targeting 75% of last mile deliveries being made by cargo bike instead of vans, for example. The project has been granted planning permission and the concept of using cargo bikes was well received by the local authority.
Some local authorities in London are already stating the maximum number of vehicles that can come to a site on a daily or weekly basis and are stipulating that a certain amount of deliveries to a site goes through a consolidation centre (meaning that multiple deliveries are consolidated onto a single vehicle before they reach central London) – driving the agenda to reduce vehicles in city centres. Whilst the stipulation of maximums is not a new concept, the key difference now is that these restrictions are being inserted into the Section 106 planning agreement – providing a stronger legal framework to ensure the development implements the operating conditions.
Cycle parking solutions
Today’s standards for cycling parking can be a challenge on a refurbishment scheme with a basement that was built in the 1960s, 70s or 80s. Depending which assumptions you use, you could be providing 25% to 40% cycle mode share.
In some cases, such as Portland House in Westminster, we’ve benefited from a large area of redundant car parking which can be turned into cycle parking. In others, we’ve used space-efficient vertical stacked parking systems and lockers for folding bikes.
We carried out research within the City of London across various surveys and have identified that between 6-11.8% of commuting cyclists are currently using folding bikes during commuting peak periods. With the continuing growth in their use and popularity, we would like to see a further allowance for folding bikes (beyond the current 10%) to be considered or provided in the right areas and circumstances – particularly as they are good space savers for constrained and refurbished sites.
But sometimes the solution can be having a sensitive discussion with the authorities to discuss the challenges of refurbishments and whether some leniency can be applied.
We always endeavour to have good relationships with local authorities and we have worked with officers on many different schemes in city centres, which have successfully been through planning approvals.
Overall, in our experience, the environment has a huge role to play in which solution works best. Every site we have worked on in central London has been unique. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for any project we work on and this is especially true for refurbishment projects.
It’s really exciting to see a new piece of infrastructure being built, which very closely follows the principle we love to see of development being focused around excellent access to public transport. Residents of the new homes on the doorstop of this station will have fantastic access to a frequent rail service into central London, with direct access also provided to the centre of Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich.
The scale of works is mind-blowing, with costs to match – £218m funding was secured from the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), together with £34m from the South-East Local Enterprise Partnership and the Beaulieu developer, Countryside Zest. It’s an excellent showcase to demonstrate that new development coupled with new public transport infrastructure can happen. Station facilities will include:
- three station platforms
- access to platforms via lifts
- accessible toilets and baby changing facilities
- ticketing facilities
- 500 cycle parking and storage spaces
- bus interchange
- dedicated taxi bays
Construction is set to be completed in December 2025 – I can’t wait to see trains stopping at the new station. I’ll even contemplate whether I can extend the part of my commute I do by bike to travel via the new station – on the odd occasion!
In that respect, residential development might be considered a particularly hard nut to crack. Take a look at most out-of-town housing developments (and some urban developments too) and you’ll find there is either a requirement, or an expectation, to provide (often multiple) car parking spaces for each dwelling.
Inner-city ‘residential park and ride’
We recently worked on a high-level feasibility study for a large residential masterplan. With residential units in the centre of a city well-known for having peripheral park and ride sites, and the developer looking to avoid having car parking in the development, we struck on the idea of ‘reverse park and ride’. Using this approach residents would park their car at a ‘park and ride’ site on the edge of the city and travel by bus to reach their home. Possibly even more appealing in our current economic climate, would be to give residents the option to not own a car at all, but instead to have access to cars via car clubs at the park and ride site. And taking the idea one step further, how many bus journeys could be replaced altogether if we substituted buses with cycle paths and secure cycle parking at the park and ride site?
It’s a different solution which could combine health, climate and economic benefits. For developers this type of thinking could represent a real opportunity to maximise value for money from a development – increasing residential density without having to lose space for car parking. By taking away car parking, which would traditionally be provided within a basement in the city centre, the need to excavate basements could also be removed. Similarly, removing parking spaces at ground level frees up space for public realm or further residential development. Reduced car parking means lower demand which leads to less space being used for roads.
Town to country
Stepping outside of the city centre context, we know that there are challenges. But there are still opportunities for strategic transport thinking.
We’re currently considering strategic residential development, and how we could apply a ‘Center Parcs-style’ approach. Visitors to Center Parcs have very limited access to take a car to their lodge. Once luggage has been dropped, the car is parked in a large, remote (and inconveniently located) car park. As a result the car is used less than usual – it likely sits in the car park for the duration of the stay; it’s sometimes the first time guests at Center Parcs realise how little they miss their car when key amenities are conveniently located. The convenience factor of a car being parked outside on the drive is taken away – in that situation, do we walk or cycle instead if we’re nipping to the shops for a loaf of bread?
So, how might we apply that approach to new residential development?
Continuing the Center Parcs analogy, how could things be different if instead of a leisure complex, a public transport interchange such as a rail station was located at the centre of a masterplan? When we start to think about these kinds of changes, we’re addressing how we might start to take down barriers to our habitual behaviours; when we’re making decisions about how to travel on a longer journey, do we travel five to 10 minutes to get access to our cars – or might we prefer to walk for five minutes to get to a rail station and travel by public transport?
Strategic thinking for strategic sites
Of course, transport planning isn’t quite so simplistic. We’re not only experiencing a ‘climate crisis’ at the moment – we’re also (in the UK) in the midst of a severe housing shortage and a cost-of-living crisis. The overriding need – certainly in southeast England – is to provide more housing, and this unfortunately means it’s easy to continue providing very car-dependent communities. No-one would dispute the need for housing, but we think it’s time to move away from ‘housing at all costs’ towards a balance of taking new ideas and working harder to try and provide developments with less dependency on the car.
At a high level, for strategic sites this requires political will and strategic thinking. It means thinking through the location of a strategic residential development site and placing it close to a rail line, where there might be the potential for a new station and the opportunity to link into public transport networks. It means ensuring that significant infrastructure investment is realised and in place in time for first occupation so that travel habits based around the car do not become established. And, it means coupling with a low-car strategy; putting additional measures in place that make using the car less attractive in combination with offering a great alternative, like a new station and ‘reasonably-priced’ public transport.
It could mean incentivising ultra-sustainable access developments. For example, might the merit of a site located very close to an existing railway station be reflected through the planning process to acknowledge and promote the potential for measures that reduce private car demand?
On a human scale it means thinking about what people really want. We believe that more and more people are looking for the flexibility to be less reliant on their car. We know that there are practical issues to consider in day-to-day life. It’s a big ask for a family with young children, and a carload of pushchairs and shopping, to park a 10-minute walk away from home. But that’s where the detail comes in and we start to consider bespoke strategies, such as occasional access to the front door for say two or three nights per week, or maybe even per month.
It’s all about starting the journey, step by step – looking to try and be more sustainable, to try and improve the quality of lived experience that people have and give people other options that are not reliant upon using private cars, but still give access to the car when needed. And that’s what we mean by ‘turning the dial down’.
