Property developers have been accused of hampering efforts to lessen Londoners’ car usage, by failing to design homes in a way that encourages other types of travel.
Nicolas Bosetti, research manager at Centre for London, a think tank, said the capital is “on the brink of a new age of urban mobility”, but property developers and planners are “locking citizens into 20th-century patterns of car ownership” by giving space and investment over to private car parking spaces.
“Developers and planners should design for new urban mobility – favouring flexibility, supporting walking, cycling and public transport use, minimising car parking and enabling its adaptation over time,” said Bosetti, launching a new paper on the topic by Centre for London.
In many cases, Bosetti claimed, developers and local authorities simply lack the expertise to make sure their new homes are sustainable and adaptable to future transport innovations.
Spaces as a service
Bosetti, along with co-authors Joe Wills and Erica Belcher, noted London mayor Sadiq Khan’s goal of having 80% of journeys in the city made on foot, by bike or on public transport by 2041. However, they added, the rate of progress on this front during the past five years means it could take until 2070 for the target to be hit.
The Centre for London team cited a recent survey from Transport for London, which found that residents of new developments were more likely to have off-street parking than those in existing homes, and were more likely to own a car than the general population of London.
To speed up the rate of change in Londoners’ travelling habits, the report argues, greater efforts need to be made to ensure that new housing developments have superior public transport connections.
Between 2017 and 2018, a little over a third of market-rate housing completed in London was in the best-connected parts of the city, the report says, compared with just 8% of affordable housing developments.
Effective initiatives could include switching away from giving residents permanent ownership of a car parking space, and instead allowing them to be leased on short-term memberships. The report also suggests that parking spaces be designed in a way that will allow them to be converted easily for other uses, including storage, delivery collection points, additional bicycle parking or new housing or workspace.
On your bike
Roger Madelin of British Land, which sponsored Centre for London’s report, said: “While car ownership in London for some age demographics is falling fast, our city still needs to reduce car usage dramatically if we are to make London more productive, safer, cleaner and a place where the percentage of journeys by bike, foot and public transport are dramatically increased.”
Madelin, who is joint head of British Land’s planned mix-use development at Canada Water, SE16, said the company would work with Southwark Council and Transport for London to “encourage and facilitate the modal shift away from the car” at the scheme, which will have 3,000 homes and workplaces for 20,000 people.
“Great new streets and public spaces designed for the pedestrian and the cyclist first, combined with car-free homes, will ensure that this new urban area gets off to the best start,” Madelin added.
Centre for London’s 10-point approach to designing for “new urban mobility”
- Base masterplans on active travel and public transport
- Use street layouts to prioritise active travel
- Limit parking provision and locate strategically
- Enable easy interchanging
- Provide electric charging infrastructure
- Consolidate local freight
- Offer shared mobility service memberships
- Ensure buildings are easily adaptable
- Future-proof parking
- Create dynamic streetscapes
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