鈥淚t鈥檚听about changing the focus of a street to be a street for people rather than a street for vehicles.听You can reduce volumes of traffic, reduce speed of traffic, and increase the space for social interaction as well. Often streets have narrow pavements and lots of cars, but if you can tweak the form, you can create听different sorts of environments, which听I'll听be touching on at the Walking Summit.鈥澨
Simon says we tend to measure the success of transport based on how fast we can get to and from. He believes there is another way we can look at how to get from A to B.
鈥淭he traditional way of looking at transport is听you鈥檙e听almost rewarded for the speed of the journey, but what we听actually know听is that you can get multiple benefits when you听actually slow听the journey down a bit.鈥
While walking emits no pollution and is good for your health, he听says the benefits of walking go beyond听this,听creating听safer roads,听closer communities, and听tight-knit听neighbourhoods.听
鈥淭here's听an increasing body of research saying that if you can do things near where you live, so if听have听amenities听10 minutes or 15 minutes or 20听minutes walk听away, you听will听actually get听these听benefits.听It鈥檚听all about walkability distance.鈥澨
Simon says听while the research is there, there still needs to be a mass shift in mindset听to get most people doing it.听
鈥淟ike many societies,听we've听become car dependent. And听that's听not a criticism of anyone's behavior.听It's听a reality that people听have to听drive everywhere.听
鈥淭he irony with walking is people go on听holiday听and they go walking.听So,听we're听actually trying听to encourage people to do something they inherently quite like.鈥澨
He听says听one听reason we听don鈥檛听have enough pedestrians is that for local听journeys, the walkways are not pleasant.听听
鈥淲hat听we're听trying to do is just make something people want to do pleasant to do, to help enhance well-being and听foster inclusive streets.听That听means creating nice environments and slowing traffic down and trying to reduce traffic where possible, to make environments听safe and听interesting to walk through.鈥
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