Car dependency is caused by a system that puts houses in unsustainable location.
Tag: Walking
Unseen power of engineers and transport planners
Guest post from Mark Philpotts, the founder of City Infinity,
What do we mean by good design?
Some examples of what we mean by good design.
The Swedish solution – sustainable transport and new apartments
Sweden has a shortage of new homes but on our visits we saw a very different way of addressing the problem. Two development areas on the outskirts of Uppsala, some 60 km north of Stockholm, were good examples of this completely different Swedish approach.
The photo opposite is a view is of new homes at Kungsängen, where a combination of rented and privately owned accommodation is being built. The homes are generally six-story apartments, built as a quadrangle around a communal green area. Shops and services are at street level below the living accommodation. Sustainable transport is at the heart of the development.
The new area of Kungsängen carries forward the traditional grid of streets, characteristic of older Uppsala, with apartments overlooking a street on one side and a green area on the other. You can see here how each green quadrangle is different and may include sports facilities, sitting out areas, playgrounds, trees and more. There are large balconies and views over newly planted trees. Since there is little traffic, the place seems pleasant and walkable. The area includes the new Anna Petrus park built by the Municipality of Uppsala, and created in collaboration with local associations for skateboarding and other outdoor activities.
By building apartments, albeit medium-rise, the density of population in the area is high. This means that local businesses are viable and many are located in the basement floor of the apartment blocks, such as this independent cafe and bookshop.
Municipal planners had early on decided that the fabric of the city and utility systems, must become more dense in order to meet climate and environmental requirements and demands for a high quality of life within the city. They have planned Kungsängen in detail with this in mind.
With sustainable transport integrated into every aspect of the development, much was to hand on foot or bike. For longer journeys across town, buses were frequent and affordable, and we were told by residents we spoke to that a car was not really necessary. However there was an underground car park for the residents in the block, and (in the winter) underground cycle parking too. Residents also had a basement area for personal storage and was an area for recycling too – no bins lining the streets!
The photo opposite is another new area of Uppsala called Rosendal. We travelled everywhere on modern buses although cycling would have been another easy option as cycleways were everywhere and part of a comprehensive network. Trams are also on the way to support the expansion of the whole area.
There were also frequent buses to favourite places to enjoy nearby forests and lakes, the idea being that enjoyment of nature is something that should be available to all citizens – you don’t have to drive.
The google view shows not only the arrangement of the apartments around streets, but also shows just some of the shops, restaurants and services that have opened in the new area. By building ‘in proximity’ not only are small businesses viable, but also public transport benefits from the high local demand for buses. Sustainable transport in Uppsala was it seemed, was increasingly becoming the usual way of travelling about and the planners were working hard with the town to keep it that way as thousands of new residents moved in. As explained in the vision ‘a well-developed public transport system will also promote equality, by allowing those residents who do not have a car to travel in comfort and safety’.
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What do we mean by bad design?
Some examples of what we mean by bad design.
New homes conveniently situated on the bypass
Join us on a visit to a new housing estate on the edge of Warminster.
Converting retail barns to housing
Conversion of large obsolete car dependent out-of-town retail barns to new uses looks good on paper.
New homes, wildflowers and a railway station: a visit to Kidbrooke Village
Kidbrooke Village is a large new development of some 4,700 homes in the borough of Greenwich, South East London. The development replaced the 1960s/ 1970s Ferrier Estate which was knocked down to build something completely different. The development is a partnership between local government, housing developers, and community stakeholders and consists of an interesting and unusual mix of high density development alongside new parkland and wildlife areas.
We walked to the development from the adjacent suburbs. The street-scape suddenly changed and there we were in Kidbrooke Village. It was a completely different place from the suburbs of the 1930s. Some of new homes were still in construction.
As we walked in, we noticed that there was a bus stop already in place in the area still being built. In Kidbrooke, public transport is an essential component. Parking is very limited for flats with many with no parking (although parking spaces can be paid for if needed). Town houses do have usually one space. It’s anticipated that people will use public transport, walking, cycling, scooters and car-clubs. And from what we could see, they do.
The number of affordable homes at Kidbrooke Village is planned at 35% (including 15% social rented). This is London and property has price tags to match. Town houses with allocated off-street parking and private gardens, offer luxury accommodation.
The accommodation in apartment blocks has the benefit of proximity and views of an extensive green area for walking, picnicking, playing, and enjoying wildlife right despite being in London. The idea is explained in the blog London Wildlife Trust: Bringing Kidbrooke alive with wildlife.
This area was popular with walkers and people sitting out. As explained in the London Wildlife Trust blog about Kidbrooke: ‘Developments don’t have to squeeze out wildlife. The benefits are clear: trees in urban areas improve the view, aid privacy, provide shade and help reduce pollution and flash flooding; community green spaces bring people together; and local parks and woods are valuable placeTs for people to walk, play and unwind in’.
The childrens’ playground has a reputation beyond Kidbrooke Village as a place to come to, with imaginative play equipment for different ages. You can walk to it easily from the new homes. But there are are other outdoor and indoor recreational facilities all within a short distance of the apartments. We found courts for tennis, football, basket ball and netball. There is also Artfix – a cafe, school, workspace and venue.
We saw parts of the development that looked almost European with parking hidden away beneath and streets that are freed more those on foot. There are modern bus stops right next to where people live, a big contrast to the fringe-of-town greenfield developments that we have visited where bus stops do not have a central position like this. There are number of bus routes serving Kidbrooke, including the 132, the 178, 286, 335 and B16.
When we visit new greenfield development we often get lost and there are no maps. But in Kidbrooke Village we found maps showing how far it was to walk to different places, and the location of bus stops and the railway station. The transport side of Kidbrooke village reflects its location in London and the importance that people living there place on sustainable travel.
Kidbrooke station is actually in the development with a square built next to its new entrance. Here we found a supermarket, street food sellers, cafe and a pub. Destinations by train include Blackheath, Lewisham (for the DLR), London Victoria, London Cannons Street and Charring Cross and going out of London, stations to Dartford and Gravesend
We also discovered a large wholefoods store by the station. With such a density development and with so many people living nearby a more specialist shop still thrives. It was interesting to contrast this situation with the very low density greenfield developments we have seen where the establishment of a local centre is difficult.
We caught the train back towards London, reflecting that all in all we found Kidbrooke Village to be an interesting and exciting development and were impressed at the combination of new town houses and apartments, greenery and trees, public transport and many local amenities that you could walk or cycle to. It was such a contrast to the enormous greenfield estates being built around our market towns which are car-based. Kidbrooke Village appeared to offer a different life style of local living and use of sustainable transport.
Wichelstowe: a visit to Swindon’s new urban extension
In May 2024 Transport for New Homes visited a new part of Swindon called Wichelstowe, a large urban extension which has been slowly built up over the last 18 years since it was given planning permission in 2006. Swindon centre itself appears to be in bad need of regeneration with the Brunel Shopping centre having suffered the loss of many businesses. We started from Swindon Station.
Wichelstowe as an urban extension began as a collaboration between Swindon Borough Council and Taylor Wimpey in 2002 to jointly fund and provide infrastructure needed for housing on what was known as Swindon’s ‘front garden’ between the town and the M4 motorway. It has its own Wichelstowe wiki page.
The Wichelstowe development is large – 324 hectares and has a very long and complex planning history. The development will eventually have 4,500 homes. The planning history of the scheme involves complex decisions on every aspect of the estate and the original masterplan has altered over the years.
East Wichel has a walkable and village-like feel. The ‘Wichelstowe Design Code’ — imposed by the planning authority, requires most houses to have a different external appearance: no more than two houses in a row look identical. The restrictions also require most houses to be behind a small railed front garden, whilst each parcel of housing must contain some larger houses, some cottage-style houses, and a barn-style apartment building.
The cycle ride from Swindon station took about twenty minutes. The development is not meshed with the streets of the existing suburban area, but is separate. Luckily we found a way across the green strip between the edge of town and the new estate and before long a group of new homes were welcoming us.
However some parts of the development like the one shown here, lack greenery, perhaps seen as too expensive to provide and maintain.
There is a small local centre in East Wichel with a convenience store and a restaurant and these are primarily designed for arrival on foot although there is parking. The inclusion of a small green area (in the distance in the photo) makes this part of the development feel more friendly. It was great to see an independent business in the development – a restaurant right in the centre. There is a playground and the primary school is incorporated into the development in a traditional manner on-street with limited parking. The pub is equally walkable to and handy for a quick visit.
After stopping at the pub for refreshment we followed the road to the other part of the development area, Middle Wichelstowe which is quite different from East Wichel. Whereas East Wichel has been designed for walkability and on a human scale, the more recent parts of this urban extension appear to be more around the car, in terms of road and junction space, and the general language of the scale of the layout.
The cycle ride to Middlewichel was on a long stretch of distributor road, with pavement, and at the end of it you could an area still partly in construction. Parents with small children were making their way along the road, presumably coming from the primary school and walking home.
The approach to Middle Wichel gives a view of the new secondary school there. The architecture in this part of the development is generally quite different from East Wichel and includes town houses as well as low-rise apartments. Roads are wide although with a 20 mph limit, but rather than a cosy parade of shops and eateries, the place seems to be centred on a very large Waitrose supermarket. The place is used by shoppers from far afield, because of the easy motorway access and the ample car-parking provided. A bus looks almost out of place at this scale of car-based development and seemed almost empty.
Near to the giant Waitrose was the Wilts and Berks canal and on its banks was a modern and landscaped bar and restaurant, making the best use of its waterfront position. It had a large car-park and obviously attracted people from a long way around the area. However may could walk.
Nonetheless the development has a reasonably good bus service for those who don’t drive or cycle (10-30 minute during the day from East Wichel to the town centre) but travel across Swindon to for example, employment areas, leisure centers, or the hospital is much faster by car than bus, because of having the change bus one or more times, and because Swindon is a low density town designed around link roads, distributor roads and roundabouts for the purpose of easy driving. That said the Swindon Bus Company runs some good cross-Swindon service from the newer parts of the Wichelstowe development and stop at the large Nationwide Building Society campus nearby too. We noted a first floor flat in a new apartment block for 200,000.
There were also a number of open spaces and these are being developed for the combined purposes of wildlife habitat and the enjoyment of residents – and there is the Wichelstowe ponds area by the M4 for walks and looking at swans, herons and other wildlife. A new access road is being built for the development. The southern access road, which crosses the M4 motorway to the east of junction 16, provides the fourth access to the Wichelstowe development .
The cycling route back into town ran along the canal for at least some of the way. The cycle route was great except that when it ended it was a matter of negotiating the traffic as usual.
A very different model of development
Freiham is specifically designed as a green and pleasant place for walking and cycling and for using public transport.