Walking the way to prosperity?

transport challenges for thriving high streets

Julian Dobson, director, Urban Pollinators

THE BIG QUESTIONSWHAT ARE TOWN CENTRES FOR IN THE 21ST CENTURY - AND HOW CAN THEY WORK BETTER?

WHAT IS A TOWN CENTRE FOR?A SHOPPING NIRVANA OR THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY?

How shopping is changing: a concentration of big brands, polarisation between the haves and have-nots, digitisation of products and services.

Retail-led regeneration? Some shopping trends:

1 Concentration: up to 80% of and high street leases will expire between 2014 and 2018. Big brands are retreating into prime locations.

2 Polarisation: Liverpool One brought investment of £1bn and 43,000 new shoppers into Liverpool. Meanwhile Bootle and Runcorn were named as worst performing centres in the northwest.

3 Digitisation: 12% of all UK sales were online in 2013. E-books now bigger than hardbacks in US.

The heart of the community? The Portas and Grimsey reviews pointed the way towards a different type of town centre - what we describe as the ‘21st century agora’.

KNOWNS AND UNKNOWNSDO WE NEED BETTER PARKING TO CREATE BETTER HIGH STREETS?

‘We want to see more parking spaces to help small shops prosper in local high streets and assist mums struggling with their family shop. We are standing up for local high streets.’

Eric Pickles, 2011

‘We understand that parking in town centres is a complex and highly charged issue, but we have found the evidence in this inquiry to be mostly anecdotal. There is a need to grasp the nettle by planning for the much longer term...’

National Assembly for Wales, 2012

‘In reality there is no such thing as a free parking space; someone, somewhere is paying for it.’ British Parking Association, 2013.

WALKING, SITTING AND SPENDINGIS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A TOWN’S WALKABILITY AND ITS PROSPERITY?

What does the research tell us?Evidence on the economic impact of different forms of access is patchy, but...

1 Pedestrians probably spend more: A study for London Councils found walkers and bus users spent £147 per month more than motorists in 2011 (Tyler, 2012).

2 Restricting parking may not deter visitors: An evidence review in 2006 questioned the assumption that restricting parking makes town centres less attractive (Marsden, 2006).

3 Prime shopping streets attract walkers: In Polk Street, San Francisco, half the visitors arrive by foot and only 15% by car.

Walkable town centres are better places to be: they encourage lingering, sociability and return visits.

The economy of caffeine: In Melbourne, the number of pavement café chairs rose from 1,940 in 1993 to 12,570 in 2009 (Gehl, Cities for People).

Walking as habit: Growing types of high street use (street food, hair and beauty, convenience stores, even betting shops) are more geared to pedestrians than drivers.

Walking as event: Public events in city centres attract thousands of people... on foot. And nearly two million came to the car-free ‘summer streets’ in Regent Street in July 2013.

QUESTIONS FOR POLICYMAKERSWHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE, WHAT NEEDS TO STAY THE SAME, AND WHY?

Modal shift: Is it time to rethink the town centre transport hierarchy?

Climate shift: What will make our towns least vulnerable to climate change, and most able to deal with its impacts?

Benefit shift: How can we make our high streets accessible to all and navigable by all?

But received wisdom can be hard to change...

‘We should hold a protest day: everyone use a bus, take the train or walk in but not give the council any income on parking.’- Irate motorist, Horsham, Sussex

WHAT KIND OF INVESTMENTS CREATE BETTER PLACES?

thank you

www.urbanpollinators.co.uk Twitter: @juliandobson