A Cycling Revolution? Half a century of catching up to do

A quiet cycling revolution has taken place in Berlin during the last ten years. The proportion of people commuting by bike has doubled to over one in four during the last decade. This article in Planning for London 97/16 sets out ten lessons for London from the (only) three countries with the highest cycling modal shares in the western world, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, each with half a century of targeted cycling provision.

Physical and spatial differences 
The historical, physical and legal framework in the three countries are very different from the UK, and high cycling modal shares in the UK are only possible with both physical and legal changes. The extensive network of footpaths and their legal status have also had a detrimental effect on the gradual fall, to the low levels of cycling, for the last two thirds of a century. The layout of private and public developments throughout London has in many places resulted in large no-go areas for cyclists.

THE IMAGE shows a typical road junction with bicycle paths in four directions, with standard road markings for this type of junction in North Rhine-Westphalia. Often only white dashed lines are used on the roadway within the junction, while red asphalt, bricks or concrete pavers are used only on the pavement itself. Cars are required to give way to both cyclists and pedestrians at all times when turning. Similar road junction design is used throughout Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. And maybe soon throughout London and the UK?

Legal and behavioural differences 
The doubling of commuting by bike to more than one in four in Berlin during the last decade may have five main causes.

The level of bike ownership is also different in Berlin, where 1 in 2 own a bike, compared to 2 in 5 who have access to one in the UK. Further, cycling in Berlin is encouraged by a dense network of segregated street bike paths at pavement level. At traffic light controlled junctions, drivers give way to both pedestrians and cyclists before turning.

Lessons from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands are plentiful, and could ideally be adopted and learned within a few years.

• PIL 97/16
• A cycling revolution? 2 page article PDF

Central London Buses – Towards 2030

Is it time for selected Central London streets to be reserved for pedestrians, cyclists and red-route-buses only?
The London bus network as we know it dates back to the creation of the Greater London Council in 1965 and the introduction of the congestion charge in 2003 and some bus routes have existed in a similar format for over a century.

The amount of car, van and lorry traffic in London and the numbers of inhabitants and bus passengers have increased considerably in the twelve years since 2003. Very little has been done to remedy the impact of more road traffic on the bus network, except for adding more buses. The opening of Crossrail 1 in 2018/19 will be an opportunity to deliver a revised bus network, preparing for the 2020 decade. This article in Planning for London 95/15 sets out four strategies for delivering a mid twenty first century bus system, fit for an estimated ten million inhabitants of London in 2029.

The above figure shows how 19 miles of trunk or red-bus-routes in Central London could operate after the opening of Crossrail 1 within zone 1. The figure shows five 24 hours red-bus-routes where buses would run at high frequency throughout the day and evening (every 3-5 mins), separated from car, taxis and vans. Noticeably, there are only two routes running along Oxford street, east and west of Tottenham Court Road respectively and at only three places do two routes run in parallel.

• PIL 95/15
• Central London Red-Bus-Routes 3 page article PDF

Basements & House Extensions

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames has issued a Good practice guide on basement developments that I edited and wrote together with their planning policy manager. It provides advice on both planning as well as non-planning matters, and covers permits and requirements, and local amenity, construction and design issues, summarised below.

Richmond has also issued a revised SPD on House extensions and external alterations that I prepared together with their deputy development manager and planning policy manager.

I also aided Richmond in updating their Local validation checklist as well as prepared internal guidance on conversion of office to housing and play space provisions whilst there.

Further information

• Good Practice Guide on Basement Developments (2015) (pdf)
• House Extensions and External Alterations SPD (2015) (pdf)

Crossrail 2+3

The rectangular shape of Central London is best served by Crossrail 2+3 running diagonally east-west, intersecting once with all the other tube lines as well as with the Overground line. Spacing out stations at 2 kilometre intervals, allows most of Central London to be served directly by Crossrail, without passengers changing to reach their final destination. Similar to Crossrail 1 and Thameslink (TL), Crossrail 2+3 may fan out to serve Outer London, the airports of London and selected large towns outside London. With the possibility of doubling or tripling the capacity a generation after Crossrail 2+3 open, there may be less need for further increases to tube and train capacity throughout Inner London until the middle of the 21st century. This article in Planning for London 93/15 sets out eleven principles that may prove Crossrail 2+3 to be excellent value for money and to serve London for generations to come.

London 2050 AD
Whether London will continue to experience growth the next 15-25 years similar to the last 15-25 years is impossible to predict. What is more certain, is that boom and bust come in cycles, and that meagre years often follow richer years. No one can foresee what London will be like a generation from now, but looking back a generation, London has changed enormously since 1980 and may continue to do so for yet another generation. We may not see flying cars, personal planes or helicopters – but double decker trains or trams, electric bikes and cars, shared bike and car clubs, and automatic trams, tubes and trains may all be the norm rather than futuristic oddities – linking ten million Londoners with new garden cities, new towns and additional runways, encircling a federal UK capital.

• PIL 93/15
• Crossrail 2+3 4 page article PDF
• Coastal cycling

Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City

A Garden City for a Post Car Era

The above figure shows the theoretic layout of a typical 300 x 300 metres neighbourhood of the Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City, here a little altered to show the three districts of the city within one figure. Three mixed-used blocks are shown at top right. Two (twin) terraced housing blocks on either side of the local park in middle. Two semi-detached housing blocks at left and bottom. There is a communal garden, rooftops and a children's play space within all blocks. A flexible mixed use local educational, pre-school and civic centre is shown at bottom left, with sports courts at roof top level and in the local park. The terraced housing blocks consist of 2+2 or 3 storey houses, the former with either a garden or a roof terrace, the latter with both. All car parking is curbside parking in tree lined streets, longitudinal in main streets and perpendicular in side streets. The main streets surrounding the nine blocks have cycle lanes and roundabouts ever 300 metres.

UrbanPilot 2©16	THE LIVELY, BIKEABLE & ZERO CARBON GARDEN CITY
URBAN VISION	90,000 residents, 40,000 homes and 64 parks within approx one mile radius or 2x2 miles, 20 mins walking and 10 mins cycling distance of a central train station
NEIGHBOURHOODS	Neighbourhoods of 7-10 blocks 100x100 metres with 400-700 homes and 1000-1600 residents surrounding a local or larger park
THREE DISTRICTS	Inner urban apartments and mixed use (144-72 dw/ha), middle terraced (68 dw/ha) and outer semi-detached (30 dw/ha) concentric districts
HOUSING VARIETY	Wide selection of apartments, (twin) terraced and semi-detached houses as owner occupied, shared ownership (for both first time buyers and the elderly) and rented
LIVELY STREETS	All streets with wide tree-lined pavements and curb-side parking. 1 in 3 streets with segregated raised cycle lanes. Flexible ground floor use
CYCLING & WALKING	9 out of 10 intra-city journeys by cycling or walking. Typical journeys lengths of less than ⅔ mile to the train station for 5 of 6 residents. Smaller blocks to encourage walking
DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS	Building rights allocated annually to teams of developers and designers to construct residential, commercial and civic buildings and adjacent streets and parks
JOBS & SERVICES	Most commercial, civic and retail uses and jobs within half a mile of the train station
INNER URBAN DISTRICT	⅓ of blocks are civic or commercial, ⅓ mixed use, ⅓ apartments on upper floors. Ground floor uses include pre-school nurseries and workshops/studios
LOCAL CIVIC CENTRES	Flexible mixed use local educational, pre-school & civic centres adjacent to 1 in 3 parks
GARDEN CITY TRUST	Land and local civic centres are transferred to a garden city trust when completed
GREEN & COMMUNITY	A community garden (some with pre-school nurseries), roof top gardens and a children's play space within all blocks. ⅔ sq km of parks. 1 sq km of allotment gardens
SPORTS & HEALTH	Playing fields and sports courts in all parks and on roof tops
RURAL LAND SWAPS	House and rural land swaps offered to existing inhabitants and land owners. Using surplus government owned greenbelt and rural land
ZERO CARBON ENERGY	Electricity sourced from wind power and solar panels. Zero carbon homes. Commercial and civic buildings cooled and heated through a city wide geothermal network
E-CARS & E-BIKES	A quarter of bikes and cars are electric. A quarter of cars hybrid. A quarter of bikes and cars shared through bike and car clubs

The Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City is built compact, three to five storeys high, at an average density of 65 homes or 150 residents per hectare gross, allowing residents to walk or cycle for 9 out of 10 intra-city journeys. The submission covers the three main assessment criteria of the Wolfson economic prize, vision, economic feasibility (and governance) and popularity (with existing communities).

3D cross section with inner urban apartments, civic, commercial and mixed use around two local parks with sports pitches left. Twin terraced housing around a larger park with a football field in the middle. Semi-detached housing and allotment gardens right. Two flexible mixed use local educational, pre-school and civic centres adjacent to two of the parks 2©14. 

Zero carbon living is increasingly popular and higher densities and compactness offer possibilities that can only be found in compact urban environments. Being close to all daily activities add to the attraction of zero carbon living, particularly in cities with a compact urban centre surrounded by compact low-rise housing.

The present trend is for many young families to chose to live close to city centre services and activities, and to cycle or walk to work, school, nursery, services and shops, saving considerable time and money when children are young. The Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City combines compactness with high quality living in economically, ecologically and socially sustainable neighbourhoods, for very many residents on a compact land area to enjoy.

• The Lively, Bikeable & Zero Carbon Garden City: 6-Page Summery (pdf)
• Ebenezer good (The Economist)
• Wolfson Prize @ Policy Exchange

World Class Urban Place Making in the Thames Estuary

The inspiration for writing the article in Planning in London 91/2014 on socio-cultural and economic innovative urban place making, is a recent Centre for London publications on the Thames Estuary, Go East. Some of Southern England’s most innovative and prosperous cities, such as Bristol, Cambridge, Exeter and Oxford, have qualities that are very much sought after, qualities that need to be addressed if the Thames Estuary is to be an urban metropolitan success story. Being close to daily activities add to the attraction of inner urban living, particularly in towns with a dense centre, excellent public and private realm and dense medium-rise quality housing.

This article sets out nine principles for world class urban place making in the Thames Estuary. The principles draw particularly on innovative and prosperous dense metropolitan areas in southern England, Scotland, Scandinavia and continental western Europe, a handful of city centres in Australia, Canada and the US, as well as the One Mile Garden City.

A post-car metropolitan urban era?
Urban living is increasingly popular and high densities and compactness offer possibilities that can only be found in dense urban environments. Being close to all daily activities add to the attraction of urban living, particularly in towns and cities with a dense centre and dense medium-rise urban housing.

Building an entire new town or a major extension to an existing town is complex, not least because people's aspirations and preferences differ and change with time, because people and users of a place change with time, and because the economy, culture, religion, ecology, technology, ethnicity, education and the health of a town all evolve and change with time. In other words, building a town is not like building an aircraft carrier, space station, nuclear submarine, four runway airport, nuclear power station or delivering an Olympic game or a football world cup.

For urban place making within the Thames Estuary to be world class, perceptions of what is urban and what is socio-culturally and economic innovative must evolve and change. Investors, developers, decision makers, consultants and academics that are holding on to twentieth century solutions should take a giant step into the twenty-first century and embrace the post-car metropolitan urban era for the Thames Estuary to be a world class urban success story.

• PIL91/2014
• World Class Urban Place Making Thames Estuary 3-page article PDF  
• Extended 5-page article with precedents PDF

Spatial Study of Hammersmith

An initial study from summer 2013 identified ⅓ to ½ million square metres of development opportunity in Hammersmith as a result of a road tunnel replacing the present flyunder. The study identified the biggest development opportunity in the centre of Hammersmith with 7-19 office floors, from the college in the east to Hammersmith Bridge Road in the west, particularly adjacent to the Arch and the crown court.

The study recognised that most development can be mixed-use residential and commercial, except for the lower floors that in many locations should only be commercial. Many new development have sufficient sunlight from the south or west, and most provides little shade on existing homes during the afternoon.

The study identified new or extended parks or squares in front of the Town Hall, north of St Paul's Church, south of St Peter's Church and north of the Arch, some with mid or late afternoon sun. The four highest buildings were placed on either side of the Arch. Further high buildings where placed south of St Paul's Green and by the crown court, petrol station and Lambda Academy.

Perspective from feasibility report showing proposing high rise buildings surrounding the Arch with very short tunnel, replacing the present crown court building, petrol station and council housing tower.

The tunnel could be built in various lengths from all the way from Hogarth Roundabout to Earl's Court Road (4000m) to only the middle, from college to town hall (1400m).

The Limehouse Link is 1.8 km long cut-and-cover tunnel from built 1989-1993 at a cost of £290m. West of Paris, an orbital motorway tunnel 10 km long consists of a 10.4m circular tube for low cars only with two lanes in either direction on two different levels. In Seattle, a similar 2 mile long and 17.5m diameter tunnel under the city centre opens in 2015.

LBHF have commissioned a feasibility, a geotechnical and an impact assessment report and have prepared a master plan based on the initial spatial study, all of which where published in mid-March 2014 at the LBHF website.

Grand Central Station of (West) London?

Old Oak Opportunity Area is in the north of London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, 3 km north west of Shepherd's Bush, White City, Westfield and Portobello Market, where a combined HighSpeed2, Crossrail, Great West Main Line and Overground station is planned, with services commencing in 2027.

From Old Oak International you may catch direct trains to Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the Midlands, south west England, northern England, Scotland and Wales, in addition to central London, Heathrow, Canary Wharf, inner north and inner west London.

The station is expected to have over 250,000 passengers a day and rival the largest stations of London and the most modern new stations of Europe, like Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Liege Guillemins and Vienna Hauptbahnhof.

South Entrance looking north towards underpass and platforms, with Overground station in front and future new buildings and towers on either side.

Green Cross, Canal, Scrubs and QPR
The area may accommodate up to 90,000 jobs and 19,000 new homes on approximately 2 square kilometres between the Grand Union Canal, North Acton and Wormwood Scrubs by the middle of the century. A new football stadium for Queens Park Rangers is considered in the far north of the area, close to the present Overground station.

A series of new parks and squares are proposed, forming a 'green cross' through the area, from North Acton to Kensal and Willesden Junction to the Scrubs. New developments are expected to give a new lease of life to the Canal, as a blue ribbon connection the area from east to west.

New Great Union Canal Bridge linking the station to the north and east, with station far left and tower by Willesden Junction in background, looking from east towards west, without future new buildings.

Consultation of Vision
The vision for Old Oak was out for consultation during the summer of 2013. The document is called a Vision rather than a Development Framework as neither the Hammersmith and Fulham Local Plan is updated, the transportation study nor the environmental impact assessment completed.

My involvement was partly to complete five illustrations on pages 51 and 53 of the document, four of which you see here, giving an indication of how the new station and canal bridge may be integrated with the surrounding area towards the north, east and south.

Cross section through station showing from left to right North Entrance, HighSpeed2, Crossrail, GWML, South Entrance, Overground station and Wormwood Scrubs, looking from west towards east, with some future new buildings shown. Drawing published in Evening Standard Tuesday 26 November 2013 (PDF).

Concourse under tracks and platforms looking south towards south entrance, possible Overground Station and Wormwood Scrubs.

Evening Standard Tuesday 26 November 2013 (PDF)