The UK’s new towns should focus on an oft-forgotten form of transport: walking.
That’s according to a report from Create Streets and Remade, describing ways to create walkable neighbourhoods by building towns of “gentle density”, in part a response to Labour government plans to build more new homes. The report proposes a dozen new towns linked to existing urban centres, such as Cambridge and Bristol.
Among other proposals, the towns should be walkable, the authors say. “We need to make sure that our daily needs are all within close proximity to where we live,” Nicholas Boys Smith, the founder of Create Streets, said in The Guardian. “This allows more people to walk, or cycle with pleasure more of the time. It’s what planners call ‘modal shift’. This is the freedom to get around, whether for work, leisure, shopping or school, without the need to rely on a car or public transport.”
By building homes and amenities close to one another in gentle density — think multi story mansion houses that sit between the suburbs and urban towers — people can more easily walk to get around rather than using cars or even public transport. That benefits health and reduces emissions, but it also means more homes can be built on less land.
The report doesn’t specifically mention the idea of 15-minute cities, coined by Sorbonne University professor Carlos Moreno as a simple rule of thumb for urban planners, proposing that people should have access to what they need within a 15-minute stroll. (Perhaps it’s no wonder the term wasn’t mentioned given the baffling online conspiracy theories surrounding the idea.)
Measuring walkability
Measuring walkability and how people travel is no easy task, said Jim Walker, director and founder of Walk21.
One challenge is how transport modality research tends to measure commutes alone. “That always undervalues walking,” Walker says. “Of course, every trip includes some walking, particularly public transport — that 10 minutes to get to the bus stop effectively is really important.”
Because of that, Walker says it’s good to see urban planners considering proximity. “It puts all the modes [of transport] on equal footing,” he says. “We can now compare how long it takes to get anywhere.”
After all, it’s worth considering the distance to a GP, hospital, or grocery store — not just a place of work. But the report admits not all destinations will be walkable, and that likely includes jobs, as the suggested towns are mostly situated on the outskirts of existing commercial centers, meaning residents would need to take public transport for their daily commutes.
“Future new towns will not be able to provide everything within walking distance,” the report admits. “But they should be self-contained to a degree, providing most amenities within a short walk.”
Quality over proximity for walking
Walker also notes that walking isn’t just about distance, but safety, ease, and comfort. “What we understand from the last 20 years of research is that the quality of the experience is likely to define whether you decide to do it or not — it’s not just about whether it’s close, it’s actually knowing whether that experience is going to be a positive one,” he says.
He points to 15-minute cities — and even one five-minute city being created in Denmark. “It’s all a fantastic start, but if that 15 minutes is horrible, difficult or dangerous, then we haven’t really done enough,” he warns. “We have to put people at the centre of these metrics so that we’ve got some real understanding about what it is we need to actually invest in to make sure that walking is the preferred mode.” To that end, Walk21 has an app that tracks how walkers feel in a space.
He adds: “Proximity is key to walking, but if we don’t make it safe, comfortable and enjoyable, people will choose something else.”
And then these mooted new towns risk ending up just like the car-clogged cities we already have.
