Talk London - Getting Around

[hatler]

Has anyone else seen the Talk London Healthy Streets thing ?

Not sure if you need a login to be able to view the discussion.

If you are London based then this is a chance to provide input to the future. (Whether anyone listens or not I have no idea, but they have set this thing up purportedly specifically to listen to the voice of the man on the Clapham omnibus.)

[citoyen]

Hadn't heard of this until it came up on the latest episode of the Bike Show, which I've just started another thread about.

Sounds like really positive thinking that could have some real benefits.

[hatler]

I like this. Taken from the TfL publication Improving the Health of Londoners.

Indicator	How it relates to health
Pedestrians from all walks of life	Everybody needs to be active every day. If the mix of people walking in the street does not include certain groups such as children, older people or those with disabilities then the street environment is excluding some people from staying active
People choose to walk and cycle	Some people walk or cycle not out of choice but due to poor access by other modes of transport. This can have negative impacts on their health and wellbeing. Success should be measured by people choosing to walk and cycle, rather than levels of walking and cycling.
Clean air	The health impacts of air quality include cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease.
People feel safe	People need to feel that they will be safe from injury and crime when they are on the street.
Not too noisy	Noise has a range of health impacts including stress and high blood pressure. It also discourages people from walking and cycling.
Easy to cross	If streets are difficult to cross because of physical barriers or traffic, people will be discouraged from using the street, particularly on foot. This can be socially as well as physically restricting.
Shade and shelter	Some people have difficulty moderating their body temperature, and this can put their health at risk in hot weather. Shade is needed on streets to enable people to keep cool.
Places to stop	Many people can only walk short distances without taking a rest, particularly those who are older, young, pregnant, injured or who have a disability or health condition such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Providing seating at regular intervals is necessary to enable these people to incorporate much needed physical activity into their daily routine
Things to see and do	Street environments need to be stimulating and engaging to invite people to walk and cycle more. This highlights the importance of good urban design and maintenance of public spaces in delivering health benefits.
People feel relaxed	Walking or cycling in the street should not be a stressful experience. If people are not relaxed it indicates that issues such as noise, insufficient space or fear of danger have not been addressed.

[hatler]

There's a whole stack of discussion threads running on the slightly broader topic of travel in London.

Nothing that any of us haven't seen before, but this is your chance to feed into something other than the educated and already converted audience here (if you can face it). You never know, someone in TfL might even take notice.

Talk London - Getting Around.