Research by the Urban Dynamics Lab at UCL’s Bartlett shows that only 36 per cent of streets in London have pavements that are at least 3 metres wide, the minimum required for people to be able to keep the appropriate distance. So the boroughs and TfL have a lot of work to do to improve space for pedestrians. 

 

One might hope that such installations would be fit for purpose and well designed, but photographs of some of the early projects do not bode well. While authorities are to be commended for their speed of response, and while one understands this is an emergency situation, they need to enhance the pedestrian experience. 

 

TfL’s first installation in Camden High Street is a case in point. Using plastic construction barriers, the added space has serious technical failings. It is interrupted by car parking right outside a supermarket where people are queuing; short stretches of plastic pens are unlikely to encourage people to step off the pavement; on its first day of use, a construction lorry found that the new pedestrian zone made a very useful parking bay.

 

While these may be temporary installations, they are likely to be on our streets for some time. We will have to live with social distancing until there are effective antiviral drugs available, and that could well be a year away. What a mess our streets will be in by then unless robust and well-designed systems are used! 

 

We have been there before. The ugly emergency, ‘temporary' barriers placed around the Palace of Westminster over a decade ago are still there, the barriers that were put in after terrorist attacks on Westminster and London Bridges still have a major impact on the experience of cyclists and pedestrians alike. One does not for a moment deny the importance of such installations but greater thought needs to be put into them in the first instance.

 

It is not an impossible ask. Tower Hamlets have this week closed off streets using timber planters which are elegant and effective. TfL’s Michael Barratt, who has been working for several years to improve the design of protected routes around construction sites, has delivered effective systems that do not totally destroy the quality of place. When Janette Sadiq Khan was Commissioner for Transportation in New York she delivered elegant temporary walking and cycling infrastructure with paint and planters at a minimal cost. Photographs of Paris and Milan’s new emergency installations have an altogether more sophisticated appearance than some of those we have seen so far in London.

 

COVID19 is accelerating change in many areas, not least the long term strategy to rebalance the use of our road space. Lockdown has reinforced the importance of public space in the city. As we make the essential improvements to assist in effective distancing, is it too much to ask that the quality of the spaces created is given greater consideration?

 

We asked City Hall to comment and this was their reply: “The London Street space plan is about making changes which can be rolled out at pace and make an instant difference to our streets. The emergency measures at Camden High Street were put in place in just one night to double the size of pavements and make it easier for people to socially distance. TfL is looking at how these measures are working and are already thinking about how these may be enhanced as necessary.”

 

TfL is one of the largest and most integrated transport authorities in the world. It even has Urban Design London within the organization which can advise on delivering well-designed places and spaces. It can do better than this.

 

Let’s hope the enhancement it promises comes sooner rather than later.