Encouraging people to leave their cars behind and walk or cycle more within their local area helps contribute to improved health and well-being. Helping people get out and about also reduces negative feelings concerning fear of crime within a community.
Improvements to the public realm should be designed to create plenty of safe and well-designed walking and cycling routes, with clear links between areas and with clear sightlines to improve feelings of safety. The use of signage and way finding encourages greater use of public spaces by highlighting parks, places of interest and the connections between them. What’s also important, though, is to design in places to stop. This includes areas of seating, planting or play structures; creating friendly, safe and sociable environments where people are encouraged to stop and chat.
Improvements to the Brunswick Estate in EC1 were designed to encourage residents to use the estate grounds more; enabling people to talk, play, relax and to get to know their neighbours. It had previously been used by dog-owners from outside of the estate as an area to exercise their dogs, and residents had reported feeling unsafe in the grounds with poor sightlines and hidden areas. The improvements included new play equipment targeted at different age groups, benches and seating areas surrounded by planting and improved landscaping. The results of a pre and post-implementation pedestrian survey highlighted more pedestrians walking through the grounds and many more cyclists using the improved connections to surrounding sites.
