Kings Cross Pedestrians

Kings Cross Environment newsletter flew the flag for pedestrian issues in Kings Cross at www.kingscrossenvironment.com recently.

In a recent post from Kings Cross Development Forum about Pedestrians in York Way, (an artery which - problematically - also forms the border between Islington and Camden boroughs) the following suggestions were made;

1. Will LB Camden make York Way a friendler place to be a pedestrian? (It is regarded as a TfL trunk route and is widely thought to be used only by Islington residents to the east, as the west side in Camden is currently undeveloped...)
2. Will TfL provide more frequent buses on this important corridor?
3. Will someone (Kings Cross Central developers Argent / LB Camden) do something temporary with the wastelands along York Way while awaiting the property market revival - and some landscaping improvements along York Way?

Collaboration between Camden and the developers seems overly focussed on the controvery around councillor / candidate (Lib Dem) Ralph Scott proposing moving the Town Hall to Kings Cross Central, although not revealing full details...

Another arm of the Lib Dems asked for our views on Living Streets in Camden, in supporting the campaign for 20mph borough roads. I forwarded these few points, which Lee Baker took to Camden's Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee in November:

1. Based on a walk and informal walking audit on Sunday afternoon the 26 April 2009 commemorating the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, the difficult points were
a) crossing Euston Road
b) pavement width on the west side of the new St Pancras Station and the wheelchair-inaccessible transition and barriers at the north end towards St Pancras Churchyard. Crossing Euston Road at Argyle Street and at York Way was also difficult, especially for wheelchair users and slow walkers. If traffic were slower, this would make the streets more pleasant to use.

2. Based on a night safety walk along the Regents Canal around 7pm on 4 June 2009, the most difficult and unsafe crossings were on York Way at Goods Way and at Wharfedale Road, especially difficult for wheelchair users and slow walkers. If traffic were slower, this would make the streets more pleasant to use.

3. As a cyclist, the traffic lights at Tavistock Street and Marchmont Street junction are difficult and unsafe, (see our blog post of 8 June 2009) and the design of the cycle lanes at Tavistock Street and Judd street are unsafe. I avoid the area by changing to a longer circumnavigatory route. If traffic were slower, this would make the streets more pleasant and somewhat safer to use.

4. As a cyclist and a pedestrian crossing Judd Street near Cromer Street, slower traffic would make crossing or turning safer. It would make the pedestrian crossing at this junction safer. Calmer traffic would also be safer for visually impaired and blind pedestrians near the national headquarters of RNIB.

I heard at the WSRAG Walking and Cycling Advocacy Committee to the Transport Committee the following evening, however, that the comments on 20mph streets at the Scrutiny committee were taken badly by the Transport Committee. Transport engineers regard the 20mph conversion as being dependent upon road engineering standards which Camden will not resource. They were dismissive of local community success in calming traffic in Hampstead, because national engineering standards were not achieved.

There is a danger of our campaigns being 'co-opted' by political parties for the election. As far as views on creating safer, more pleasant streets are shared by group members, it would be helpful to promote these though our own means.

Twenty's Plenty

At our last branch meeting of Living Streets before summer, we discussed (among other things) a campaign for 20mph limits in our neighbourhood.

Living Streets has provided us with some campaigning materials outlining the advantages of 20mph limits for streets – we could say, based on the campaign, that a 20mph default speed limit in our built up areas would;

1 – Put people first, making it easier to cross roads
2 – Improve sociability of neighbourhoods
3 – Encourage healthier travel (like walking and cycling)
4 – Smooth traffic flow
5 – Combat climate change, reducing acceleration and braking by motor vehicles

In advance of our next branch meeting, (planned for 9 December), it would be very valuable for our group to raise awareness of the campaign above and of our Living Streets branch at Camden’s Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday week the 17th of November. This is rare opportunity to discuss Streets as environments with Council, and other local campaigners may raise the issue too.

Would anyone from our group be to attend at the town hall? If you can attend, please register with Simone Scott-Sawer in the Democratic Services office, via the council switchboard on 0207 974 4444

Pedestrian Modelling

The Resource for Urban Design Information (RUDI) held a massive Transport Modelling conference at Chelsea Stadium in June, with which there was a session on Pedestrian Modelling.  Our group Living Streets Kings Cross was kindly invited to participate. With our treasurer Lisa T, I attended as chair, and fortunately by bicycle, avoiding the transport chaos on the day. We saw and heard speakers from various agencies involved in this area, including Buchanan's, Atkins, Urban Initiatives, and some interesting academic contributions.

Graham Long from Buchanan's showed some of the techniques of studying pedestrian movement and spatial behaviour, in some ways highlighting the widespread problem of adapting the study of vehicular transport to that of pedestrians  

The Intelligent Space unit at Atkins showcased the now famous adaptation of Oxford Circus (movie) as previously shown in our pages, lower right. (here)

Some software, modes of studying pedestrians and methodologies were introduced by Urban Initatives, apparently a splinter consultancy of Space Syntax, and they aimed to show 'how places work at a range of scales, assessing urban movement and the mix of uses.  Primarily this was aimed at development viability appraisal, which is where the consultancy money is earned.  

Alison Chisholm from Oxford showed a more end-user friendly study of network analysis applied to pedestrian and bicycle journeys, and another academic presenting Bath Uni's "Cityware" opened up the discussion looking at visualisation techniques using urban Bluetooth data.

In all there were some useful ideas, and it was a valuable introduction to the pedestrian modelling discipline. It also clearly demonstrated, I think, why local authorities and community groups are sometimes bamboozled and seduced by consultants - in some cases they are using complicated technology to consider what could make our streets safer and more enjoyable places to live and work.

Actions - what you can do with the city

Our group recently received a copy of the catalogue of "Actions: What You Can Do With the City" which accompanied a recent exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. This body of work on the city, was powered by diverse activists and so called "human motors of change" including architects, engineers, university professors, students, children, pastors, artists, skateboarders, cyclists, root eaters, pedestrians, municipal employees, and many others - and must be of interest to our nascent group in Kings Cross, which encompasses a few of these.

The catalogue of 99 actions exhibited is arranged by themes and tools which are also effectively accessed via the dedicated website. Of greatest interest and relevance to Living Streets Kings Cross might be categories of interventions including;
Guerilla - Walking - Share

Projects such as Sidewalk Symposium suggest that a group like ours also might engage with people who live and work in our patch, for wider views and involvement in how these streets might be more safe and enjoyable to use.

Recycling, Gardening and Low-Effort are further categories which will resonate with members of our small group.

The exhibition and catalogue document a diverse and lively international culture of urban interventions which should challenge and encourage our group.

Chaos in the Streets

This charicature of shared surfaces from the AJ yesterday was the only part I could understand when reading this Polish urbanism blog by Malgorzata Hanzl today, and I hope it will stimulate debate about Living Streets...