Steve,

Drop me a line re. car-free development. I'm currently working on this at
Loughborough, from the perspective of the emergence/ niche-management of
innovative public policy & the drivers for such. So far, the UK has taken a
different approach to European countries re. the scale & type of car-free
developments.

Re . Policy:
There is strong national-level policy support for C-F within planning
guidance, but there is currently no steer being provided at the Regional
level. It is therefore up to local planning authorities to support C-f as
they see fit, and to draft their own Supplementary Planning Guidance (See
Islington & Glasgow for examples). Some, like Swansea, are soon to have
their 2nd car-free site, in the absence of National Assembly or Local
Aurhority policy support. In this case, it was due to the efforts of a
social housing provider.

Re. The current situation:
Things are starting to pick up within London Boros & elsewhere in the
South-east. This is partly due to the 'favourable' situation in the region
(re. housing and transport), but also in response to the Mayoral Plan &
other top-down policy measures.

Larger UK sites at BedZED (L Boro Sutton) or Greenwich Millennium Village,
have included a range of on-site mobility measures, but STILL maintain a
parking standard of approx 0.85 spaces/ unit (this may vary as further GMV
Phases come on-line). This can hardly be compared with the European low-car
developments (typically 0.5/ unit) & certainly not the stricter 'car-free'
ones, where parking standards are reduced to 0.1 (eg Saarland-Strasse in
Hamburg).

There is potential for larger C-F sites at Stratford (as part of the Olympic
Village) and Kings-Cross, but these are some way off, if ever.

With the exception of BedZED and GMV, there is no real shift (YET) from the
micro-scale in-fill development of Brownfield sites prevalent in Camden &
other London Boros, towards larger-scale car-free neighbourhoods capable of
supporting local amenities & dedicated public-transport infrastructure. This
is partly because most sites that become available for re-development are
relatively small, but also because we seem unwilling at present to make the
step to larger car-free sites.

These smaller sites fail to provide the 2 factors central to marketing the
'car-free; lifestyle choice at larger European projects:

1. Traffic-free public space / children's play areas;
2. On-site mobility measures such as public transport incentives or a
car-club.

This "Car-Free" notion is therefore going to be quite difficult to market to
most potential buyers as a positive lifestyle choice if it doesn't convey
any perceived benefits.

My concern is that we will not make the transition to a "European" model of
larger C-F neighbourhood-scale developments.

Like me, you might be curious as to why ODPM's "Sustainable Communities"
strategy largely overlooks transport, focussing instead on issues
such as social capital etc., when, to my mind, a proportion of C-F housing
would seem to be an essential part of future mainstream house-building
patterns (Think the Thames Gateway or Leith Docks in Edinburgh).

The same shortcoming is true for many so-called 'green' housing providers,
who win awards based on energy-efficient design, but largely fail to
address the transport-related impacts of these new communities.

All of the above means that we are only really messing about on the
periphery of car-free development; Most existing sites rely entirely on
existing public-transport provision & are often built in Controlled Parking
Zones.

My own work has shifted slightly, to look at the attitudes of local
authorities and housing providers (commercial developers and social housing
providers- especially the 'green' ones). I'm looking into where we are
currently, on the 'S-shaped curve' that represents the introduction of any
innovative idea; Also attitudes to providing larger car-free sites- Will
C-F in this country stall because we have followed a different model to
Europe/ Or will we see a change in attitudes that permits neighbourhood
scale sites and genuinely 'liveable' communities, free from traffic? Will
the impetus for this be social housing providers, commercial imperatives or
institutional/ policy-led?

Hope that assists in some way? Drop me a line, anyway.

Dave.

--

Dave Morris
PhD Researcher
Transport Studies Group

Dept. of Civil & Building Engineering
Loughborough University
Loughborough
LE11 3TU
United Kingdom

Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: +44 (0)7752 833 095




Quoting Steve Melia <[log in to unmask]>:

> I've recently started an MPhil at UWE looking at the general area of
> carfree development.  From what I have found so far there appears to be a
> gap in the research, at least for England.  I have yet to find any
> research into people who live without cars, their reasons, travel
> behaviour and implications for potential carfree developments.
>
>
>
> There has been several studies looking at people in recently developed
> carfree areas across Northern Europe, including Slateford Green in
> Edinburgh, but nothing I have found for England.
>
>
>
> On the broader question of people without cars, the Scottish Executive
> commissioned a study in 1999 (see below).  The Social Exclusion Unit and
> the Welsh Consumer Council have both researched the question, but from a
> different social exclusion perspective.
>
>
>
> Is anyone aware of anything else I have missed?
>
>
>
> SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE. CENTRAL RESEARCH UNIT., 1999. Why people don't drive
> cars. Great Britain, Scottish Executive, Central Research Unit.
>
>
>
> SOCIAL EXCLUSION UNIT. and GREAT BRITAIN. OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME
> MINISTER., 2003. Making the connections : final report on transport and
> social exclusion. London: Social Exclusion Unit.
>
>
>
> WELSH CONSUMER COUNCIL., 2004. People Without Cars. 2. Caerdydd: Cyngor
> Defnyddwyr Cymru.
>
>
>
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