Delivering climate resilient streets and shared spaces

Lucy Minyo Public Realm Lead at the Central District Alliance Business Improvement District Principal Consultant at Momentum Transport Consultancy

Covid 19 and 40 degree summers: Implications for streets and shared spaces

The Covid-19 pandemic and the growing impact of climate change have highlighted the important role of our streets and shared spaces. As social spaces, streets, squares and parks provide informal opportunities to strengthen and extend our social networks, while spending time outdoors. As restorative spaces, our parks, squares and tree-lined streets are our everyday connection to nature. As active spaces, our streets in particular support those journeys on foot or by bike that keep us moving. Social, restorative and active, our streets and shared spaces are central to our health, wellbeing and quality of life.

This summer, London temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. In continental Europe this has been a reality for some years, and cities such as Barcelona are already re-shaping their streets and shared spaces. Initiatives such as Green Corridors are introducing extensive planting to Barcelona’s avenues, creating shady walking and cycling routes and helping tackle both extreme heat and heavy rain. Greater prioritisation of nature in decision making, planning, technical design and ongoing maintenance of our streets and shared spaces will be crucial to keeping our valuable urban outdoor environment habitable going forward.

Real estate: Streets and shared spaces as front door and threshold

Many Londoners have emerged from the pandemic more connected to their local areas and more selective about their journeys. Flexibility, wellbeing and quality of life have greater value. This shines new light onto the quality of the ground floor and its role as an attractor, from the mix of ground floor amenities, to the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces at ground level, to the quality of spaces connecting buildings, and the journey and arrival experience for pedestrians and cyclists.

In Oslo, for example, the ‘urban floor’ is taking centre stage at the mixed-use harbourside Bispevika development. Here, ground floor commercial space has been brought together and managed as a unit, enabling the delivery of a high quality experience across the area, supported by indoor and outdoor spaces that knit together at ground level.

Supporting the resilience and vitality of our streets and shared spaces going forward

On private land, green infrastructure can be given more prominence, reflecting not just on its important role in climate resilience, but also the extent to which green infrastructure is valued across user and local stakeholder groups. Greater priority can be placed on increasing tree canopy cover, increasing the biodiversity of planting, and increasing permeable ground area.

Streets and shared spaces within the public highway make up the majority by area, therefore present perhaps the most significant opportunity. Strengthening green infrastructure here is championed by policies at central and local government level, and by Transport for London’s Healthy Streets approach. Delivering this green infrastructure, however, can be a challenge. Highways projects prioritise road safety, working to tight budgets, meaning opportunities to embed permanent green infrastructure within existing programmes of works can be lost. Furthermore, opportunities to bring green infrastructure into streets or spaces where it is sorely lacking, but where there is no road safety imperative, may simply never come forward.

Landowners, developers, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and local stakeholder groups can play a really important role in the collaborative delivery of green infrastructure within the public highway. This means deeper dialogue between neighbouring landowners, Local Authority o cers, local stakeholder groups and utility companies. Recent research by Momentum Transport analysing current opportunities and best practice in this area particularly highlighted the support that BIDs can o er in facilitating this dialogue. The GLA’s Infrastructure Coordination Service for Streets can also be an important partner, helping to coordinate utilities works and integrate public realm improvements through its ‘dig once’ approach.

The real estate industry can grasp this opportunity to support the streets and shared spaces that frame its assets, and weave them into their urban environment. This support can strengthen relationships with local stakeholders, deliver on ESG commitments in a locally tangible way, and support the vitality and climate resilience of our streets and shared spaces going forward.