Two decades after the Cheonggyecheon motorway removal, this waterway is now deeply embedded in Seoul’s identity: as a place to meet, walk, breathe and enjoy. For other metropolises dealing with aging auto-infrastructure, it is living proof of what’s possible when a city dares to let go of the road.🔚

Critics initially worried removing a major artery would cause gridlock. But in practice, impacts were mitigated through expanded public transport, traffic control measures, and changes in road usage. Some traffic “evaporated” rather than being displaced. Bus and metro use increased post-restoration.

In the heart of Seoul, a ribbon of water now threads through where an expanse of asphalt once stood. The Cheonggyecheon Stream restoration, which replaced a major elevated motorway with an ecological and recreational corridor, has become a powerful case study in placemaking and traffic evaporation.🧵

Drivers, don't do this. To anyone on a zebra crossing, not just little kids going to school. You're supposed to *stop*, not slow down to a crawl and play chicken with the pedestrians. Related, if a driver does this to me, I start walking extremely very slowly, all the while maintaining eye contact.

Fantastic progress being made by Camden Council team in the pedestrianisation of Camden High Street. Removing the traffic has made it so much safer - and now the street is being made welcoming and fun.

World’s major cities hit by 25% leap in extremely hot days since the 1990s

A better world is possible

Here's one of Barcelona's famous superillas, or superblocks, on Rocafort-Consell de Cent. All of this used to be asphalt and space for moving and storing cars. Now it's green, quiet, calm, and safe.

“Private car use also exacerbates inequity, with most of the benefits accruing to car users and most of the harms falling on others, particularly the most disadvantaged.”

The harms from transport are due to private cars/vans and lorries - Cacophony (noise), Carbon emissions, Casualties from collisions, Community severance, Concern and social isolation, Congestion, Contamination (of air and ground), Conurbation design and Couch potatoes www.fph.org.uk/blog/cars-as...

Today was one of my favourite lectures, on how evidence influences debates. Case A: 79 people died as a consequence of smart motorways (2010-2024). That's sufficient to pause the policy. Case B: In the first year of the Welsh 20mph scheme 900 fewer people were injured. There's still contestation.

There's a really nice new study using phone data from Americans who relocated from one city to another to look at the effect of walkable environments on physical activity. E.g., people move TO New York and walk more, they move FROM New York and walk less www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Car driver damages part of medieval city wall. Perhaps these vehicles ought to be speed restricted? www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/2550150...

There's always space if you're prepared to be bold.

Excellent thread 🧵 Active travel really is a public health issue rather than a transport issue. The personal and societal benefits from being more active is immense and we need to make it much easier and pleasant. It's also not about sport, but just being active & walking or cycling when we can.

NEW STARTER PACK! This time I’m hoping to encourage and support global urbanists from OUTSIDE North America here on Bluesky, so hopefully this will help! Who’ve I missed? Just joined? Let me know! I’ll keep updating, so please keep checking & sharing this pack! And let’s try using #GlobalUrbanists.

Active travel is a public health issue. We really really need politicians at all levels to understand that building decent bike lanes won't just help a few Lycra-clad blokes: it will have a massive impact on people's health long term.

Terrific position statement on Active Travel & Health by the London Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH London). 👇 @londonls.bsky.social @wandsworthcycling.bsky.social

Hahah. No. Also, it isn't just how they are designed for the location, how the road network is arranged is more important IMO - if that's not looked at, a continuous footway won't work.

This is not a continuous pavement. This is a standard side junction with a raised table #BurntwoodLane @wandsworthls.bsky.social @rantyhighwayman.bsky.social @willnorman.co.uk

In 2014 I met Australian traffic researcher Ian Johnston at a conference in Edmonton. I think often about something he said, and this week shared his words with a colleague: "If your plan is not for zero deaths, then your plan is for some deaths to happen"

Motonormativity in action: my city's main hospital has been built miles outside the city, up by a motorway junction. You want to get there but you can't drive? Tough, your time has no value

Road Casualties data for 2024 in Great Britain published this week: www.gov.uk/government/s... Thanks to @pactsuk.bsky.social, there is an important new chart on the vehicles involved in fatal crashes:

As many pedestrians died in a collision involving a cyclist as drivers died in a collision with a pedestrian.

Excited to be launching on BlueSky 🎉 on the eve of our Community Gardening Workshop. Sat 27 Sept 2:30-4:30pm. Come along to find out more and have free tea and cake garden🪴🪏🧁🫖

Road deaths are falling (good) but are still monstrously high (unacceptable): there were four deaths a day on UK roads in 2024. This is avoidable - we need political willpower to get there. #VisionZero www.gov.uk/government/s...

Only 16% of people understand key Highway Code rules designed to keep everyone safe. TfL have a new campaign aims to raise awareness of the Highway Code, highlighting key rules designed to protect people walking, cycling & motorcycling.

The evidence in favour of 20 mph speed limits is overwhelming, cheaper insurance, less emissions, less car crashes, it saves the NHS, Police and councils money. But Gary from Port Talbot's commute now takes 42 minutes instead of 40 so it simply must go.

This past weekend Londoners got a glimpse of the future of Oxford Street as it went traffic-free for the day. Here’s what they thought ⬇️

Get ready to step into #InternationalWalkToSchoolMonth next week! 👟 We’re encouraging children and their families to celebrate the sights, sounds, and smells of autumn as they walk or wheel to school. Join in the fun with us this October 👉 livingstreets.org.uk/autumn

If that means there isn't sufficient room for cars to pass safely, then the road needs closing to cars. Pedestrians and those on foot/wheeling should always be given priority of navigation; especially in towns and cities.

This is one of those classic situations where the solution is easy unless you are conditioned to think in car-first defaultism. If the pavement needs closing (and sometimes it's unavoidable), then part of the carriageway needs closing to substitute for the pavement.

Transport Committee looking at walking this morning and my journey in showed exactly why we need to pay more attention to the safety and convenience of people walking and wheeling along pavements.

This picture from the newspaper article looks like an 'artists impression' of what things could like that no-one ever believes, except it's real and it really does look like that.

Motonormativity in the media. The normally righteous @404media.co here cheer a system to help people avoid fines for their illegal parking - because, of course, law-breaking doesn't count if it involves a car www.404media.co/find-my-park...

On Saturday we celebrated the launch of our archive celebrating disabled activists who paved the way for the accessible transport we have access to today. Take a look at our journey so far: archive.transportforall.org.uk

“Under the seeming disorder of the old city...is a marvelous order for maintaining the safety of the streets and the freedom of the city...The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself from place to place, &...is always replete with new improvisations.” - Jane Jacobs

Why do drivers do this? So selfish and achieves nothing.

100s of new pedestrian crossings are being delivered in London. It's great to see the new raised zebra on the A22 Godstone Road - near Riddlesdown Common - enabling the local community to safely cross this busy road.

The new pedestrian and cycling crossing of Essex Road in Islington connects up low traffic neighbourhoods and makes it much safer to cross this busy road. ☘️🌷🌻🥀🌿🌱🌼 More planting still to come!

💭 Imagine what your street would look like in 50 years if your neighbours all decided to sponsor a street tree. We're picturing green havens, full of clean air, and happier residents!

Basic principles for the future of the car in cities: ✅ Fewer ✅ Smaller ✅ Slower ✅ Cleaner This can be achieved with: ✅ Parking controls ✅ LTNs ✅ Road User Pricing ✅ Pedestrianisation ✅ Default 20mph roads ✅ Improved public transport ✅ Segregated cycling

Principles for urban happiness. Leipzig (2017)

Paying by the minute, many hire bike users are tempted to save some money by jumping red lights, but doing so might just add another £50 to the bill

and we get a crappy layout for decades to come which will not be accessible to all pedestrians and not accessible to any cyclist other than the fit and the brave. How can boroughs be allowed to get away with this?

The traffic-free trial on Oxford Street over the weekend marks the day the fightback began to rescue this street. It was wonderful to see people walking, enjoying outdoor events, pop-ups, music and food and imagine what Oxford Street could be when people come first.

The thing is, those who oppose #FloatingBusStops will continue to do so whatever the design guidance says. Meanwhile, not a word about how most side road junctions are hard to cross for many people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We’d also like to know 🫣 Ideally Wandsworth Common West Side should allow cycling in both directions, so you have a way to continue. Then it could be an useful route parallel to Trinity Road. We keep asking the council for more contra-flow cycling

Duff Wandsworth cycling infrastructure, an occasional series. Wandsworth Common West Side, the road on the right, is one way against you here, likewise the slip up from Trinity Road to the left. Where am I meant to go when the pavement ends? @wandsworthcycling.bsky.social @willnorman.co.uk