We have a lot of information about what is and isn't possible. We have a wide range of modern urban forms as natural experiments, from places like Tokyo (subway + walking dominated) to Utrecht (bike + bus) to suburban Florida (pretty much cars-only, walking practically banned). And all sorts in-between.

We have quite a lot of information about what effects changing the layout of cities and the transport available has.

We are interested in things like travel time, travel volume and network capacity, accessibility, spend in local shops. Interventions range from bike lanes, to building or removing highways, adding car lanes, bus lanes, new train lines etc.

And of course we have irrefutable proof that transport is a major contributor to climate change, which is the single greatest threat we face.

Any transport planner can tell you two things for certain:


1. the current policy set and urban layout in the UK has led to rising car use

2. a 20% reduction in vehicle-miles travelled has to be achieved by 2030 to meet our climate targets



We know that we get the transport we build for. We have built lots of highways, and even urban roads with wide turning angles and other pro-speed features. We have built very few bus lanes, very few bike lanes, and relentlessly cut bus and train funding.

So of course it is easiest and most convenient and for some people / in some places even necessary to drive, in today’s Britain. Pointing out that trains are very space-efficient is not an attack on anyone for driving.

But none of this is sustainable. Apart from climate, it’s strangled the civic life of our cities, driven children from the streets, and sent asthma rates soaring.