The debate over pedestrianising Oxford Street is a congested mess. But one thing is clear: it would work | Phineas Harper
CAlls won one of the most famous roads in Britain over a new influential ally. Well in the wake of the opening of the first branch in Oxford Street in IKEA, Peter Geklby, its head of the United Kingdom, He threw his support behind pedestriansHe said he believed that the car ban will be “good for the street.”
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was Attempt The famous West End shopping zone since she faced the mayor of London in 2016. Now he tries again, this time the government is asking that I give him additional powers To pay the plans. This tendency that lasts for a decade on car ban is less than one mile from one road is not unique in London. Throughout the United Kingdom, around the world, pedestrian projects face similar challenges, but always follow a similar path. First, there is a prosperous opposition, then angry media coverage. Then, finally, after years of quarrels, when the infantry is eventually achieved, it is welcomed as a great success.
Infantry on George Street in The central business area in Sydney He was successful, Promote commercial property values. the Vehicle From the historical center of Pontedevra in northern Spain, it achieved success, which led to the death of the roads. Brussels made Anspach Street free of cars SuccessThe return is more Visitors and independent companies. until Converting a fast Seoul road from six lanesThe previously transported 160,000 cars per day, achieved a success in the 11 km of Riferside Park, which reduced the air pollution by 35 %.
Multiple infantry privileges, but complex local policy should be overcome before shoppers on Oxford Street can benefit. Work has dominated the Conservative Party Council historically since 2022, however With the party’s loss at the national level The electoral district is exposed to small groups of components that threaten the delivery of the town to the conservatives if the work does not bend for their concerns about traffic.
A journalist in the council told me: “The locals have been concerned for a long time from the operation of mice,” explaining this, explaining this. Voters are afraid to restrict traffic On Oxford Street, it can “push more cars to antennas.” But similar arguments were presented before – and exposed. Many claimed to enter Low Red neighborhoods It will increase the crowding along the border roads, however Search through 174 sites By the University of Westminster, it showed that there was hardly any traffic on the border and decreased in 46 regions.
Ultimately, the greater the number of pedestrians or closed in front of vehicles, the less people choose unnecessary car trips. Paul Likart, the chief urban planner in the capital, Paris, argues that research from 60 cities shows that Removing passages from highways in the inner city Reduces the use of the car by 14 % without “deterioration in traffic conditions”.
Moreover, although the majority of families are in Westminster You don’t have a carA quarter of the lands in the town Used for roads – More than one reservation for green spaces and double the amount used for housing. Even with the closure of Oxford Street, any claim that drivers in West End will be two.
Political networks have been exacerbated by the hierarchy of the capital. Unlike similar cities, the mayor of London – is responsible for millions – is generally a lower power to direct the major projects of local councils. The wing consultants clearly should have a voice in initiatives that will affect their societies, but Oxford Street is not a local high street. It is an important regional center for the importance of the city-perhaps even at the level of the country-. About 43,000 people Votes In the last elections in the town – a small part of half a million people Visit Oxford Street every day. A handful of wealthy drivers is lucky enough Living in central London Swing Seat should not be able to abuse its privilege for STYMIE projects that can benefit tens of millions.
Not only in London where cars have huge infantry domination. In Birmingham, the illegal pavement positions are so widespread that the city resorted to it Phalanx Install from 60 Bollars Three deep rows to stop the drivers of cars who drive the pedestrian space. Many intermediate market boxes in Britain, which in Europe will be central to civil life, are deported to parking lots – Cutting Nortonand King Linand St. Edmonds was buried For example, but not limited to.
The pedestrians have proven again and again that it is a transforming component in the revitalization of cities, but there is no amount of evidence, search or Influent status studies It seems enough to beat the skeptics. After two decades after the northern side of the Square of the Perfume was exposed, the parking lots were removed from the central courtyard in Sumer House – both of which are the urban design victors in Westminster itself – the message did not pass.
Fortunately, the times may finally change. In Leeds, there is a new neighborhood of 516 homes built by Citu real estate developers Looking at the priority of the infantry. “It takes a boldness for a fracture of decades of first thinking of the car,” says Li Jonathan Wilson, Managing Director Jonathan Wilson. “We give pedestrians – people – because it makes social and environmental, and when doing the commercial sense.” By embracing the pedestrians, Wilson says they were able to enhance societal cohesion and build more homes than the traditional development of cars.
Currently, the best time to go shopping on Oxford Street is while protesting. When the Serk Oxford’s extinction rebellion with its notorious pink boat prevented in 2019, crowds of liberated shoppers filled the full display of the road that creates an atmosphere similar to the festival for five days as the occupation held cars in the Gulf. If Khan is finally enabled to make the promise It was made for the residents of London in 2016The mass protests will not take to improve the shopping experience on the most busy shopping street in Europe.
