Walking and Walkability
Research on Pedestrians & the Public Realm
The knowledge-base on pedestrian movement and the environment here at London Analytics is well-established and growing strongly; we developed the International Walkability Benchmark, and together with the Intelligent Space Partnership calibrated the world's first validated city pedestrian flow forecasting model. Email us or phone us now on [+44] (0)330 6600 132 to find out how we can use our knowledge-base and research capacity in partnership with you.
Scheme Appraisal, and the Economic Benefits of Walking and Pedestrianisation
Having contributed to several recent studies on the economic value of the public realm, and the other areas of measuring walking and walkability, the consultants at London Analytics are well-placed to work with you to develop realistic estimates of the monetary value of enhancing walkability, of pedestrianisation and of public realm schemes.
Scheme Monitoring
With Faber Maunsell and the Central London Partnership, we investigated various technologies for automating pedestrian counts. The first-stage trials of infra-red and visual-spectrum CCTV technology, in co-ordination with Springboard, Footfall and Lase Peco showed mixed success, and revealed how quickly the instruments are developing.
Between 2001 and 2005 our Director, Andrew Smith sat on the steering group set up by TfL and the Association of London Government [ALG], to develop a set of techniques to monitor Borough Spending Plans and Local Implementation Plans, (the London equivalent of LTPs), with specific responsibility for providing guidance to TfL and the boroughs on the monitoring of cycling, walking, accessibility and general traffic. The techniques developed will be of use to many local authorities across the country, including: procedures for setting up robust before-and-after monitoring of schemes. Together with TfL and the Association of London Government, we developed guidelines for the monitoring of BSP and LIP programmes. London Analytics can provide you with technical advice and support on monitoring walking, including the development of causal chains and the specification of a monitoring programme. For London Boroughs, this can form part of the BSP/LIP submission, and as part of the response to TfL on the successes of schemes delivered. Work done on scheme monitoring for pedestrian projects led to the commissioning and development of PERS 2 in partnership with TRL.
PERS 2 and Places - Pedestrian Environment Review System
The PERS 2 package was commissioned and specified by Andrew Smith of London Analytics, in partnership with Transport for London and the London Borough of Bromley. The software and auditing method has been written and documented by TRL. It provides a means of scoring a street, public transport interchange or bus stop, a walking route or public square, with a straightforward set of scoring criteria, backed up with a comprehensive manual that provides colour photos illustrating the expected range of possible scores for each criterion. The PERS 2 / Places software and training will be available shortly, and London Analytics can provide software installation, training, and additional computer systems to build interfaces between your pedestrian audits and your business case / appraisal software, reporting and monitoring frameworks, and GIS systems. This will allow you to incorporate public realm audits into all relevant aspects of your planning and management systems.
On-street pedestrian interviews
Together with the Congestion Charging Monitoring Team at TfL, Professor Peter Jones of the University of Westminster, and Accent Market Research, we pioneered the use of Diver Sampling, an innovative sampling method which robustly ensures that on-street survey samples are genuinely representative of the people using the streets being surveyed.
Benchmarking Walkability in World Cities
The
Walkability Index was initially devised in 2001 by our Director, Andrew Smith, working with
analysts at Space Syntax Ltd. This work later developed
into the
International Walkability Benchmark, which was created as an objective, reproducible measure
of the public realm across an entire area, and was developed based on our work with Jan Gehl
on London's Public Space Public Life study. If you'd like more information on
for information on benchmarking the walkability of your city or town centre(s), contact
us.
Modelling pedestrian flows
The Central London Pedestrian [CLP] Estimation Model, a validated estimator of pedestrian flows covering the 26 square miles of Central London, which was calibrated by Andrew in partnership with Elspeth Duxbury and Jake Desyllas of the Intelligent Space Partnership.
As far as we have been able to establish, this remains the only large-scale pedestrian estimation model that has validated successfully. The model has been used by the CLP and the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science to measure, identify, and analyse street crime risk. You can read the academic paper [1MB pdf] describing this model, courtesy of the CASA website at University College, London.