SW20 Profile picture
Nov 26, 2023 7 tweets 6 min read Read on X
First New Town Design:

A missed opportunity to create spaces with greenery and much wider pavements where cars are guests - like every other major European capital?

Where are the trees, bollards, seats and sustainable drainage?

Lessons not being learned fast enough. 🧵

Image
Image
We know that without bollards we’ll have blocked pavements and years of costs from cracked expensive paving slabs (repair & injuries).

So why are bollards not in the design?

Otherwise we end up with another Elm Row, Leith Walk or Parliament Square

Image
Why is parking deemed more important than outside space for Cafe Rouge, The Queens Arms or Cote?

Perhaps 40 lost tables?

In the centre of most other Northern European cities this would be timed loading access. Instead we have permanent car storage in a World Heritage site.


Image
Image
Image
Image
If @edinburgh_cc hits its 30% car mileage reduction targets, with almost no traffic on George Street & traffic filters planned on Mound - why is anything beyond the minimum carriageway width considered?

Particularly at junctions where pedestrians need space to cross.
Image
Image
Where are the zebra crossings that a low traffic environment should demand?

Why no continuous footways?

@LivingStreetsEd


Image
Image
Image
If Castle St, Fredrick St don’t allow through traffic (no one can drive on Princes St) - why is there not space for trees, pavements or seating?

Buses can still get through.

Couldn’t there be outdoor seating rather than car parking - just like every other N. European Capital? Image
Where is the greenery?

🌳 Trees?
☔️ Sustainable drainage?

Why aren’t these as important as parking & filter lanes for this streetscapes’s future and mitigate climate change and create pleasant spaces?

Great thread from @andyheald

End 🧵



Image
Image
Image
Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with SW20

SW20 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SW20Ed

Sep 22, 2024
🚨 SW20 on tour 🚨

🇳🇱🧵
Read 19 tweets
Aug 13, 2024
🚌Bus lane trials and tribulations:

Edinburgh Council meets this week to decide whether to trial something it already knows will work & is well supported - extending bus lane times🧵

But simultaneously it will allow 2,600 private hires cars to use them🤦‍♂️
The councils own analysis says when bus lane times were reduced in 2015 bus time journey times and reliability suffered.

So why are we trialling it?

We know it works! Image
Well just trial it for a few weeks right?

No. 18 months.

So we’re probably YEARS AWAY from this going out across the city @EdinburghBUG, right? Image
Read 14 tweets
Jul 4, 2024
It’s time for an #Edinburgh congestion charge.

Here’s why🧵 Image
The planned 2006 £2/day charge to pass one of the boundaries would have raised £50mn a year had it been introduced.

By now, the city might have raised an extra £850mn to spend on public transport.

Possibly above a billion if adjusted for inflation.
Almost two decades later, Edinburgh has ambitious car km reduction targets backed (in principle, although sadly not in practice) by 4/5 council parties.

But without measures like a congestion charge to both cut traffic AND raise funds for public transport, those will be missed.
Read 23 tweets
May 6, 2024
🚨 SW20 on Tour 🚨

What can #Edinburgh learn from 🇫🇷?

🌳⬆️more trees
♟️⬆️more bollards
🌷⬆️more greenery
🚶⬆️walkable neighbourhoods
🚃⬆️prioritise public transport
🪑⬆️more places to sit
👂⬇️less noise
🚗⬇️fewer (but not no) cars Image
Image

Image
France is consistently adding green to grey spaces.

And it does so not as an exception, but at the point streets are resurfaced - often filtering them too.

Rather than planters, #Edinburgh needs to add proper rain gardens and greenery as well as… Image
Image
Image
Image
…street trees.

Trees are either lacking or don’t feature enough in #Edinburgh plans for George Street, Teviot Place, Dalry, the recent tram routes, the West Edinburgh link etc.

#Edinburgh designs are grey, late-1990s designs and not welcoming or climate-friendly.

Image
Image
Read 11 tweets
Feb 28, 2024
Every day approximately 7,650 pupils at Edinburgh’s Independent Schools are driven some of the way to school.

Despite being only 20% of the total pupils educated in Edinburgh - they form 53% of the kids driven to school in #Edinburgh

They are a huge part of city traffic.

🧵1/4
65% of kids are driven at least some
of the way to Edinburgh’s independent schools.

A high proportion of privately educated kids are driven all of the way (44%).

It’s likely their journeys, on average, will be longer too.

“The school run” is a huge part of congestion.

2/4 Image
The trends are sticky though. Let’s see what happens as free bus travel really beds in.

Predictions:

1. Negligible difference to the 7.5k independently educated kids being driven.

2. Slight decreases in kids walking or being driven to state schools.

Let’s see 📊 📈

3/4
Read 5 tweets
Feb 10, 2024
Who holds a Drivers Licence? Scotland-wide data:

🙋‍♀️A third of women don’t drive

💸 The more you earn more, the more likely you are to be able to drive and the more frequently you will drive.

🤷‍♂️Men are much more likely to drive and do so more frequently.

🧵…. Image
Image
Image
Image
In Scotland:

🚗 Drivers are more likely to to male

🙋‍♀️A third of women do not hold a drivers licence

⬆️ But the % of women holding licences has increased - a lot.

📈10% more men hold a license than women. Image
This plays out locally in #Edinburgh census data.

c9-10% more women have commutes of less than 5km. Men commute further, are more likely to drive and therefore emit more carbon.

Better local public transport and walking and cycling routes would benefit women disproportionately. Image
Read 11 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(