🧵British cities outside of London vastly underperform their European counterparts

Part of this is accounted for by lower housing density and almost non existent mass transport, like metros and trams

So why not build more trams? Because in Britain we make it twice as expensive Reducing costs to European levels would let us build 10 miles when we currently build 5.

This would allow millions more workers access a wider job market and unlock tens of thousands of homes

So why are they so expensive..?

🧵It's time to build on Britain's Roadbelt

Today, @createstreets call to build thousands of new homes on space reclaimed from wide, fast, legacy highways that savaged our cities and towns

We must rediscover the value of streets over the cost of roads..

.theguardian.com/cities/2023/se… Doing this can turn asphalt moats (left) into economically productive streets (right).

Removing one turning lane here in Rochdale could allow an extra row of housing and turn a wide road into a thriving street

But many will tell you the road must be there and must be 5 lanes..

Who wouldn't want to visit Bologna. I think most would agree it's a beautiful place.

But might places like this also be our greatest weapon in the fight against climate change? Here's why I think they are. A 🧵 62 kilometers of porticoes provide shade in the heat and shelter in the wet, encouraging more residents to travel by walking

It might seem subtle. You might not notice it. But this is what action on climate looks like.

It turns out it's rather pleasant The odd carefully placed bollard creating a space to walk, place and breathe clean air.

Or perhaps the evolving way in which cargo gets around our cities, leaving less of a mark on the environment and our lives

Today at Create Streets we call for a new approach to transport planning.

Throw out the crude prediction algorithms that have led to endless road widening. Adopt a people-led approach. Provide healthy & green places we can move around by foot or bike

createstreets.com/wp-content/upl… For too long the decision on how big and fast new roads are and whether they should be built in the first place has been left to crude spreadsheet models.

These models attempt to predict transport patterns by assuming relentless traffic growth, based on pre-Covid, 9 to 5 work