[Republished from July 2014] The Guardian: "In a successful modern city, the car must no longer be king"

"Our love affair with automobiles has shaped our cities and our lives – but mature metropolises are finally realising that the needs of people are even more important"

Link to web site

"We bottled water and it became fashionable. That’s what we need to do for walking.” By the late 1990s, it was obvious to us that making London more walkable – and “liveable” – was fundamental to the future success of the city. There seemed an urgent need to create streets and spaces that made people feel they were planned for them, not cars; that exploration on foot or a bike was a positive choice, not a necessary evil.

"As chief executive of the Central London Partnership (CLP), I led the lobbying for the pedestrianisation of Trafalgar Square. We were in the last gasp of a century that had brought us the motor vehicle: the resulting love affair with cars, and their link with modernity, had shaped our towns and cities, and our lives.

"Fifteen years on, the notion of a liveable city is well understood, and measured. Mature cities across the world have shifted their priorities towards people-centred urban spaces, accelerated by the realisation that reshaping our cities around quality of life is intrinsically linked to economic success. 

"Of course, getting the balance right is crucial, which is why there is a segment in The Human Scale – Andreas Dalsgaard’s documentary on the work of Gehl Architects – that makes my stomach crunch in frustration."