"Ian Jelf" wrote in message
...
In message , Guy Bentham
writes
"London has not been designed
with recreation in mind and it is noticeable that there are few children
or
elderly people using the streets."
He's obviously missed the vast tracts of parkland, used by people of all
ages, which make central London one of the greenest central areas of any
city in the world.

In the bar after his lecture [in
Edinburgh] he is rather more forthright with me [Worpole]. "To be honest,
I
was shocked. To my mind, London comes only after Moscow in the contempt
the
city planners show for pedestrians. You never see any children on London
streets -- what have done with them all?"
See above remark about the parks. Also the area around Cinemas in
Leicester Square. Or near the London Eye. Or the Palace of
Westminster. Or Covent Garden and the Transport Museum. or Hamley's.
Or on Thames boat cruises and tour buses.

Well, you get the idea.......

(He probably did the research between 9.00am and 4.00pm on a weekday in
term time.)
From the full report, page 71:
Pedestrian countings carried out in selected streets for 15 minutes every
hour between 10 am and 10 pm. The survey took place on winter and summer
days with nice weather in February and July, inside school terms. The data
was collected on weekdays and Saturdays, during the daytime and in the
evening: Tuesday 25 February 2003 8 am to 8 pm, Wednesday 9 July 2003, 8 am
to 10 pm, Thursday 10 July 2003 8 am to 10 pm, Saturday 5 July 2003 10 am to
6.00 pm.

at
http://www.gehlarchitects.dk/html/pr...lic_Spaces.pdf

There are some good things in the report. For example, from page 40, in a
section ironically entitled "Impressive creativity concerning the layout of
pedestrian crossings":

For the comfort of pedestrians and the vitality and functional quality of
the city, it is important that people can cross the streets frequently and
in an uncomplicated manner. It is a simple experience in most cities. In
London, crossings have been made into labyrinths, ice floes and mole
passages- all adding to confusion, disorientation and unsafety.



There is an inconsistency in layout, which makes it clearly evident that
there is no standard design for pedestrian crossings. The changing design
layout, the lack of pedestrian lights, the lack of clearly marked pedestrian
crossings, the appearance of push buttons at some crossings, the use of
pedestrian subways or sky walks, the extensive use of guard railings -
everything is part of an undeveloped traffic culture, where pedestrians are
very poorly accommodated. The focus has been on vehicular traffic and ways
of facilitating car movements, so that pedestrians have gradually become a
category of secondary city users who face many hardships and experience both
great difficulties and real danger when choosing to walk in the city.



Well, I'd agree with that.



Guy