There's an interesting article by Ken Worpole in the December issue of
Prospect Magazine, which I've just received, about Danish architect Jan Gehl
and his proposals for making London work better for pedestrians. The article
is based around a report Gehl wrote for Transport for London which was
published in June, and which I hadn't noticed at the time.

Here's a bit from Worpole's article:

Based on extensive research into pedestrian activity in and around a number
of key sites in the city, Gehl concluded that: "London has not been designed
with recreation in mind and it is noticeable that there are few children or
elderly people using the streets." 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?"

The executive summary of Gehl's report is at

http://www.gehlarchitects.dk/html/pr...ve_Summary.pdf

Guy