Londoners haven’t waited for the Mayor’s much-delayed car-free day, they’ve been reclaiming their space from the ground up. This summer Caroline Russell visited inspiring people changing life on our streets.
From parents taking a stand against school gate traffic, to community groups ‘adopting’ car parking spaces to build mini parks, Caroline found people all over London working to make their streets better.
Her new report, Reclaiming our roads: making space for Londoners, shows what she found.
Caroline Russell says:
The energy and imagination that people are putting into their streets is wonderful to witness. Londoners know that it isn’t inevitable that their streets are used just for storing and driving cars.
When communities come together, whether it’s outside a school or on a residential road, to reclaim these spaces something really special happens, and that’s what my report shows.The Mayor’s car-free day has been a very long time coming and is already behind the movement in communities across the city. We want more than a one-off day.
We should feel empowered to reclaim our streets – communities are already doing this but I’d love to see more people feel able to, and be properly supported to by the Mayor.
Today Caroline will host a Safe Routes to School seminar, to hear how we can create streets and public spaces that enable safe active travel for children, young people and the whole community.
Related documents
Reclaiming Our Roads Caroline Russell Sept 2019