Tag: ByDesign

Creating Climate Neutral Towns and Cities

Post author By Niamh Kavanagh
Post date February 13, 2024

The Climate Emergency & Infrastructure Constructive Conversations – 14 March 2024.

This session focused on creating climate neutral towns and cities. We discussed plans to achieve net zero, and the part that active travel infrastructure can play in this goal. From climate action towns and networks, to net zero cities we explored what this means for those of us working to deliver infrastructure to people living in communities to help bring this about. Our expert panel spent half an hour discussing these questions and more.

Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.

What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?

Feedback Survey

We would appreciate you taking a moment to complete our short feedback survey after you’ve watched the recording.

Complete feedback survey

Further Information

Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.

Thomas Haddock, Head of Operations, NetZeroCities
Fiorella Modolo, Senior Design Officer, Architecture and Design Scotland – info@ads.org.uk
Sandy Underwood, Lochbroom and Ullapool Community Trust – sandy@ullapoolcommunity.org

Useful Links and Resources

Knowledge repository on the NetZeroCities portal. You can register to the portal if you would like but you can still access the knowledge repository without registering. What might be of particular interest is the Climate City Contracts, which can be accessed through filtering resources by type as seen on the left hand side of the page.
If you are interested, you can join NetZeroCities Community of Practice
The recently published European Declaration on Cycling is a useful documents for language around active travel, although not especially relevant to the UK, a useful resource non the less.
Raptor is an interesting project doing some exciting things on mobility – Raptor Project: Pilot your innovative urban mobility ideas in smart European cities.
This letter presented at COP28 is another interesting read – COP28 letter and activities | PATH – Partnership for Active Travel and Health (pathforwalkingcycling.com)
It’s also good to keep an eye on the work CIVITAS is coordinating – Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen are all member cities: CIVITAS: Sustainable and Smart Mobility for All.
Architecture & Design Scotland: Climate Action Towns – working with local communities to support place-based climate action in a network of small Scottish towns.

About Constructive Conversations

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.

At each 1 hour session, our expert panel will spend half an hour discussing key questions and more around the chosen topic. Following this, you can take part in an optional small group discussion where you can share your own experiences on the topic, present a related issue in a live project, and receive advice and feedback from peers.

Other sessions

The ‘Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series’ of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

Look out for more series on different topics in future, and if there is a topic you would like to suggest for a series, or a standalone session, please do get in touch with us placesforeveryone@sustrans.org.uk.

Tags ByDesign, connections, Discussion, informal, Knowledge Sharing, Places for Everyone, socialising

ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Strengthening Social Connections

Post author By Barbara Kerr
Post date February 5, 2024

Group of people discussing a design board

By Design Constructive Conversations – 19 March 2024.

This session focused on strengthening social connections by design. How does the design of our streets and public spaces foster, or discourage social connections? Do benches reduce social isolation and enhance wellbeing? and does more social connection within a community mean higher resilience?

Our expert panel spent half an hour discussing these questions and more around how urban design can increase social connections, and therefore result in better well being for people living in our communities.

Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.

What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?

Feedback Survey

We would appreciate you taking a moment to complete our short feedback survey after you’ve watched the recording.

complete feedback survey

Further Information

The panelists for this session were:

PC Samantha Campbell, PIP – Prevention, Intervention Partnerships, Police Scotland – Samantha.Campbell@scotland.police.uk
Pat Scrutton, Coordinator, Intergenerational National Network – patscrutton247@gmail.com
Ryan Woolrych, Professor Ageing and Urban Studies, Director of the Urban Institute, Heriot-Watt University – R.D.Woolrych@hw.ac.uk
Grace and Lennon, Students at Morgan Academy, Dundee – If you would like to work with students at Morgan Academy, please contact Gregor McBain – Deputy Head – gmcbain678@dundeeschools.scot

Useful Links and Resources

For further information on working with young people, please see the work Sustrans have been doing with A Place in Childhood –

For further information on intergenerational placemaking:

Age-friendly cities and community and placemaking: Place-Age-Place-Making-with-Older-Adults.pdf (housinglin.org.uk)
Health and climate change work: Healthy Ageing in a Changing Climate: Creating Inclusive, Age-Friendly, and Climate Resilient Cities and Communities in the UK – Resource Library – Resources – Housing LIN

Secured by Design (SBD) is the official police security initiative that is owned by the UK Police Service with the specific aim to reduce crime and help people live more safely. The site includes various guides and resources, as well a UK wide network of Designing out Crime Officers.

The contact for Police Scotland is Stuart Ward – architectural.liaison@scotland.police.uk, 0159 241 8461
Secured by Design – Secured by Design

The Schools Health and Wellbeing Improvement Research Network (SHINE) can also help you to connect with young people in project areas – they have a newsletter where opportunities for schools to get involved in projects can be advertised if the project clearly demonstrates benefits for the school community and aims to support positive health outcomes for young people – this can include provision of spaces aiming to improve physical and mental wellbeing, for example by encouraging young people to be more active, or by providing safe space for people of all ages to socialise and feel safe. If you are working in a Local Authority, your Education or Learning and Development teams are likely to already be linked in with SHINE and may also be able to assist with this process.

SHINE website

Projects can also apply for SHINE affiliated status – A member of the SHINE team would meet with affiliated project teams to support you to find/connect with a school or Local Authority (if you are a community or public sector organisation) who would be interested to engage with you. However, this is a longer process than promotion via the newsletter – the application is reviewed by a panel to ensure that it demonstrates mutual benefit for the school.

Details here on the website: https://shine.sphsu.gla.ac.uk/shine-affiliated-studies/

About Constructive conversations

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.

Other sessions

The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

Tags ByDesign, connections, Discussion, informal, Knowledge Sharing, Places for Everyone, socialising

ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Accounting for Diverse Accessibility Needs

Post author By Barbara Kerr
Post date January 8, 2024

By Design Constructive Conversations – 21 February 2024.

This session focused on designing for diverse accessibility needs. What prevents people with varying disabilities or mobility needs being able to safely and confidently navigate public spaces? How can design features address these needs and make life easier for everyone – without one interfering with another?

Our expert panel spent half an hour discussing these questions and more around how urban design can ensure that designs are accessible to everyone regardless of their circumstances, and provide spaces where anyone can travel actively, where they live, work or socialise.

Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.

What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?

Feedback Survey

We would appreciate you taking a moment to complete our short feedback survey after you’ve watched the recording.

COMPLETE FEEDBACK SURVEY

Further Information

Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.

Ian Buchanan, Equality and Access Manager, Disability Equality Scotland – Ian@DisabilityEquality.scot
Paul Ruffles, Principal Urban Designer, Sustrans Engineering team – Paul.Ruffles@Sustrans.org.uk
Pirjo Tujula, Accessibility Representative, City of Helsinki – Contact information and feedback | Helsinki for all | City of Helsinki
Robert Weetman, Technical Coordinator, Living Streets

Useful Links and Resources

Helsinki Guidelines for Implementing Accessibility (in Suomi/Finnish)

Helsingin kaupungin esteettömyysohjeet ulkoalueille

Helsinki Guidelines for Implementing Accessibility (in English) City of Helsinki accessibility guidelines for outdoor areas | Helsinki for all | City of Helsinki

Further links from Helsinki about embedding accessibility in planning and delivery of infrastructure.

Information on the inclusive design reports Robert has been working on, and other reports produced by living streets – the Slips, Trips and Falls report may also be of particular interest. Our Key Reports and Research | Living Streets

Research and recommendations carried out by Sustrans and Transport for All Disabled Citizens’ Inquiry – Sustrans.org.uk

Information on Sustrans’ approach to Urban Design, and some examples of our work Urban design and planning – Sustrans.org.uk

Find and contact your local access panel. Find your local Access Panel – Disability Equality Scotland Access Panel Network

Information on Access Panels, and what they can bring to your projects. Home – Disability Equality Scotland Access Panel Network

Transport Scotland Inclusive Design guidance – this is in draft form and is under consultation until the 29th March. Guidance on Inclusive Design for Town Centres and Busy Streets | Transport Scotland

About Constructive conversations

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.

Other sessions

The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

Tags accessibility, ByDesign, Discussion, informal, Knowledge Sharing, Places for Everyone

ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Preventing Child and Pedestrian Casualties

Post author By Barbara Kerr
Post date January 3, 2024

By Design Constructive Conversations – 17 January 2024.

In this session the focus is on preventing pedestrian and child casualties. What makes a road or street safe to walk along and cross? How can design features slow, direct or change driver and pedestrian behaviour to reduce the potential for collisions?

Our expert panel spent half an hour discussing these questions and more around how urban design can increase safety of people travelling actively, and prevent casualties of people walking, wheeling, cycling, or otherwise actively travelling or socialising in public spaces.

Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.

What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?

Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.

Feedback Survey

We would appreciate you taking a moment to complete our short feedback survey after you’ve watched the recording.

Complete our feedback survey

Further Information

See below for some links to further information and projects mentioned by the panelists. Some of our panelists have also kindly provided contact details if you would like to get in touch with them about their work in this area:

Lucy Marstrand Taussig – Design Policy Lead for Streets, Transport Strategy and Policy, Transport for London
Kristina Mattsson – Project Manager, Traffic Safety, Vision Zero Academy, Swedish Transport Administration – kristina.mattsson@trafikverket.se
Cherie Morgan – Director of Projects, Play Scotland
PC Stewart Sinclair – Road Policing Traffic Management, Police Scotland – Contact Police Scotland – Police Scotland

Useful Links and Further Information

The Vision Zero Academy was established by the Swedish Transport Administration. Vision Zero Academy is a global knowledge hub with the overall purpose to spread knowledge about Vision Zero and support and collaborate with different stakeholders around the world in their strive for safe road transport systems. Vision Zero Academy – Bransch (trafikverket.se)

Some visual examples of traffic calming measures from the Vision Zero Academy in Sweden:

Zhero is Heroes on route to Vision Zero – this is a campaign to bring together multiple stakeholders across society to achieve vision zero. Together we are Zhero – Zhero.se

The Swedish Transport Administration (STA) have requirements how to build roads and streets. But the municipalities can have their own requirements for design of the streets they have responsibility for. STA has some supporting documents for how to plan and design the traffic environment. This is a website with description and links to these documents: Traffic strategic work – Accessibility in a sustainable society

Note: the above website is in Swedish – there is a language option, but it takes you away from this page. We found google chrome was better than microsoft edge for translating this page.

Police Scotland works with Transport Scotland to regularly publish collision and casualty data. There is more information with links to the relevant databases here – Road traffic collision data – Police Scotland

Play Scotland Has recently launched the ‘State of Play in Scotland’ report bringing together research into children and young peoples attitudes and access to play, with several design elements mentioned as potential barriers. PS00105-PS-State-of-Play-in-Scotland-2023-Digital-links.pdf (playscotland.org)

Research into Low Traffic neighbourhoods from Transport for London is ongoing. A summary of some studies to date can be found here: Cycling & walking – Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk) and a more in depth study from 2022-25 is currently underway. You can find an overview and a summary of year one data here: Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in London project – year one summary | University of Westminster, London

About Constructive conversations

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.

Other sessions

The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

Tags ByDesign, Casualties, Discussion, informal, Knowledge Sharing, Places for Everyone, Safety

ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Integrating Climate Adaptations

Post author By Barbara Kerr
Post date December 21, 2023

By Design Constructive Conversations (20 December 2023).

What challenges does our changing climate bring to our public places? What adaptation measures exist that we can use to future proof infrastructure developments against the impacts of our changing climate? Our panel discussed these questions and more around how urban design elements can integrate innovative solutions into walking, wheeling, cycling, and public spaces design.

Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.

What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?

Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.

Feedback Survey

We would appreciate you taking a moment to complete our short feedback survey after you’ve watched the recording.

Complete our feedback survey

Further Information

Janette Mackie – Papdale East Playpark Association – peppasecretary@yahoo.com
Jon Rowe – Head of Design, Engineering and Assurance, Sustrans Scotland – jon.rowe@sustrans.org.uk
Iryna Zamuruieva – Climate Resilience Manager, Sniffer / Adaptation Scotland – Iryna@sniffer.org.uk

Useful Links

See below for some links to further information and projects mentioned by the panelists.

The Papdale East Playpark project Janette talked about is a fantastic project, solving problems with flooding as well as providing a space for the community to come together to play and connect and travel actively through what was a previously waterlogged location.
Adaptation Scotland provides a range of advice and resources for anyone interested in integrating climate adaptation and climate resilience in their projects.
NatureScot is another Scotland-based resource for information on how climate measures can increase biodiversity through strategic use of green and blue infrastructure.
Community Climate Adaptation Routemap touches upon a lot of the things discussed.
Climate Ready Clyde’s Climate Vulnerability Map is a great example of drawing together heat, flood risk and multiple deprivation index data to inform decisions.
Guide to Climate Change Adaptation by Design looks at specific ideas and case studies across household to street to neighborhood to catchment scales.

Specific projects mentioned and other useful links include:

About Constructive conversations

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.

Other sessions

The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

Tags ByDesign, climate, Discussion, informal

ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Eradicating Violence Against Women and Girls

Post author By Barbara Kerr
Post date November 20, 2023

By Design Constructive Conversations- 15 November 2023.

How can urban environments and public spaces be designed in such a way as to make them feel, and be, safe spaces for women and girls? Our panel discussed how urban design elements can make women and girls feel safe, and be safe when walking, wheeling, cycling, or otherwise actively travelling or socialising in public spaces.

Following watching the recording you may find it useful to take a few minutes to reflect on the discussion.

What is still circling around in your head on this topic?
What do you feel is ‘squared away’ – you feel you have a much clearer understanding of?
What key takeaways or highlights do you have from the discussion?

Feedback Survey

We would really appreciate if you could take a moment to provide feedback on this session.

Complete our short feedback survey

Below are contact details for some of our panelists if you wish to contact them directly, and some links to further information relating to this topic that you may find useful.

Further Information

See below for some links to further information and projects mentioned by the panelists. Some of our panelists have also provided contact details if you would like to get in touch with them about their work in this area:

Heather Pringle, Equally Safe in Practice Programme Lead at Scottish Women’s Aid – Heather.Pringle@womensaid.scot
Ruth White, Planning and Mobility Manager at City of Edinburgh Council – Ruth.White@edinburgh.gov.uk
Katie Brown, Equally Safe Policy Manager at Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) – katie@cosla.gov.uk
Angela Voulgari, Equally Safe Edinburgh Committee Lead Officer at City of Edinburgh Council – Angela.Voulgari@edinburgh.gov.uk
Sophie Lloyd, Programme lead in Sustrans Cymru, Sophie.Lloyd@sustrans.org.uk

Useful Links

Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Partnerships (in Local Authority Areas) are a source of invaluable guidance and information on gender and VAWG perspectives and local knowledge, and I would encourage people to utilise them. They have links to many parts of not just the council but across the local ‘system’. Contacts for the national network are here https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-services/consultancy-and-support/tackling-violence-against-women/national-violence-against-women-network
Scottish Women’s Aid Equally Safe learning framework and the tools available to increase gender and VAWG competence & use of gender lens across policy/practice plus information and a resource page (The framework is aimed at orgs across public sector, local authorities, third sector.): https://womensaid.scot/equally-safe-in-practice/

(Note: The next two links take you to the City of Vienna website which is in Austrian German, a Chrome browser was better able to translate the pages than Microsoft Edge).

Information on the Gender Mainstreaming Approach taken in Vienna: https://www.wien.gv.at/english/administration/gendermainstreaming/?dm_t=0,0,0,0,0
More information about some of the projects that have been developed in Vienna, including the redesign of Reumannplatz mentioned by Lena: https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/architektur/oeffentlicher-raum/strassen-plaetze/index.html
Information on the George Street Project: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/georgestreet/
More information on the recent City of Edinburgh Council consultation on Women’s Safety in Public Places: https://consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/cf/womens-safety-in-public-places/

About Constructive conversations

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.

Other sessions

The ‘By Design’ series of constructive conversations explores how urban design in active travel projects can help to address some of the big issues facing society today.

Constructive Conversations By Design COllection

The Climate Emergency and Infrastructure series of constructive conversations explores sustainability in construction of active travel projects.

Constructive Conversations the CLimate Emergency and Infrastructure Collection

Tags ByDesign, Discussion, informal, Knowledge Sharing, Places for Everyone

ConstructiveConversations Engage • Inspire • Learn PfE

Constructive Conversations – By Design Collection

Post author By Niamh Kavanagh
Post date October 5, 2023

Overview

Grab a cuppa, get comfortable and join us for some informal constructive conversations about some of the challenges in delivering active travel infrastructure.

This series of constructive conversations will explore how some of the big issues facing society today can be addressed ‘By Design’.

At each 1 hour session, our expert panel spent half an hour discussing key questions and more around these topics. Following this, participants were invited to take part in optional small group discussions where they could share their own experiences on the topic, present a related issue in a live project, and receive advice and feedback from peers.